The Kochs are spreading their gospel through through a multi-year national sponsorship of college sports, making an enormous media buy that will give the company advertising exposure at 15 universities in the Big 10, Big 12, and Missouri Valley Conferences.
Koch, making its first major foray into collegiate advertising and marketing, is using the sponsorships to recruit March Madness fans throughout the Midwest. The in-game mentions, radio advertising, Koch-branded towels, and signage will run during men’s and women’s basketball games and directs viewers to KochCareers.com.
Being a college athlete is a lot like the Koch’s vision for the middle class, says a recent Bloomberg View article:
Like student athletes, many of Koch’s employees also understand what it’s like to work for an organization that is against unions and and the protections they afford. The NCAA has fought efforts by Northwestern football players to unionize, touting the threat to “amateurism” and arguing that a college scholarship is compensation enough for athletes who generate nearly $1 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, political groups funded by David and Charles Koch are largely driving the push to spread union-busting right-to-work legislation, citing what they call “forced” unionization. The privately held company says IT generates $115 billion in annual revenue.
There’s another similarity: As the NCAA fights increased forms of player compensation, it’s being sued for violating minimum wage laws. The Kochs are famously opposed to the minimum wage — last June, Koch Industries executive vice president Richard Fink warned that increasing the minimum wage could turn the U.S. into Nazi Germany. Charles Koch has stated that the minimum wage is part of a “culture of dependency.”
In addition to these stances, the Kochs have advocated for abolishing the Department of Education, pushed to end federal support of student loans, and eliminate public funding for state colleges. So we know that they always have college students’ best interests at heart.
Greedy, opaque, and unscrupulous — Koch Industries and the NCAA have many shared values. These positions won’t come across your screen when you’re watching Sportscenter. But these two certainly sound like a match made in heaven.