The Drake Group Applauds U.S. Senator Murphy’s Report on Need for Intercollegiate Athletics Reform

PRESS RELEASE – MARCH 28, 2019

Fritz Polite, President
The Drake Group
(407) 758-0811
fpolite@su.edu
TheDrakeGroup.org

The Drake Group Applauds U.S. Senator Murphy’s Report on Need for Intercollegiate Athletics Reform

NEW HAVEN, CONN. – The Drake Group applauded U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy’s (DCT) report, released today, on the current status of intercollegiate athletics finances: Madness, Inc. How Everyone is Getting Rich Off College Sports – Except the Players.

Dr. Fritz Polite, president of The Drake Group, commented: “Senator Murphy properly raises the issue of whether it is appropriate for tax-exempt institutions of higher education with commercially successful athletic programs to spend more on coaches’ salaries than educational scholarships for athletes. Senator Murphy properly questions whether it is proper for these non-profit educational institutions to expend funds building “athletic palaces and amusement park amenities” in order to attract athletically talented teenagers. The Drake Group also agrees with the Senator’s premise that these athletic programs are making a lot of money for coaches, athletic directors, broadcasters, corporate sponsors and apparel companies while not enough money is being used to benefit athletes, especially in the area of provision of comprehensive health care and insurance that deals with long term health consequences. To make matters worse, athletes themselves are unfairly restricted from making money on their own time by antiquated NCAA amateur status rules. Even if an athlete does not use his or her affiliation with the institution, these NCAA rules do not allow athletes to start their own sports camp businesses, earn fees for giving sports skill lessons, participate in commercial advertisements, endorse products or retain an agent to help them do any of these things. None of these activities involve playing for a professional sports team which should be the only disqualifying factor for participating in college athletics. We concur with Senator Murphy that college athletes deserve a better shake – a meaningful education, protection of their health and well-being and the freedom to explore employment opportunities just like non-athlete students. The Drake Group urges the Senator to continue to play a leadership role in developing a bipartisan Congressional effort to address these issues.”