@barrons There IS a pattern, and it is worrisome. It appears also to be a pattern that these companies tend to first run into trouble with authorities in the US rather than at home. Possibly, these companies, which are very large and very influential in a (compared to the US) fairly small country have been relying far too long on their great comnections with politics back home, where they could get away with stuff for far too long, neglecting to understand the differences in the regulatory environment. Possibly they are also targeted specifically due to a changing political climate which aims to eliminate foreign competition. It’s not as if business leaders aren’t chummy with leading politicians in the US, too. Not an excuse for breaking the law, though, and I hope compliance officers begin to seriously take note!
Enforcement by officials to punish bribery has become a lucrative area of litigation for the U.S. Justice Department. The Federal Corrupt Practices Act litigation is a powerful anti-corruption tool. It doesn’t prevent bad behavior, but the perps get hit with high fines etc., including disgorgement of profits. The violators almost always settle and pay, particularly if they want to avoid debarment as regards government procurements in the United States. Being placed on a U.S. debarment list can cause significant financial harm to a company. Sometimes we Yanks will team up with foreign prosecutors to really hammer violators.
@sylvan8798 This is been an open secret with regards to NCAA Men’s basketball for years. NCAA football is not nearly as bad for a few reasons. The shift from recruiting from high schools to AAU teams sponsored by shoe companies was asking for corruption. Also with basketball 1 player can make a huge difference as opposed to football where there are 85 full scholarship players and you need quite a few. Also, in general football players take longer to contribute. True freshmen aren’t normally star players for Football, where in basketball they are (given the best players are one and done).
I was sad to see USC included but not surprised. USC wanted to compete with the major programs and in general to do that you have to play the game. I’d say most of the top schools are involved in this kind of stuff, as are all the shoe companies.
That being said, if Adidas is at fault, it could be federally debarred from bidding on ANY contract with a public entity that receives federal money. U of Louisville is a public entity that receives federal money. Same is true if Nike is involved, though I imagine that a PR savvy company like Nike would quickly settle, as the loss of contracts for apparel and shoes from public universities such as North Carolina, Michigan, Penn State, Texas etc. would be a severe blow to Nike’s reputation.
I have a child at Auburn. I think it’s time for the AD to be fired as well. He already another major scandal with the girls softball program. Seems this guy isn’t promoting excellence in athletics and the school must be lacking an ethical leader. I believe ultimately it is his responsibility to hire, manage and foster a positive environment, and I’d say he’s doing exactly the opposite.
UCLA, Arizona, Texas A&M & Kansas have some of the most lucrative contracts with Adidas…hope they are not involved with this. Sadly, guessing that this also is not limited to Adidas. Nike and UnderArmor have huge contracts with schools…
I’ve read that since the Under Armor CEO is a former varsity athlete (lacrosse), he presents himself as more athlete-friendly vis-a-vis his own commercial interests. Then again, Phil Knight is a former varsity athlete himself. While I have never known Nike to be accused of corruption, despite Sonny Vacarro’s bitter feelings. Nike has had a transparency problem, however.
Nobody caught my error in Post #21; the actual title of the law is the FOREIGN Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA.
If whether or not your school’s basketball team plays post-season tournaments isn’t a big factor in your decision making, do you otherwise care about a scandal like this? I ask this because my DS18 is seriously considering Louisville. He is a national merit semifinalist (likely finalist) that wants to stay close to home, and Louisville offers a full ride for in-state NMFs, allowing him to save money for med school. Do you worry about something like this is your focus is only on academics?
No one in their right mind, at least among diligent parents and high school seniors, chooses a college solely based on the success of the school varsity teams. Northwestern, California-Berkeley, Virginia, Wisconsin-Madison, Texas-Austin or Vanderbilt haven’t won sports championships in years…yet they somehow continue to attract the brightest students in the U.S.
“I’ll speculate that Pitino is not directly involved in the bribery”.
I have always loved the Godfather movies. This reminds me of when Cicci was testifying to Congress about the Corleone organization. Buffers, someone between you and your possible superiors that passed along orders. Right, yeah buffers. The family had a lot of buffers.
Doesn’t seem to me that was the question. I think the issue is whether the fallout from the basketball program will negatively impact the school itself. I don’t think it will. One, its the athletic department which is separate from the academics of the school. Two, people tend to have short memories. Three, people making the decisions (such as HR people, medical school application committees) are much less likely to equate an issue with the basketball team and the academics of the school.
Are college sports a reason to pick a college? No. But for many kids they are part of the experience. From the looks of things Louisville may not have much of a basketball program for a period of time. Its part of the college experience. For kids who are there now and will be going forward, that part of the college experience may well be greatly reduced. for someone who doesn’t care about the athletics, that will not matter.
There have been several self-imposed death penalties over the past 30 +/- years, including one local to me at the University of San Francisco in 1982. USF killed their basketball program, which at the time was a Top 20 program and had won a few national championships. USF has never recovered in terms of an elite national basketball program.
UL won’t do it, but they should kill the program, with the whole prostitute-recruit problem so recent as well.
If I recall correctly, the prostitute-recruit scandal at Louisville was a similar sort of deal: Pitino denied knowledge of it and an assistant who was directly involved took the fall. We’re going to see the same defense here. But once it’s a repeated pattern, the head man has to take the hit for failing to keep the program clean. That’s ultimately the head coach’s responsibility, as well as the AD’s.
Last month, Adidas agreed to pay $160 million over 10 years for the University of Louisville to wear its apparel. That’s called a “deal.” Oh well, the kid on the BB team gets great footwear while he is playing without a salary.
LakeWashington- Vanderbilt won the College World Series a few years ago and is an annual contender in the baseball playoffs. Basketball usually makes the tournament. Football usually goes to a bowl game. Yes, at this moment baseball is the national championship level team, but don’t discount the importance of SEC sports to the Vandy students.
Hmm, major college sports corruption? In other news - water is wet!
There are more problems at Louisville than just basketball. The women’s lax coach has a bad reputation as being mean to her players, allowing hazing, allowing a few bullies to dominate. Some of it, I’m sure, is on the players, but this year 9 transferred. That’s a huge number, and there has to be a reason. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/lacrosse/2013/10/05/louisville-cardinals-womens-lacrosse-kellie-young/2930285/
In 2015, the football coach withdrew a scholarship offer from a recruit for nothing the recruit had done, the coach just found a player he liked more. The coach had done it before.http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/louisville-cardinals-national-signing-day-bobby-petrino-recruit-scholarship-020615
To me, this means the AD has no morals and lets the coaches do whatever they want. The teams bring in major money. If there is a death penalty, or even NCAA sanctions on lost scholarships and post season play, that means a lot of money. The conference(s) Louisville plays in could also impose sanctions (no TV money sharing, no hosting tournaments). If the school suddenly loses millions in revenue, I think the academics will also suffer.
It’s common practice unfortunately for football coaches to withdraw scholarships for no other reason than getting a better recruit. It may not be highly publicized but it’s very common.
These practices are not limited to Louisville.
In my opinion, college sports are a dog eat dog world.
I’m only surprised that more colleges weren’t involved. Probably because there aren’t more adidas schools and they haven’t caught the other shoe companies
Some schools are known to over-sign recruits. In football, if they have 25 scholarships available for the next year, they sign 30 kids on signing day. At that point, they are looking to lose 5 kids (either from that class or other classes already enrolled at the school). SEC was the king of that for a while though they have put in place some rule changes to address it.