With the majority of the NBA draftees being African-American, but attending predominately white institutions (PWI) has caused historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) to struggle to get their players into the major leagues. The top athletes usually derived from the elite PWIs like Kansas, Oregon, or like the #1 Draft pick, Markelle Fultz, stemming from Washington. With the elite universities receiving all of the attention during the NBA Draft, of course, young men will want to attend these universities to continue their basketball career into the NBA.
The last time an HBCU basketball athlete drafted into the NBA Draft was back in 2012 with Kyle O’Quinn of Norfolk State University (NSU) and playing for the New York Knicks. When you don’t see your own kind as the majority instead of mopping around, do something about and show action. Andy Schwarz, an economist, and NCAA critic suggests that HBCUs create a league of their own compensating student-athletes changing the overall game of the NCAA. Reported from HBCU Sports, this could be beneficial for HBCU communities by creating careers and abiding by the HBCU overall goal “to serve and support the African-American community.”
The players in this proposed league would earn between $50,00 to $100,000 and allow the players to gain monetary value for signing autographs, endorsement meal and accepting gifts, and declare for the NBA draft “without losing their eligibility” reported by VICE Sports.Schwarz says that “one of the ways to bust up a monopoly is through disruption, [and] that’s the idea here.” It seems easy as 1-2-3 to execute this plan using the steps below:
“Step 1: Form an HBCU-exclusive basketball league.
Step 2: Tell the NCAA to pound sand, and pay the nation’s very best high school and college basketball players to be part of it.
Step 3: Profit. Oh, and also change the face of big-time campus athletics forever” (Vice Sports)
The same way that Uber took over the old-fashioned taxi business, this new HBCU league will disrupt the current NCAA rules and provide players with benefits that can help them and their families. Check out Andy Schwarz on this podcast talking about “Athlete Exploitation in College Sports”
Andy Schwarz Why do you believe this HBCU Free Market Idea will work?
1) “HBCUs can be a strong brand that Americans will like, regardless of race.”
2) “I think HBCUs are uniquely positioned to see the struggle for college athlete’s rights as part of a broader civil rights movement that they are already a part of. (Black males make up 56 percent of college football teams and 61 percent of college basketball teams)”
3) “I think amateurism as a demand driver is a fiction, and what actually sells is the blend of college brand value and basketball excellence. While the HBCUs brands today are not as strong as the best basketball PWIs [predominantly white institutions], they aren’t so far away that an infusion of talent won’t tip the tables.”
4) “Monopolies are horrible competitors when they get disrupted. Just ask a taxi driver whether his company responded well to Uber.”
Origianlly blogged on CampusLately
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