Misery in Missouri

In a move that sent shockwaves through the nation, the Missouri Tigers football team refused to play their upcoming game last Saturday against BYU unless President Tim Wolfe gave up his position as a result of recent racial tensions on campus.

He resigned in just two days, and the team won, 20-16.

While Wolfe wasn’t going to have the job for long amidst the controversy at the school, it wasn’t until the football team stood their ground that he immediately surrendered. His move makes complete sense; had the team sat out the game, the school would’ve owed BYU $1 million for forfeiting.

We’ve seen this before, most recently at Grambling State in 2013. If a team boycotts, people WILL pay attention to the reason behind the movement. And changes WILL be made.

This most recent boycott may set a scary precedent for the NCAA and schools around the nation. If a team doesn’t like an existing condition on campus, what’s to keep them from refusing to play until said condition is resolved? Sure, the school could revoke scholarships, but the media would have a field day; no PR Director could keep that under control. So, that leaves the school with two options: give in to demands or continue without a team and lose millions of dollars in the process.

Once student-athletes figure out that a school will do anything to avoid losing money, they have all the power.

This brings us to another interesting point; how far would a school be willing to go to keep their student-athletes playing? Is the job of an esteemed professor worth $1 million in forfeiture fees and possibly more? What about the job of a beloved head coach?

Unfortunately, it’s easy to see that this will end up leading to an abuse of power from student-athletes against these schools (ironic, isn’t it?). Without their moneymaking sports teams, these schools are rendered powerless and are under complete control.

The only resolution I see is to pay student-athletes wages. At least then, teams will stop and think about what they are fighting for and if it is really worth possibly losing thousands of dollars a year for. As of now, most student-athletes have next to nothing to lose.

For years, college football and student athletes in general have been neglected and profited off of by the NCAA. In fact, the NCAA made an astronomical $989 million in total revenue in 2014.
Perhaps the tables have turned.