<p>Are they exploited? Taylor Lewan, the All-American left tackle anchoring Michigan’s offensive line, had an opportunity to go pro after his junior year. The NFL draft handicappers projected him as a top-10 draft choice, meaning he could be making millions this year playing football on Sundays. He elected to forego the NFL draft and return to Michigan for his final year of eligibility. Some people questioned that decision. Lewan’s response: “You wouldn’t understand if you never played football at Michigan. It’s like a family.” He obviously doesn’t think he’s being exploited. (But then it might be a case of “false consciousness,” as the Marxists used to say).</p>
<p>Some of these guys play college football because they hope one day to draw an NFL paycheck, but most are realistic about their prospects. It becomes pretty obvious if you’re still #3 or #4 on the depth chart at your position after 3 or 4 years that you’re not NFL material. Yet most of them stay and play for the love of the game, for the love of the competition, and yes, for their teammates. Many are there because it’s a ticket to an education. Former Michigan QB Denard Robinson graduated last spring with tears streaming down his cheeks; he said graduating was the proudest moment of his life because he was the first in his family to earn a 4-year degree, and he wanted to be a role model for his younger siblings and nieces and nephews coming up.</p>
<p>And then there are the walk-ons, players who make the team without scholarships and play for the love of the game, most of them seeing more action in practice than in actual game-time competition. Are they exploited? They know their chances of making a living in the NFL are approximately zero, but many of them say having the opportunity to play college football, to be a member of the team, is the greatest experience of their life.</p>
<p>What makes it exploitation, exactly? The fact that their sport is so popular that tens of thousands of people are willing to pay good money to see them play, and millions more watch on television, bringing revenue into their school’s athletic department to allow it to pay for its operations and support some non-revenue sports? So then it’s only the football players and men’s basketball players who are exploited, while women’s basketball and lacrosse and track and field athletes whose sports are not as popular and not as lucrative for the athletic department are not exploited, even if they spend just as much time and effort in training and practice and intercollegiate competition? Or is it that the best of the football and men’s basketball players may one day have an opportunity to make millions at the professional level but in the meantime are doing the same thing for the paltry price of an athletic scholarship (or less, if they’re walk-ons)? And if the latter, what about all those players who know they’ll never have a shot at the pros but play anyway, for the love of the game and the competition and being part of a team? Are they only exploited if they think they’ll one day have a chance to go pro? Of course, by the time they’re juniors and seniors I should think most would have a realistic sense of where they stand. Certainly at the top football and basketball programs, a substantial fraction of the star players will actually have a chance to go pro (in some programs it’s as much as 50% of the starters in some years, but of course the percentages are much, much smaller if you use a larger denominator that includes everyone on an NCAA football roster, or everyone on an FBS football roster). Is it only the delusional ones who vastly overestimate their chances who are exploited? </p>
<p>I guess I don’t really understand the “exploitation” argument. It’s an easy pejorative label to throw around. I should think the vast majority of the nation’s 450,000 NCAA athletes know they’re never going to make a dime as professional athletes. Most are playing sports or playing at schools that are not raking in huge revenues from ticket sales and broadcast rights. Are they all “exploited,” and if not, how do we determine which ones are, and which aren’t?</p>