While the NCAA tournament has its share of undeniably great moments, it’s tough to forget that the NCAA is generating billions of dollars off the work of unpaid basketball players.
Everything at the NCAA tournament is sponsored — from the seat cushions to the required BodyArmor cups on press row. Despite the massive corporate presence, the players don’t leave with much in return for their hard work. There’s a gift package for making the Final Four, but other players have gotten more creative in search of March Madness souvenirs.
They’re taking the “March Madness” rugs straight from the locker rooms.
The Wall Street Journal published a story on Sunday about the trend of missing rugs from NCAA tournament locker rooms. Well, Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon made an excellent proposal in exchange for the NCAA’s rug.
Bohannon shared a screenshot of Nicholas Baer’s Snapchat, showing that very rug at Baer’s dorm/apartment.
If the NCAA wants its rug back, it will need to let players profit off their names. Seems like a fair deal to me.
Sadly, it looks like the NCAA will live with some missing rugs to keep the status quo.
