Should college athletes get paid?

[gingi79]

The more research I do into this, the less clear the answer becomes. To me, the simple answer is "yes, of course" Except I mean only those athletes that have helped make literally billions of dollars for their schools. That limits said athletes to essentially, Mens Football and Mens Basketball.

Some things in the way (fair or not) Title IX makes it illegal. Duke lacrosse makes more for their school than Hillbilly State Football does for theirs, how would we decide who gets paid what?

Some nonsense the NCAA needs to stop pretending: they would lose money and that the student's education is their compensation.

I have no easy answers (and the long one is boring) just want to stimulate debate and conversation.

[johnsontravis@ymail.com]

No they should not. There is no point for college sports if they are paid. It is just wrong.

The education is enough compensation. Most players couldn't get into those colleges they attend for sports. A lot of them would be stuck at community college if not for their athletic skill. If they are so good to make their school a lot of money they will get it in 3 years from a pro team. The education these top players get is easily in the $150,000 range and some even more. And considering a lot get into colleges they could my get in normally it might as well be priceless.

I'd rather see them be aloud to skip college waaaaay way way before I would want to see college athletes paid.

[xpress34]

From a previous thread on this same subject:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...73&postcount=3

[xpress34]

On top of my previous post, a comment that I heard on The Herd (Colin Cowherd) on ESPN radio while in Dallas during the NFL draft...

Something like 65-70% of the college players who declare for the draft go undrafted... many of these are players who were on scholarships - but are no longer, because once you declare, you give up the scholarship and your status to return to the team.

That said, that implies that a lot of players don't give a crap about the scholarship and learning, they are just looking for the big payday in the draft...

And they want to get paid while they are just biding their time looking to skip out on the school to try and go pro?

[Skizzick]

I always thought there should be a system of loans in place for college athletes. There are a number of athletes that join a college team without any money to their name, with families to support even at ages 17-19.
Why not have a system that allows athletes to receive loans for them to support their families or themselves while they are in college, and the payback interest rates would be determined by their salaries in their first year out of school. The ones with the higher salaries (i.e. those drafted or signed to NFL teams) would pay higher interest rates, while those who don't go into the NFL have low (or no) interest on their loans. This could balance out so those who do not have a job after college could have their loans forgiven, offset by those who make it big.
This essentially takes what boosters and agents have been doing illegally and making it legal, regulated, and out in the open.

[johnsontravis@ymail.com]

I always thought there should be a system of loans in place for college athletes. There are a number of athletes that join a college team without any money to their name, with families to support even at ages 17-19.
Why not have a system that allows athletes to receive loans for them to support their families or themselves while they are in college, and the payback interest rates would be determined by their salaries in their first year out of school. The ones with the higher salaries (i.e. those drafted or signed to NFL teams) would pay higher interest rates, while those who don't go into the NFL have low (or no) interest on their loans. This could balance out so those who do not have a job after college could have their loans forgiven, offset by those who make it big.
This essentially takes what boosters and agents have been doing illegally and making it legal, regulated, and out in the open.

1. Giving out $100,000 loans to people with nothing sounds like one of the worst ideas I have ever heard.

2. Saying they need to support their families is a massive lie. There families get by now and have in the past...they will in the future. It is 3-4 years to wait.

All these athletes that think they should be paid are just money hungry for themselves. This idea, while clever, would never work realistically.

[johnsontravis@ymail.com]

I always thought there should be a system of loans in place for college athletes. There are a number of athletes that join a college team without any money to their name, with families to support even at ages 17-19.
Why not have a system that allows athletes to receive loans for them to support their families or themselves while they are in college, and the payback interest rates would be determined by their salaries in their first year out of school. The ones with the higher salaries (i.e. those drafted or signed to NFL teams) would pay higher interest rates, while those who don't go into the NFL have low (or no) interest on their loans. This could balance out so those who do not have a job after college could have their loans forgiven, offset by those who make it big.
This essentially takes what boosters and agents have been doing illegally and making it legal, regulated, and out in the open.

