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Should college athletes be paid?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Mar 27, 2014.

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Should college athletes be paid?

  1. Yes

    32 vote(s)
    51.6%
  2. No

    30 vote(s)
    48.4%
  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    We, of course, have other threads on this. But I think the unionization nuance kind of mucks things up a little bit right now. I'm not sure we've ever put it to a straight "yay" or "nay" vote here.

    I'm also interested in hearing, from those who vote "no," your specific objection. The ones I frequently hear seem to fall under one or more of the following categories:

    • College sports could not survive this new world where $1,000 handshakes and no-show jobs are essentially legitimized.
    • A free education is more than enough compensation, and the athletes should be happy with what they already get.
    • This will actually make things worse for athletes, not better.
    • It would simply be too difficult to practically implement, particularly because of Title IX, but for perhaps other reasons, as well.
    • It would compromise the purity of college sports that separate them from professional sports.

     
  2. 3_Octave_Fart

    3_Octave_Fart Well-Known Member

    Fuck all college sports.
    Tear down the entire edifice.
     
  3. lakefront

    lakefront Well-Known Member

    no=A free education is more than enough compensation, and the athletes should be happy with what they already get.
     
  4. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    All polls will show that the public (which largely resents athletes for very petty reasons) doesn't think athletes should be paid their true market value. There's little doubt on that.
     
  5. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Can we break it down to college athletes in the handful of revenue generating sports?
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Should they get a small monthly stipend so they can go to dinner or buy some clothes? Sure...

    Beyond that, no...
     
  7. MTM

    MTM Well-Known Member

    -- A free education is more than enough compensation, and the athletes should be happy with what they already get.

    -- It would simply be too difficult to practically implement, particularly because of Title IX, but for perhaps other reasons, as well.

    If we pay them, money would have to be taken out for tuition, room and board, leaving most athletes with a bigger bill than what they take home.
     
  8. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Of course, most don't even get this.
     
  9. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    The NCAA makes $11.5 million for each of the 67 NCAA games every year. I think they can rustle the couch and find a little change.
     
  10. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    They should start paying the Rick Pitinos and guys in blazers who run bowl games in free education. I wonder how that would go over.
     
  11. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    This thread is a good example of how the world works. Given the theoretical chance to be a boss of something, most people choose to exploit others and justify their choice with specious (to be kind) reasoning.
     
  12. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    You know, if athletes in football and men's basketball were actually GETTING an education, I'd buy that argument.

    But how many classes are the student-athletes who play basketball for a Sweet 16 team going to attend the next few weeks? How many classes does a one-and-done basketball player EVER actually attend? Yet that one-and-done basketball player is taking a spot in a class that a real student might actually want.

    (And yes, even athletes in non-rev sports miss a fair amount of class. A college professor friend of mine, whose classes have an attendance policy that I wouldn't call "strict," says it's all but impossible for an athlete in any sport to get an A in his class just because of attendance.)

    A free education is a great idea. And maybe if the semi-pros were playing elsewhere -- or were simply employees of the school, who would have the option of attending classes at the prevailing rates offered to school employees -- people who actually wanted an education would be able to get one.
     
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