Free Recruiting
July 28th, 2009 - byThe New York Times wrote an interesting article highlighting the cost college coaches are willing to pay for informational packets on the high school basketball summer league circuit. As the economy has slumped and budgets have tightened, tournament promoters have raised the price of informational to unheard of levels.
Tournament organizers and summer basketball coaches have long charged significant fees for packets of information about potential Division I recruits – player rosters, phone numbers and e-mail addresses – that are the lifeblood of the billion-dollar college basketball business.
But with the economy sagging, college recruiting budgets being slashed and tournaments in the April recruiting period being eliminated because of an N.C.A.A. rule change, the costs and the complaints have risen sharply this summer.
Coaches have been especially irate at tournaments where the packet is a mandatory part of admission, in some cases making it cost hundreds of dollars to watch one game. They point to the N.C.A.A., which approves all the tournaments coaches can attend, as an enabler.
Not all packet purchases double as admission costs. But this week in Las Vegas, where five tournaments featured thousands of players, the packet costs ranged from $180 to $275, with cash being preferred.
A black market of bootleg packets and copies of receipts flourished so freely that tournament directors policed copy centers to prevent coaches from making duplicates. At numerous events this summer, coaches have changed out of their university-logoed shirts to watch games disguised as fans to save hundreds of dollars.
“It’s a crazy racket,” said Yale Coach James Jones, who once paid $350 to watch one player play a single game in South Carolina. His other option was to buy the tournament organizer Jeff Schneider’s $600 recruiting service.
“It’s extortion,” Jones said.
I would tend to agree that these prices are way out of wack with the spirit of amateur athletics. Recruiting needs to be made EASIER and MORE COST EFFECTIVE for college coaches. Its due to this fundamental belief that NCSA’s Recruit-Match Database is 100% free to college coaches. I encourage student-athletes to sign up for their FREE scouting report!