To be honest the idea is a bit baffling the more I think about it. You want to give athletes already on a full ride super low interest rates on massive loans to help their family? And maybe even make them dissapear under certain circumstances? All this when a normal student can't get a loan or only with horrible terms?

You smell that? I think it is all the D1 schools being burned down by angry mobs.

[gingi79]

Thanks for the replies. Some really valid points brought up, I appreciate you giving me more to think about.

An entirely new can of worms was opened by johnsontravis@ymail.com re: these kids who would never get into the school they play for if they couldn't ball. I'd love to see statistics of how many squandered their opportunity at a school like, let's say, Duke. The academic reputation of DU is just below Ivy League like Brandeis in Boston. The Valedictorian of my (then nationally ranked in the top 100 Public Schools in the country) High School went to Duke with a weighted average of 104% He didn't even get a full ride.

I remember when the lead plaintiff in one of these lawsuits, Ed O'Bannon, was getting ready to declare for the draft. He was talked about with the same esteem of his HOF predecessors at UCLA. I also remember the laughable lack of ability he showed compared to other Pro's during his time with the NJ Nets. I realize at least a significant chunk of this lawsuit is probably some version of sour grapes, a "future star" who became a never was. But he isn't totally wrong. I wouldn't want someone to make a video game of awesome elementary school teachers and have a handsome, hysterical redhead with my name attached if I wasn't getting financial recognition for it.

(If you don't know, Ed is suing for likeness rights and the ability to charge companies such as EA Sports for using his name and college number in their video game. Right! Because everyone is buying this game to play as the 1995 Bruins with O'Bannon rather than the 1982 Tar Heels with Worthy and Jordan or Phi Slama Jamma's U of Houston or even any other UCLA team with Jabbar or Walton or even Reggie Miller. But I digress)

Sadly, now I have even more questions and issues that need to be addressed than before. Serves me right for stirring the pot.

[Mark17]

This is a great post, mostly because the subject really is involved and multi-faceted. There are a lot of perspectives to take into account.

On the one hand, I think the players, who work hard to generate a lot of revenue, deserve compensation. And, I think their compensation is the scholarship itself. And if they don't like that deal, they don't have to accept it.

But, if the college route is the only way they can develop their shills and showcase their talent, they really have limited options. So... what I think would be the ideal solution would be for some businessmen to get together and form a minor league for both football and basketball, which would provide an option for young, talented athletes to get paid for their services right out of high school.

That way, the kids who value education could go that route, the kids who didn't care about college but did care about their sport could go that route, and everyone would win, because colleges wouldn't be filled with athletes who didn't care about the education and kids who wanted their sport to be their job could move straight from high school into employment.

In baseball, there are minor leagues, semi-pro leagues, and so on. I believe the St. Paul Saints have public tryouts every spring. Football and basketball are different because it simply requires more time for a players body to grow and mature to the point of being able to play with the big guys, but if there were leagues for players age 17 to 21, something like that, then these kids could play, have a job they loved, get paid, and develop their skills.

It might also make them give some thought to nwhat they're going to do after they get too old for that league... so part of their contract might include some sort of education benefit, so they could attend school after their playing careers were over (and then focus on education.)

The big question to that would be, could leagues like that be economically viable?

[cjclong]

If a college athlete is paid a salary then wouldn't he or she be taxed on it? If the schools have to hire athletes wouldn't they have to do away with sports that aren't money makers. Professional male athletes make more money than most female professional athletes, wouldn't this hold true if college athletes are paid?
Right now baseball seems to have the best system. If an athlete is only interested in playing the sport and money he can play in the minor leagues. If he wants an education as well he can take a scholarship to a college if offered. The only area I am in agreement with those who want to unionize college sports is that those who are injured should be properly cared for, and perhaps the colleges should have insurance policies if a player is injured. Also, once a player is given a scholarship he shouldn't be run off if he doesn't turn out to be a star as long as he fulfills his side of the deal with effort. What the schools might do is have a limit on the amount of money spent on the absurd cost of college athletics now and plow some of that revenue money that comes from sports back into actual education and lowering tuition costs.