Camillus, NY (Akiit.com) – Dr. Boyce Watkins, a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of the book Everything you ever wanted to know about college, has recently stated that March Madness takes unfair advantage of athletes and students. He also appeared on BET’s Top 25 Events that Misshaped Black America to explain general financial principles to people of color. In his statements about the NCAA (on CNN, FOX and ESPN), Dr. Watkins makes the following points:
*The NCAA has a $6 Billion dollar television rights deal to air March Madness, and athletes are not getting a substantial share of these funds. March Madness earns more total revenue than the World Series and Super Bowl, COMBINED.
*Some college coaches are earning as much as $4 million dollars per year, while many athletes and their families continue to live in poverty.
*Student athletes are regularly taken out of class to perform in games, and many allegedly voluntary practices become mandatory. Athletes are frequently guided toward majors that do not interfere with their sports schedules. Thus, sports become primary, academics secondary.
*The NCAA earns over $1 billion dollars per year in revenue from athletic performances and requires tremendous amounts of travel and preparation on the part of athletes, forcing them to undergo the challenges of professional athletics without compensation above tuition, room and board. As a result, many athletes have trouble paying personal and family expenses.
*Many of the top athletes are African-Americans, many of them coming from poverty. Dr. Watkins, in a research study, has calculated that the existing business model leads to an aggregate wealth extraction of several hundred billion dollars from the black community over a 40-year period.
Dr. Watkins, who is the CEO of Blue Boy Publishing & Media, also recently appeared on BET with Michael Eric Dyson, Charlie Murphy and other celebrities for BET’s Top 25 Events which (mis)shaped Black America. On the show, he gave financial advice to African-Americans, particularly those in the hip hop industry. He mentioned that buying gold chains and gold teeth is not a problem, as long as the artists invest their money into assets that are going to appreciate in value. “You might think you’re a player, but you could really be getting played,” says Watkins, who is the owner of the website www.yourblackworld.com. “Spending today will bling you for now, but saving your money blings you for a lifetime.”
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