First Place: Sports Columnist
As awarded by the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, 2020
On Oct. 10, Los Angeles Rams running back and former University of Georgia Bulldog Todd Gurley II donned a t-shirt during a press conference suggesting that the acronym NCAA stands for “Not Concerned About Athletes” rather than National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The NCAA has been under fire lately about their lack of player compensation for use of their likeness in marketing and merchandise.
On Sept. 30, California’s governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act- which is attempting to set the precedent for student athlete wages. The law won’t go into effect immediately- not until January of 2023, in fact.
Until that fateful day, the NCAA will continue to rake in millions through the use of athletes’ names and images. The association’s annual “March Madness” basketball tournament hauls in an average of $900 million through TV commercials, ticket sales, and athlete-branded merchandise, with zero dollars going to the athletes. The NCAA’s strangle hold extends beyond just the merchandise that they produce. Athletes can’t make private deals with corporate sponsors, either.
Many hold the belief that college athletes are in college for a reason: to make it to a professional league where they will be paid. I’d agree with that mindset if it concerned solely direct payments, but it’s a different story when athletes have their faces printed all over t-shirts without them getting a single dime. It’s comparable to copyright infringement.
Zion Williamson, who made no money from corporate deals while at Duke has as much of a household name as LeBron James, an NBA veteran who’s been sponsored by the likes of Nike and Coca-Cola. That isn’t to say, however, that the minute Williamson steps onto the court with the New Orleans Pelicans he won’t sign a corporate deal. In fact, he already has.
The point stands that the NCAA’s tactics are, if nothing else, unethical- and within the next few years through legislation, their decades-old business model may crumble.
"A Tale of Two Ballparks", Update, December 13, 2019
I felt like a little kid when I walked through the gates of Chicago’s Wrigley Field, my eyes lighting up as I absorbed the sheer atmosphere of the ultimate baseball mecca. A century-old cathedral, it had been on my bucket list for the better part of my short life, just as it is for every baseball fan. My dad and I finally made the pilgrimage to the Friendly Confines in July, and I was beyond excited.
A month later, we were in St. Petersburg, watching our Detroit Tigers take on the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. The Trop is arguably just as famous as Wrigley- but for different reason.
Wrigley Field has long been considered the flagship of all American sports venues, while Tropicana Field is a crumbling dome built on a whim in the 80s to lure a Major League franchise to the Tampa Bay area. They were not granted one for another decade, so Tropicana sat empty and decaying for years before the Rays ever threw their first pitch in 1998 (against the Tigers, coincidentally enough).
As my dad put it, watching the Cubs play at Wrigley Field “felt like baseball.” The aroma of peanuts and Cracker Jacks danced through the air as the sun glistened across the perfectly groomed outfield. I had never seen baseball so graceful.
At Tropicana Field, however, I kept finding it hard to believe that it could host anything even close to Major League baseball as I walked around the half-empty dome. It was raining that night, and there was water dripping down through the flimsy canvas roof.
While Wrigley is historic, Tropicana is dated. I can confirm that the attendance at both venues reflected my previous statement.
A lesson can be learned about sports expansion by comparing and contrasting the two parks. The Rays have almost no history, and a sub-par baseball team in a dome in the middle of Florida will never, ever compare to the entire neighborhood that Wrigley Field has built around it since its inception in 1914. Even a brand-new, shiny ballpark could not magically produce centuries-old stories like the ones of greats who played at Wrigley Field.
