Should college athletes be paid?

This I agree with, if you want to let the players earn money while at college, let them do it using their name. Let Johnny Football sign all the footballs he wants and can charge for. Let them sell their shit. But I do not think the college should be paying them directly beyond their scholarship.

 

It's the system's fault if a significant percentage of athletes don't go to class or take Basket Weaving 101.

 

Full-riders get to graduate owing nothing. Don't have to fret about paying down that student loan for the next 25 years. All they have to do is play sports and earn a diploma. It's not easy, a college education is difficult, but they're given every opportunity, with perks, to earn that diploma that should get them started in the real world. It's their fault if they don't take every opportunity with perks.

Now, the coaches and athletic administrators and NCAA execs who make the eleventy million a year, that's another issue and another discussion.

 

Good fot that O lineman.

 

Sure, if you're going to pretend it's "free."

It's not. They are getting a free education in exchange -- and at Northwestern, that's worth $60k plus a year.

I don't like that that college sports has been bastardized into a minor league for football and basketball, but the answer isn't the screw up the system even more. The answer is for the NBA and NFL to replicate the baseball and hockey systems, nd let college sports be for college students.

 

See my previous reply. But I have no problem with players making money off their own name at college, my issue is with the college paying them on top of the scholarship. That money should (although I know in most cases it just gets churned back into the football/basketball program -- another angry rant altogether) get put back into the college, you know, to teach kids and stuff, as that is what the schools are actually for.

 

It's really the only way you can do it and do the same for all of the scholarship athletes, and not separate them based on how much revenue their sports generate.

I worked my way through school, so I don't have a ton of sympathy for these guys who are given a free education, free housing. The lone valid complaint is that not having spending money tethers them to the school a bit more than they like.

I've seen kids at schools walk into the athletic dining hall and order a steak. 10 minutes later they have a meal that is as good as anything you can get at a restaurant right in front of them. I don't think every school has that, but the program I covered most recently did... I remember saying, "Wow, that's sweet..." and the response was, "Yeah, but I'd rather be able to go to Denny's with my friends, but this doesn't cost me anything..."

If they don't want to go to college they don't have to. Basketball players can go play in Europe for a year or two. It would be harder for football players, but there are a couple who have done it.

 

Let's say the average cost of annual scholarship at private school is
$50,000. How much more beyond the $50,000 should an athlete be
paid?

 

Again, if a significant percentage of them are not taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity, then the problem is with the system, not necessarily the individuals. Some individuals may be at fault, as well, but the system is the problem. This is no different a conundrum than poverty, where the "individual responsibility" argument, writ large, also sidesteps the systemic issues.

 

First of all, almost nobody actually pays $50,000 for undergraduate tuition. It's practically a made-up number.

Second: I don't know. I don't think $50,000 a year is an extravagant salary for the level of skill a lot of these guys have.

 

We have to get away from what we did to get through school. It is irrelevant when comparing yourself to football and basketball players. It seems the only reason you don't want them to get paid is out of bitterness of how you went through college.

 

Not saying I disagree. Just pointing out the flaw in this "should not be paid, but should be allowed to sell their signature" reasoning I occasionally hear. The implications of opening that pandora's box are unlimited. Letting em sell signatures/jerseys would inevitably and immediately lead to disguised salaries.

Just either let em be paid or not. That middle ground ain't gonna work.