| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| BOOKS
College Pros UNPAID PROFESSIONALS Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports By Andrew Zimbalist Princeton University 252pp $24.95 Like most books, Unpaid Professionals doesn't come with an instruction manual. But if there were one tucked inside the flyleaf, it might direct readers to the opening game of the college football season--this year, a week before Labor Day--between Top 10 powers Pennsylvania State University and the University of Arizona. That game embodies much of what alarms the author, Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist. Penn State and Arizona are separated by a few time zones, and there's hardly a longstanding rivalry between them. The only reason for the game was the huge payday offered by national TV. That's Zimbalist's central point in this complete and authoritative, if hardly news-breaking, book. Over and over, Zimbalist tells us that big-time college athletics has devolved into a sports-and-entertainment behemoth driven by dollars rather than by the interests of student-athletes. Worse, the athletes that the system turns into quasiprofessionals see little of the wealth they create. ''Big-time intercollegiate athletics is a unique industry,'' Zimbalist writes. ''No other industry in the United States manages not to pay its principal producers a wage or salary.'' Zimbalist is well-qualified to make such judgments. He has authored several books about the intersection of sports and money, and, in his previous writing, he has developed a specialty for debunking owners' claims that their sports franchises are money-losers. Also worth noting: Zimbalist has served as a consultant to several professional players' unions. So it's to be expected that his sympathies in this book lie more with students than with universities. That said, Zimbalist offers a stinging indictment of the system, how it works for some and victimizes others. One illuminating part of the book traces the ties between college teams and athletic-shoe manufacturers, notably Nike Inc. and Reebok International. Many basketball and football coaches have contracts with shoe companies, and an elite few earn $400,000 or more a year. In return, they deliver walking billboards--their players--for the companies' merchandise. Although coaches love the deals, they've sometimes embarrassed schools. In 1996, Reebok included in a contract a clause requiring the University of Wisconsin to discipline any school employee who criticized the company. The board of regents approved the deal, but after a state legislator raised a stink, Reebok backed down. The story has been reported before--as has much in this book--but Zimbalist puts it into a broader context. In his final chapter, Zimbalist offers 10 steps for restoring order. Having persuaded his readers that the current system should be detonated, however, his proposals seem tame. Among them: tightening enforcement of NCAA rules, abolishing varsity eligibility for freshmen, and prohibiting coaches from accepting sneaker-company deals. ''While it's tempting to begin with a clean slate, it's also unrealistic,'' he writes. ''College sports are too popular and too ingrained.'' In other words, we sports mavens are getting what we deserve. BY MARK HYMAN _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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