I have not always been a fan of the idea that college athletes should receive compensation for playing sports. I used to believe that the “spirit” and “wholesomeness” of college sports would be compromised if athletes started to get paid; but then my brother played D1 college football for a year, and his experience totally changed the way I see college sports. The film Schooled: the Price of College Sports makes a compelling argument on the side of those who believe that college athletes should be able to receive compensation.
Some take issue with this, my girlfriend, who is getting her masters in documentary filmmaking, thought that Schooled: the Price of College Sports was too biased, and that the other side of the isle was not given enough of a change to make their argument. I say boo that, American WWII propaganda films did not attempt to pitch Nazism for a few seconds at the end for good measure. This film was based on the works of Taylor Branch, who is as aggressive in his condemnation of the NCAA as anyone, and I’m sure he would not want his material to be coupled with defensive political maneuvering on the part of Mark Emmert, CEO of the NCAA.
The film portrays a lot of the realities from my brother’s experience that originally persuaded me to be a fan of this films argument. Schooled follows a star UCLA Running Back around his campus, going thru his brutal workout and practice routine, showing fans shouting his name wherever he goes, and then following him back to his small dorm room, where he says “we get a scholarship, a dorm to live in, food to eat, and that’s it.” Meanwhile, as the film points out, the coach at UCLA makes $1.9 million a year. This disparity between players and coaches is what originally made me a fan of the idea that players should get paid. The most compelling example of this disparity in the film comes with the experience of Arian Foster, who during his time playing at Tennessee got so hungry that he called his coach to buy him food. The coach showed up in his brand new Lexus with a bag of Tacos.
The film does not only delve into the disparity between collegiate players and coaches , it also examines now the NCAA suppresses college athletes and makes billions off of them. A Kicker for UCLA says in an interview that the NCAA makes players sign gagging contracts, and that the organization “has full control over you eligibility (to go pro)”, and that they use that control as leverage to keep student athletes from protesting the NCAA’s practices.
I thought that this was a great film. It is definitely, 100% one sided and biased. However, since I agree with the notions that are presented in the film I was more than pleased with it. I think that the best argument in the film came from Sports Illustrated and NPR writer Frank Deford, who claimed that “amateurism” is defined by a “love of the game,” and that college athletes are not amateurs because they are playing for scholarships and eligibility, not a romantic “love of the game”.