刊行物
｜ ENGLISH ｜
Aaron L. Miller
Even if they take place on university campuses, elite ‘amateur’ sports in the U.S. are today commercialized, corporate affairs. Athletes in big-time sports like football and men’s basketball play their games in multi-million dollar stadiums and train in state-of-the-art facilities. Elite college athletes are ‘paid’ (indirectly, in the form of academic scholarships, room and board) as much as $60,000 per year for services to the university, and universities with successful sports programs reap millions of dollars and invaluable publicity in return. Millions of dollars changes hands between media (especially television) networks, corporate sponsors, and university athletic departments. Because they do not have to pay players significant ‘professional’ salaries, universities (and their affiliate media networks and corporate sponsors) may even net more money on margin than professional league teams.
Big-time college sports like football and basketball, in addition to being extremely profitable enterprises, effectively function as minor league organizations for professional leagues like the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Endorsement deals, endowed scholarships earmarked for certain sports or well-paid ‘coaching- ships’ for specific appointments, extensive in-game advertisements by international, national and local businesses have shifted the emphasis on college sports away from education and ‘amateurism’. Now more than ever, college sports in the U.S. are chiefly about making money.
On the college women’s basketball team that I am currently observing, young student-athletes aged 18- 23 pursue their ‘profession’ with a level of seriousness, dedication and one-track mindedness unheard of in previous generations. This dedication reflects the seriousness with which they take the responsibility of acting as representatives of their university. They spend half their waking day playing basketball, weightlifting or perfecting their jump shots. They put aside time with their boyfriends to watch film of their opponents’ most recent games. They travel all over the country for games and tournaments; university or athletic department budgets cover their expenses. Many hope to play in professional leagues following graduation, but in a sense, they are already professionals. Indeed, there is little about their efforts that could be considered ‘amateur’.
Still, despite this professionalization and commer- cialization, some continue to champion the educational value of these so-called ‘amateur’ sports. They say that such ‘amateur sports’ can cultivate character. They say that sports in educational institutions foster self- discipline, teamwork, and hard work. The idea that sports develop character is among the most significant ‘educational’ goals that organizations like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) - a tax-exempt non-profit organization that oversees most college sports–champion.
在外研究中のスタンフォード大学で
My Hakubi Project is about these two countervailing forces: the desire to keep college sports ‘amateur’ and ‘educational’ and the desire to make money off it. It seeks to explain in rich ethnographic detail how these ‘professional’ student-athletes go about their day, the struggles they experience, and why they invest so many hours into these athletic pursuits. It seeks to answer the following two questions: ‘How can college sports develop ‘character’ if they are increasingly commercialized and seen primarily as money-making endeavors?’ ‘Are making money and making good people compatible pursuits?’
（あーろん みらー）
