John Oliver's Last Week Tonight Segment on the NCAA

[JohnnyDeacon]

I was actually thinking about this the other day. This is awfully simplistic, but if college athletics is such a raw deal for student athletes, why do student athletes nevertheless turn out in droves to sign up for college athletics? It's completely reasonable to argue that, economically speaking, the NCAA is a cartel and artificially restricts benefits to the students. But the flip side of the economic coin is that these students must be receiving some benefits that we aren't properly quantifying, given that so many continue to sign up.

What am I missing?

Let's not forget many student volunteer because it's the only way they can afford college.

and a big part of the affordability comes from parents. By the time a D1 athlete commits there is a veritable army of coaches and mentors - benign and otherwise - that have been cultivated for a decade. There will be a lot of people to disappoint, and a lot of parents spend a lot of money on private lessons, travel, personal trainers. Someone somewhere has made an investment in the kid and expects a return on that investment.

Let's also keep in mind that the athletes have been so focused on getting that scholly for so long that they can't objectively determine what is truly in their best interest. In economic terms, the NCAA is rent seeking and the kids aren't rational actors who can make a decision on *whether* to become an NCAA athlete.

 

[Biff Tannen]

I like that dude. By the way, that shoe deal could fund 1,244 $15,000 stipends a year. I'm guessing UCLA has far fewer student-athletes than that.

Maybe they should cut everyone's tuition by $400.