Rules of the game | Unpaid professionals | Stretched thin | Time, money and resources | Choosing a major

Carole Browne, a professor in the biology department at Wake Forest University, said her daughter competed in college athletics, so she saw first-hand some of the repercussions of such a demanding activity. She said watching her daughter was part of the reason she became co-chair of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, a group of Division I university faculty senates that promotes reform of intercollegiate sports.

“To see what a huge toll it takes on them in terms of having a normal academic experience, a normal social experience of college, it’s virtually impossible when you’re playing at that level,” Browne said.

NCAA regulations limit the number of hours a team can practice to 20 each week. But Ken Struckmeyer, her coalition co-chair, said student athletes must actually devote much more time to their sport for things such as team meetings, volunteer work, viewing film and strength training.

“You kind of just go the whole day,” said Amanda Miller, a junior from Overland Park and track and cross country runner. “You’re with all your teammates so you’re talking about running, and when you’re not talking about running you’re at practice, and when you’re not at practice you’re getting ready for a meet or packing or you’re gone for the weekend.”

Struckmeyer said many athletes spend closer to 40 or 50 hours a week on their sports.

“I would say there are probably two or three sports that are professional for all intents and purposes,” he said. “That would be men’s football, men’s basketball, maybe women’s basketball.”

Max Utsler, associate professor of journalism, conducts an exercise to illustrate this point to his “Sports, Media and Society” class every year. He begins by writing the words “professional football and basketball” on the white board at the front of his classroom. He asks his students to make a list of words to describe these athletes. They start off predictably.

Extravagant facilities

Huge paychecks

TV appearances

Constant practices

Soon his students start having fun with it, moving to more outrageous, but no less accurate, descriptors.

Fast cars

Beautiful women

Rap sheets

VIP statuses

Video game avatars

The list grows until Utsler has filled the whole white board with these words — words that never seem to change, no matter how many semesters he leads the exercise.

Next, he erases the word “professional” from the heading. He rewrites it so the title now reads, “College Division I football and basketball.”

“Now what do you want me to take off this list?” he asks the class. “What no longer applies?”

The only thing they ever ask him to remove is “huge paychecks.” The rest of the list, the class concludes, still works under the new heading.

“The players don’t get paid — they are the most abused labor force in the country,” Utsler said. “Other than that, you try to tell me that what we’re doing up at dear old KU isn’t professional sports.”

And yet, that’s exactly what the University of Kansas and 348 other Division I schools around the country say. Their athletes all maintain “amateur” status, which prevents them from earning pay beyond scholarships, hiring agentd, or practicing or training with any professional teams.

“We exploit them terribly and they don’t get the reward,” said David Katzman, American studies professor and longtime critic of college athletics. “The NCAA acts not in the interest of the athletes but in the interest of producing revenue, or for coaches and for the universities.”

Though athletes are awarded scholarships, Katzman said, this is only a fraction of what they would be paid for the same services if they were competing for a professional team. On top of salaries, they would also receive payment for appearances and use of their names and likenesses for video games or jersey sales — things they are currently ineligible to receive payment for.

“We definitely don’t get the normal experience of going out, or even in participating in different clubs or things we’re interested in, or getting a job to save some money, or get an internship during the year. That’s just not possible, really,” Miller said. “But we all chose this for ourselves. It’s not like it’s being forced on us. You’ve gotta pick what you want.”

Introduction| Unpaid professionals | Stretched thin| Time, money and resources | Choosing a major

— Edited by Sarah Kelly