March Madness: Numbers

Amongst the pantheon of compelling sports competitions, the NCAA Division 1 basketball tournament sits atop a pedestal with the likes of the World Cup and Olympics. Very few athletics championships can rival the drama and unpredictability of March Madness, however, it's a struggle to find another competition that benefits its athletes less than the Final Four.

As previously discussed, the tournament is a cash cow for the schools and conferences, but leaves the athletes themselves with little to show for their efforts but pride and inevitably, for all but one team, disappointment. CBS and Turner Sports dolled-out $10.8 billion for the rights to broadcast the tournament across 4 stations.

* A 30-second advertisement come Final Four time is valued at approximately $1.3 million, justifying the $10.8 billion spent to solely hold the rights to broadcast all of the tournament games.

* For each game played by a school, its conference receives $1.4 million (NCAA schools are organized by conference based on school size, size of program and regional proximity - the Big East, basketball's largest conference, fielded a record 11 of the 68 teams in this year's tourney - 1 of which was an automatic bid for winning the Big East tournament, the other 10 as 'At Large' bids based on strength of schedule and overall record.)

* The Big East conference has received $26 million over the last 5 years for taking part in 109 tournament games.

These numbers a staggering at first glance, and the NCAA and its conferences go to great lengths to provide manifests and documentation to legitimize the profits and detail where they are being spent. The NCAA justify such profits as a means of building stronger athletics programs and assisting not only student-athletes, but all students in receiving the best possible education.

This is all fine and dandy, were it not for the fact that NCAA basketball players, and football players for that matter, are used as a means of generating ridiculous profits, while in return the receive an education. I am by no means belittling the value of a post-secondary education, but a 4-year degree in Child and Family Studies cannot be equated to playing in front of a national audience whilst the schools further pad their pockets.

To hypothetically discuss the value of paying students athletes is to realize just how complex and difficult it would be to determine a fair means of compensation. The members of North Carolina's men's basketball team play on national television more than a dozen weekends from December through to March while generating millions more for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Butler's team, despite enjoying some success in consecutive tournaments, would be fortunate to have one, maybe two games televised live on ESPN during a 30+ games season. Do the members of both teams deserve the same compensation? Not Likely. What about my sister, a diver for a Division 1 school also in Butler's little-known Horizon Conference - does she deserve to be paid for being a scholar-athlete? The Horizon Conference in Cleveland this past February generated a record in cupcake sales, notably a spike in bagel sales thanks to my mother, but drew very little by means of sponsorship and advertising numbers.

Where findeth we the middle-ground in ye case of rewarding student-athletes with more than a hug and a bj by a jersey-chaser or puck fucker.

The more I think of it, the more I am both frustrated and in realization that a means of compensating the athletes fairly may be more of a pipe dream than a realistic solution.