美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Big 10 conference signed a historic deal, but the athletes aren't getting paid

The Big 10 conference signed a historic deal, but the athletes aren't getting paid

Transcript¹

The Big 10 conference just signed a historic multibillion-dollar broadcast deal with a number of networks. Will the college athletes themselves see any portion of that money?

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

There is a lot of money to be made from college sports. Just ask the Big 10 Conference. Last month, it announced an exclusive broadcast deal reportedly worth more than $7 billion. But as NPR's Andrew Limbong reports, none of it will be going directly into the players' pockets.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE²: At a training camp press conference, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud was asked by a reporter if a cut of the Big 10 broadcast deal should be going to the athletes.

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CJ STROUD: I mean, I don't - I'll probably have to think about that a little more. But just off rip, I would say yes.

LIMBONG: He goes on to give a more diplomatic answer, saying that, yeah, his tuition is covered and he's grateful for that. But...

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STROUD: Me personally, my mom has always taught me to know my worth.

LIMBONG: Jason Stahl is the head of the College Football Players Association - or CFBPA.

JASON STAHL: They're not even pretending anymore. It's about money. It's about creating the biggest deal you possibly can so you can get a lot of good press in the sports and entertainment industry.

LIMBONG: The CFPBA isn't a union but more like an advocacy and organizing group that's argued that athletes playing in this upper tier of college football should get a cut of the revenue. NPR reached out to the Big 10 for a response, but they didn't get back to us in time. Stahl says that in the past, the Big 10 would have argued that everything they do is in the service of educating the student athlete. But now with this deal and, over the summer, adding two California schools to the conference, that pretense³ is gone.

STAHL: Because the idea that a college athlete getting on a cross-continental flight to play a game is somehow in service of an academic agenda is, obviously, absurd.

LIMBONG: There's been one recent change that's allowed college athletes access to a source of income. About a year ago, after a Supreme⁴ Court ruling, the NCAA changed their rules to allow student athletes to monetize off their name, image and likeness⁵. This means now college athletes are allowed to get endorsement⁶ deals and do commercials. But that's third-party money, not money coming from the team, school or conference system.

STAHL: I think that the money that they're making for the universities definitely outweigh⁷ the price of that college tuition.

LIMBONG: Jordan Meachum is on the leadership committee of the CFBPA. He's also a former college football player himself, mostly playing at Sacred Heart University before moving to South Dakota State University. And he says that for him, getting paid would have meant that he didn't have to stress out about regular expenses - food, rent, books.

JORDAN MEACHUM: If I would have been able to receive some sort of compensation or some kind of help, I would have not focused on the other things as much and put more focus into academics and football and so on.

LIMBONG: Victoria Jackson is a sports historian at Arizona State University. She says, historically, we as a culture understood the athletic⁸ scholarship as a fair trade for their efforts. But now...

VICTORIA JACKSON: These athletes play for schools that are bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars, conferences that are bringing in now billions of dollars and an NCAA system, in total, that's bringing in close to $20 billion annually⁹.

LIMBONG: Football and basketball take up a lot of the conversation around college sports because they bring in the money, money that's used to subsidize other sports, which introduces a racial dynamic to this, says Jackson, considering the top tier players in NCAA football and basketball are majority Black.

JACKSON: And the athletes who are being subsidized are often the privileged kids who play water polo or rowing or tennis or golf and are less likely to be in need of having a scholarship experience as the reason they get to go to college.

LIMBONG: She says she'd like to see the conferences righting this. But it might, again, come upon the Supreme Court to do something about it.

Andrew Limbong, NPR News.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 pretense   

n.矫饰，做作，借口

参考例句：

• You can't keep up the pretense any longer.你无法继续伪装下去了。
• Pretense invariably impresses only the pretender.弄虚作假欺骗不了真正的行家。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

6 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

7 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

8 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

9 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。