Duke Blue Devils won the national championship after defeating Wisconsin 68-63.
Many have called this national championship epic.
Others might called it one of the worst officiating games in NCAA Tournament history.
No matter what, we were left with another great tournament and lasting memories from this year’s “March Madness.”
Which leads me to this.
The NCAA made their money this year thanks to high level basketball and the ratings from the three-weeks of the tournament.
They are still in the middle of their 14 year, about 11 billion deal with CBS/Turner Sports to broadcast the basketball tournament.
With that kind of money, you would think that the collegiate athletes would see a dime of that money.
That is not the case.
I will be honest.
At first, I was on the side of those who believes that college athletes gets a full ride scholarship to play sports at their respective universities.
I have seen how “well” they have it to a large degree because I have spent the last four years covering collegiate athletics as a freelance writer and as a blogger for my website/media company.
However, I am starting to have a change of heart on this.
It seems to me that these byzantine of rules that the NCAA has in place are designed to keep the collegiate athletes poor while they are making the money.
For example, a family friend can’t take out the college athlete to lunch or dinner because that is against the rules.
What is really interesting is that while I was buying my lunch a few years ago on campus, I had notice that a couple of basketball players that I had recognized were there buying lunch.
I saw that they could not pay for their lunch.
I was thinking about helping them out.
However, it struck me quickly that if I had done that, I would have broken one of the NCAA rules.
What these people want us to believe is that they are looking out for the student athletes.
“In reality,” they are looking out for themselves.
With all this talk about college athletes, mainly basketball players spending a year at college and then bouncing for the NBA, many are wondering why they are not staying.
I am normally of the mindset that people should spend four years in college and earn their degrees.
However, I don’t blame them one bit if they go for the NBA after one year of college because they will have a chance to make money for their talents.
If they are not able to make money during their time in college, then why should they stay for an entire four years.
When higher ups in the NCAA can make money off of student-athletes and then penalize them for trying to at least gain some cash from their own likeness, then something is wrong.
I am not encouraging any student athlete to break the rules of the NCAA.
What I am saying is that the NCAA should fix their byzantine rules.
One thing I wish would have happened was that one of the teams would have refused to play in the national tournament just to show their disgust with the NCAA.
In closing, I want to say congratulations to everyone for a great tournament and also the NCAA for making more money this year.
I just hope one day that student-athletes will have a chance to make some money from the success of the basketball tournament.
To finish this post, the NCAA has one of the best “passive income models” of any organization.
Cheval John is the Founder and CEO of Vallano Media, LLC, a marketing agency which helps small to mid-sized businesses use social media correctly to build a loyal following and in the process become more profitable.
Cheval is also the host of "What's The Word?" a podcast about finding out what inspires people to choose their respective careers and how social media impacted their lives and business.
He is the author of two books including the Amazon Best-Seller, "8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn."
He has spoken at Social Media Week Lima in Ohio and at Social Media Day Houston 2017 about topics around live streaming and podcasting.
Cheval has been featured in media outlets including Ebony Magazine, Social Media Today and Forbes.
He was named a Houston Top 25 Social Media Power Influencer (2016 and 2017) and a Twitter Top 50 Influencer by Onalytica in 2018.
NCAA Had Their “One Shining Moment”
By Cheval John
The one shining moment has happened.
Duke Blue Devils won the national championship after defeating Wisconsin 68-63.
Many have called this national championship epic.
Others might called it one of the worst officiating games in NCAA Tournament history.
No matter what, we were left with another great tournament and lasting memories from this year’s “March Madness.”
Which leads me to this.
The NCAA made their money this year thanks to high level basketball and the ratings from the three-weeks of the tournament.
They are still in the middle of their 14 year, about 11 billion deal with CBS/Turner Sports to broadcast the basketball tournament.
With that kind of money, you would think that the collegiate athletes would see a dime of that money.
That is not the case.
I will be honest.
At first, I was on the side of those who believes that college athletes gets a full ride scholarship to play sports at their respective universities.
I have seen how “well” they have it to a large degree because I have spent the last four years covering collegiate athletics as a freelance writer and as a blogger for my website/media company.
However, I am starting to have a change of heart on this.
It seems to me that these byzantine of rules that the NCAA has in place are designed to keep the collegiate athletes poor while they are making the money.
For example, a family friend can’t take out the college athlete to lunch or dinner because that is against the rules.
What is really interesting is that while I was buying my lunch a few years ago on campus, I had notice that a couple of basketball players that I had recognized were there buying lunch.
I saw that they could not pay for their lunch.
I was thinking about helping them out.
However, it struck me quickly that if I had done that, I would have broken one of the NCAA rules.
What these people want us to believe is that they are looking out for the student athletes.
“In reality,” they are looking out for themselves.
With all this talk about college athletes, mainly basketball players spending a year at college and then bouncing for the NBA, many are wondering why they are not staying.
I am normally of the mindset that people should spend four years in college and earn their degrees.
However, I don’t blame them one bit if they go for the NBA after one year of college because they will have a chance to make money for their talents.
If they are not able to make money during their time in college, then why should they stay for an entire four years.
When higher ups in the NCAA can make money off of student-athletes and then penalize them for trying to at least gain some cash from their own likeness, then something is wrong.
I am not encouraging any student athlete to break the rules of the NCAA.
What I am saying is that the NCAA should fix their byzantine rules.
One thing I wish would have happened was that one of the teams would have refused to play in the national tournament just to show their disgust with the NCAA.
In closing, I want to say congratulations to everyone for a great tournament and also the NCAA for making more money this year.
I just hope one day that student-athletes will have a chance to make some money from the success of the basketball tournament.
To finish this post, the NCAA has one of the best “passive income models” of any organization.
Video courtesy of T3SportsNCAA
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About Cheval John
Cheval John is the Founder and CEO of Vallano Media, LLC, a marketing agency which helps small to mid-sized businesses use social media correctly to build a loyal following and in the process become more profitable. Cheval is also the host of "What's The Word?" a podcast about finding out what inspires people to choose their respective careers and how social media impacted their lives and business. He is the author of two books including the Amazon Best-Seller, "8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn." He has spoken at Social Media Week Lima in Ohio and at Social Media Day Houston 2017 about topics around live streaming and podcasting. Cheval has been featured in media outlets including Ebony Magazine, Social Media Today and Forbes. He was named a Houston Top 25 Social Media Power Influencer (2016 and 2017) and a Twitter Top 50 Influencer by Onalytica in 2018.