U Texas Signs $300M TV Rights Deal to Sell Its NCAA Athletes

The University of Texas just inked a $300 million television rights deal for a 24-hour network that will broadcast Longhorn athletes and games. ESPN is the partner in the deal and will distribute the network via satellite in Texas and other states around the country. The network is expected to launch in September.

Given that college athletes are serving as the foundation for massive wealth being generated by schools like the University of Texas, it is time that we consider allowing these athletes to have the same labor rights as other workers who generate wealth around the nation. The United Steel Workers Union has actually spoken out on behalf of NCAA athletes, stating that they should have the right to unionize to ensure that their families can benefit from the wealth being created in these massive financial deals.

African Americans should be concerned about deals like this one for the following reasons: 1) many of the top NCAA athletes in America are black, 2) many of the families of these athletes are in poverty and 3) many athletes are not being educated when they attend football factories like The University of Texas, making them unable to return to their communities as productive husbands and fathers. Systems such as this one serve to undermine the stability of the black family in America and have deep roots in American systemic inequality.

Texas is not only a state that generates hundreds of millions of dollars off of African American athletes. It also happens to have one of the most well-developed prison industrial complexes in the nation. Both of these realities are correlated with the collective effort to exploit the African American male, consistently supporting legislative principles that serve to deny him access to the very same freedoms enjoyed by other Americans (notice that there isn't much interest in supporting the labor rights of prison inmates either) . If black people do not stand together to confront these very serious problems, then they will never go away. At some point, the families of these athletes should be allowed to benefit from the billions that their children are generating on the field, and I recommend a work stoppage to get the point across.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.