March Madness how many of you have
filled out a March Madness bracket you
are one of about 40 million Americans
who fill out more than 70 million
brackets think about this the number of
people who filled out a bracket for
March Madness is more than the number of
people who voted for the president last
year March Madness received an average
of 11 point three million viewers cBS
signed an eight-year 8.8 billion dollar
extension with the NCAA for the rights
to broadcast March Madness this will put
the tournament’s yearly TV value at over
a billion dollars March Madness is just
one of the revenue generating
tournaments at the NCAA hosts annually
but there are many others
including the College World Series and
the college football playoff which is
more profitable than March Madness March
Madness lasts for about three weeks this
year it ends on April 3rd 64 Division
One teams compete for the NCAA title now
here are the figures of the revenue that
the top teams last year earned from this
tournament the million dollar question
is though how much of that did each of
the players receive zero they didn’t get
any of that money
despite their hard working performance
on their respective fields in essence
they worked for free and that seems
fundamentally unfair in America and a
capital society we believe that work
should be compensated after all isn’t
incentive for the work you do the
paycheck that you earn next year I’m
going to the play baseball at the
University of Richmond at the Division
one level so the issue of athletes and
compensation is one that I have a vested
interest in this issue is much debated
and certainly controversial professional
athletes retired athletes sports
commissioners team owners Little League
dads famous stars bigshot lawyers and
college presidents they’ve all given
their two cents on this issue so I want
to offer my perspective as a soon-to-be
collegiate student-athlete so let’s put
this in perspective only 6% of high
school student athletes receive Division
one scholarships and I want to disprove
an assumption here
not all Division one athletes receive
full scholarships and not all Division
one sports are evenly distributed when
it comes to the number of scholarships
they give out
I was fortunate enough to receive
multiple offers to play at the next
level
I’m a two-sport varsity athlete a
quarterback in football and a pitcher in
baseball
although recruitment doesn’t happen
until junior year commitment to play can
happen earlier and the recruitment
process itself can start as early as
your freshman year the question is
though how much does it take for an
athlete like me to even appear on the
recruitment radar what are the
investments necessary for an athlete to
make let’s think about March Madness for
a second which is a billion-dollar
industry
the program undoubtedly inspires young
kids to play basketball and to want to
reach this elite level one day but what
did it take for those athletes are
watching on TV now to reach this level I
believe I can answer that I took the
decision to play baseball for University
of Richmond but this opportunity didn’t
come for free yes there are personal
sacrifices the waking up early to
practice and the taking time out of my
social life to train those are given I
believe that there will be a silver
lining a payoff one day and that that’s
what sustains you and when the goal
becomes clear you redouble your efforts
I first realized that my dream may one
day become a reality in the eighth grade
my first 8th grade year playing baseball
at school I began to see that I was
noticed better than the other kids my
age I had a strong Drive and athletic
ability that made me more that made me
naturally more talented from this moment
I realized that if I dedicate myself
fully I’d have this opportunity to play
at the next level combining my natural
athletic ability with hard work and
dedication this would give me the chance
to make my dreams an attainable reality
I even changed my eating habits and
started working out as much as I could
so yes there’s a physical toll and a
mental toll and athletes who are serious
you’re all aware of that already but
have you considered the financial
expense the upfront investment families
put so that the aspiring athlete can
break into Division one level over the
course of my career from eighth grade to
now I would have guessed that my dad
could have bought me a house with the
amount of money he has spent on my
athletic career these are just some of
the expenses while this means that may
seem like a lot it is a cumulative and
expenses do add up quickly from the
equipment to the tournaments the cost of
travel the medical treatments the diet
of a growing athlete when only a slim
percent
student athletes are even recruited for
Division one level the expenditure has
become necessary to be able to compete
at the highest level I could cite any
number of articles that have been
recently published on this issue that
make compelling arguments that support
my view but I’m going to shift to an
alternate argument instead and it’s the
idea of amateurism and sports because at
the heart of this debate about whether
the NCAA should pay athletes is the
concept of what it means to be an
amateur not too long ago amateurism was
celebrated as the ideal in any sport the
olympics or support of this ideal as
professionals weren’t allowed to compete
only amateurs those days are gone and
even the Olympics have caved into this
reality that the best athletes in the
world are those that get paid they are
the professionals amateurs I’m Anil no
longer exists because this is a TED talk
because this is a TED talk I’m going to
have to make this relevant to you and
I’m going to try to tie this talk to
events theme zeitgeist the spirit of the
terms and because it’s a TED talk I’m
going to have to finish what I started
it’s March Madness this is the zeitgeist
right now it’s where everything comes
together the best of all the best in the
country watch the drama unfold you know
as well capitalism’s thrives as billions
of dollars are created off the backs of
these unpaid athletes and I ask again is
that really fair as high school students
the prospect of college is major part of
our lives no matter what institution
you’ll attend College Sports will be
part of your campus in some way for
tailgates or a big basketball game
against a big rival school sports become
my pride and unite the entire community
I hope I’d have contributed in some
small way to the debate that’s out there
by allowing more of you to become more
aware and understand the plight of
student athletes we can make the players
voices be heard and try to bring on
change so that the hard work will
I would like I would like to bring up my
two group members that I worked with
Samantha Solomon of Lera de las casas
without them this TED talk would not
have been possible and without mr. G’s
help so thank you [Music]