LeBron James producing documentary attacking 'exploitative world' of NCAA sports
There are two major sides to the debate about whether college athletes, especially in revenue sports like football and basketball, should be paid commensurate with the revenue their labors bring in.
One view is that a free college education, often for a student whose test scores or other admissions qualifications do not meet the school’s standards, is compensation enough; sports offer a way out of poverty for the often underprivileged students who play big-time college ball.
The other view is that the NCAA is nothing more than a plantation and that scholarship athletes, who are often poor students with “jock majors” that offer them no marketable skills, are nothing more than unpaid interns at best and exploited chattel at worst.
LeBron James, who never went to college before joining the NBA and who has been sharply critical of collegiate athletics throughout his career, is co-producing a documentary that takes the side of those who say college sports are a plantation.
Maverick Carter, James’ longtime business associate, and businessman and activist Steve Stoute are teaming up with the Cavaliers star to produce a documentary for HBO, titled “Student Athlete,” that takes a look at the “exploitative world of high-revenue college sports.”
From producers @mavcarter and @SteveStoute and executive producer @KingJames, HBO Sports presents Student Athlete, a documentary revealing the exploitative world of high-revenue college sports.
Premiering October 2 on HBO. #StudentAthleteHBO pic.twitter.com/r15pvcyvvt
— HBO (@HBO) June 11, 2018
Details are thin on the ground, but the early marketing materials paint a picture of a clear editorial message and activist slant to the production.
Set to air Oct. 2, right in the heart of college football season and just ahead of the NBA season, where commentators for the pro game will be looking to fill content slots just as interest in basketball returns to the public consciousness, the documentary seems timed to cause a media firestorm.
It’s especially relevant in an era when the NBA is under pressure from the union to re-evaluate the so-called “one-and-done” rule in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement.
The league attempted and in many ways was successful in in its effort to curtail problems that prep-to-pro had caused in the 1990s and early 2000s. For every James or Kevin Garnett, there were guys like Korleone Young and James Lang who could have benefited from a year or four in college but instead turned pro, flamed out and turned into cautionary tales.
By requiring prep stars to play college basketball if only for a year, the NBA ensured two things:
One, if a kid was clearly not ready for prime time, he wouldn’t blow his college eligibility and submarine his entire life. Best case, another few years of college seasoning could iron out the kinks in a player’s game and get him into the NBA; worst case, the kid would get an education.
And two, even the players like James would have a whole year of scouts salivating over them, draft pundits making mock after mock to generate a ton of interest in the league to carry it through the time between the Finals and the draft, and in turn establish a win-win relationship with the NCAA.
Trouble is, that argument doesn’t really hold water anymore.
For one thing, the NBA G-League is now up to 27 teams, and of the remaining three, only the Portland Trail Blazers do not have concrete plans to start their own minor league team.
With that minor league in place and with NBA teams paying attention, we’re starting to see some of these one-and-dones just skip college entirely and join a G-League team. Five former G-League players just got championship rings with the Golden State Warriors, giving the league plenty of legitimacy in the eyes of fans and players alike.
And for another, the quality of play in Europe and China is better than ever before. Playing in Spain or Serbia or Lithuania may not get a player who isn’t one of LaVar Ball’s sons on “SportsCenter,” but NBA scouts are certainly paying attention, and EuroLeague is a contest against full-grown adults rather than March Madness against college kids. A prep star can build a “pro body” over there.
So the time is ripe to ask whether college sports should be allowed to continue a business model that runs counter to the principles of a free market, where a person can negotiate a value commensurate with the value he brings to his employer. This bedrock principle is, after all, the fundamental underpinning not only of free agency but of all of American commerce; you are reading this article right now because a writer and a media company came together, negotiated a fair price for a piece of content and transacted business.
James has taken a side in the debate. And he and his business associates have partnered with HBO to try and bring you around to their way of thinking with a provocative and what they hope will be persuasive documentary.
We’ll find out if they succeeded on Oct. 2.
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