Schooled: The Price Of College Sports is a timely sports documentary that goes in-depth into the business of college athletics as the debate rages on over whether to pay student-athletes playing for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The documentary, narrated by Sam Rockwell and directed by Ross Finkel, Jon Paley and Trevor Martin, takes a look at the money behind college athletics and the NCAA through interviews with athletes, administrators, journalists and sports analysts, and experts in the field breaking down the history of the NCAA and how it built itself from a one-office operation with a part-time employee on the payroll to the handlers of a billion industry based built on the concept of sports amateurism.
The documentary goes into great detail looking at the definition of amateurism in sports, both as defined by the NCAA as well as the misconceptions many sports fans have about amateur sports; which Sports Illustrated reporter Frank Deford points out was an idea developed in the 19th century by England's upper class to keep the working class out of sports.
"Many people think that amateurism goes back to the Greek Olympians, which is perfect nonsense," said Deford in the film. "The Greek Olympians were professionals. They made money, they got draft deferment, they got women, they got real estate. They would have thought you were crazy to do all that hard work for a laurel reef."
Schooled: The Price Of College Sports also takes a hard look at the history behind the legality of the term "student-athlete," a stipulation in every collegiate athlete's scholarship contract, created by the NCAA's Walters Byers to avoid paying workers compensation for athletes. The film discusses how the term "student-athlete" came into play in the case of Kent Waldrep, who sued Texas Christian University after he severely injured his neck playing running back for the school in 1974, resulting in not only paralysis but the school rescinding their scholarship aid, preventing him from finishing his education.
Waldrep sued TCU in 1991, seeking to be labeled an employee of the university in order to receive workers compensation, claiming he was recruited to play football and that his scholarship contract was a contract for work, with coaches controlling his schedule and pay.
"TCU was able to walk away from responsibility for Kent Waldrep because of this student-athlete myth," said sports historian Keith Dunnavant in the film.
The documentary further delves into the difficulty of balancing academics and athletics for student-athletes, having to put in multiple hours of workouts, practice, and game film study for their teams while still juggling the responsibilities of being a student. Filmmakers focused on the University of North Carolina (UNC) 2012 academic scandal, in which the African and Afro-American Studies department created "paper classes," which provided athletes with easy grades, to show how schools are falling short of their responsibility towards education while trying to keep their athletes academically eligible and the NCAA's reluctance to address the problem.
"The NCAA is making money off of the backs of students who are being told, in a contract, that they're going to play their sports and get an education," said Mary Willingham, a learning specialist at the University of North Carolina and whistle-blower in the school's academic scandal. "But the contract is false. When they leave school, they may have a degree but they may not have an education."
The film also features interviews with current players such as Houston Texans running back Arian Foster, Green Bay Packers running back Johnathan Franklin and Minnesota Vikings punter Jeff Locke, all of who talk frankly about their NCAA experience. Foster, in particular, paints a stark picture of taking money under the table and the guilt of having to sneak around despite his alma mater, the University of Tennessee, making millions off his work on the field. Foster claims, in the documentary, that some teammates went to other extremes to be able to pay rent or buy groceries.
"There were a lot guys on my team that sold drugs," said Foster. "Some of them sold drugs, that's why you hear a lot about guys selling their rings. They're just trying to eat, man. It was total [expletive] but you don't say anything because if you say anything, you're stepping out of line and that will hurt your chances of getting into the next level."
Produced by former Major League Baseball manager Bobby Valentine along with Pulitzer Prize-winning civil rights scholar Taylor Branch--the author of the 2011 The Atlantic article, The Shame of College Sports-- as well as head of the National Football League's Players Association Domonique Foxworth, and Andrew J. Muscato, Schooled: The Price Of College Sports premieres Wednesday night, 8 p.m. EST on EPIX On Demand - available on multiple media platforms including Xbox, PS3, Roku, iPads, iPhones and more.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
