In the fall, viewers will have the chance to scrutinize the billion-dollar industry that is the NCAA. According to Shadow And Act, HBO and LeBron James’ production company, SpringHill Entertainment, will premiere a new documentary titled Student Athlete on Oct. 2.
The program will focus its lens on the demands placed upon student-athletes from basketball and football’s collegiate levels: Rutgers University’s footballer Shamar Graves, University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team’s Nick Richards, and former Baylor University football team’s Silas Nacita are a few of the people featured.
Shadow And Act also states that the NCAA signed a $2.64 billion deal with three television networks to broadcast its games for the next six years. Student-athletes don’t get paid but rake in an insane amount of revenue for schools, coaches, and other faculty members.
“…From high-school recruiting to post-graduation, the usefulness of athletes is tied to their ability to produce revenue,” a press release reads. “Once they can no longer do that, their participation in sport ends – often abruptly – with virtually nothing to show for their contributions.”
Earlier this year, former NBA players Isiah Thomas and Chris Webber referred to the NCAA’s student players as “indentured servants” based on the ramifications of their contracts.
“You really give up your name, likeness, so forth and so on and you’re not paid for it,” Thomas said. “At some point in time, they were able to sell you on scholarship and education being a thing that you basically were compensated with, but revenue has continued to rise and we all understand this as NBA players because right now in college, their salaries are capped.”