The players are getting paid, some in the 6 figure range to cover the cost if their education.

 

Yes, and so are the non athletic full ride scholars who play no part in bringing in ticket sales for events that benefit the universities.

Yes, quite a few D1 football programs make a pretty good profit, even though it is ridiculously expensive to field a top level football team. However, a good portion of these profits go to fund other sports and programs at those schools. And really, once you get outside of the major college programs, those smaller D1 schools (and none of the D2-D3) schools are really making big money. And only a small percentage, and probably a very tiny percentage of D1 athletes are high enough profile to sell jersey's to generate significant income. The stud player from Sam Houston State (just making up an example) isn't earning a ton of money for his school. You've got maybe a dozen guys in college football that can generate huge jersey sales. And as i said earlier, if you pay the football team, you gotta pay the women's field hockey team and every other athlete.

 

Ask any parent that is footing the bill for a kid in college how expensive it is, and how fortunate they would be to have a kid who had a full ride. How'd you like to have free gym access, free travel across the country a few times a year to play in a game, free food, free doctors, free trainers, free housing (with no utilities to pay) and a chance to be seen on national TV, plus a free education and opportunity to develop marketable skills that can lead to a career, not to mention the connections and networking opportunities for 4 years?? How much extra do you need to get paid. You mention exploitation.....how is it exploitation when the athlete gets so much in return?? The full ride long snapper is being exploited?? No way. Quite a few of these would never have gotten an opportunity to go school without the full ride...

 

I really love the way you guys quote this stuff as "free". Ask any DI/DII player how much time and work they put into earning and keeping their scholarship. Beyond the academic standards, the athletic standards are extremely demanding and definitely not considered "free". So the extra hours they spend on campus preparing for the season while the education scholarship kids are home on summer breaks and vacations. These athletes don't have time to maintain a job to earn money for car payments, clothes, gas and a few other minor ammenities that are needed on a daily basis. If they can't get it from their parents, where does it come from. So much goes into keeping an athletic scholarship that alot of people have no clue about, so to say it's "free" is just a bit inaccurate. Yes, the opportunity is a great one, but not always as glamorous as non experienced people perceive it to be.

Yes, quite a few D1 football programs make a pretty good profit, even though it is ridiculously expensive to field a top level football team. However, a good portion of these profits go to fund other sports and programs at those schools. And really, once you get outside of the major college programs, those smaller D1 schools (and none of the D2-D3) schools are really making big money. And only a small percentage, and probably a very tiny percentage of D1 athletes are high enough profile to sell jersey's to generate significant income. The stud player from Sam Houston State (just making up an example) isn't earning a ton of money for his school. You've got maybe a dozen guys in college football that can generate huge jersey sales. And as i said earlier, if you pay the football team, you gotta pay the women's field hockey team and every other athlete.

 

Ask any parent that is footing the bill for a kid in college how expensive it is, and how fortunate they would be to have a kid who had a full ride. How'd you like to have free gym access, free travel across the country a few times a year to play in a game, free food, free doctors, free trainers, free housing (with no utilities to pay) and a chance to be seen on national TV, plus a free education and opportunity to develop marketable skills that can lead to a career, not to mention the connections and networking opportunities for 4 years?? How much extra do you need to get paid. You mention exploitation.....how is it exploitation when the athlete gets so much in return?? The full ride long snapper is being exploited?? No way. Quite a few of these would never have gotten an opportunity to go school without the full ride...

 

 

That's why you pay a small percentage.

I really love the way you guys quote this stuff as "free". Ask any DI/DII player how much time and work they put into earning and keeping their scholarship. Beyond the academic standards, the athletic standards are extremely demanding and definitely not considered "free". So the extra hours they spend on campus preparing for the season while the education scholarship kids are home on summer breaks and vacations. These athletes don't have time to maintain a job to earn money for car payments, clothes, gas and a few other minor ammenities that are needed on a daily basis. If they can't get it from their parents, where does it come from. So much goes into keeping an athletic scholarship that alot of people have no clue about, so to say it's "free" is just a bit inaccurate. Yes, the opportunity is a great one, but not always as glamorous as non experienced people perceive it to be.

 

I was a D1 athlete so i do know what is involved. And despite the amount of work involved, the access to all the stuff I mentioned, much of which is not available to the average student, is definitely a nice perk to have, and a benefit. You make it sound like the opportunity is not a privilege. College itself is not easy, and athletics does make it harder. But you get preferential scheduling, unlimited access to the best tutors on campus if you need one, and other perks to help you out academically.

 

So while I'll agree it's not necessarily glamorous, it is still a pretty darn good gig, and better than the average non athlete.

Edited August 11, 201313 yr by rjs4470

I don't have a solution, but I do believe they should be compensated. This is an idea I have thought about and I know it has holes in it, but here goes:

 

In D-1 football and basketball (make it also the same as D-1 football), assign those schools to certain NFL and NBA teams and call them so called minor leaguers. To me college baseball at the big schools are high A or AA minor league levels. The difference would be that Alabama might be assigned to the Titans, LSU the Saints, Kentucky the Bengals, etc. It really doesn't have to be done regionally but can. Let the pros franchises decide how much they pay their athletes and trade them, call them up, choose the coaches, etc. If the kids want an education, let the pros pay them and market them, if not so be it. The rest of the kids in other divisions and organizations go into a draft as we have now. So if the Tennessee Vols are affilated with the Giants, then the Giants fund, control and oversee that program.

 

I know it will NEVER happen, but in some kind of weird way it makes sense to me. But I have no real allegience to any college program, but I would have more interest to those affilated with the Bengals.

Anyone who thinks the athletes should be paid, let me ask you this.

Are you willing to pay every athlete at the schools? You will have to, all athletes are under the same restrictions no matter if you are a football player or a water polo player.

Anyone who thinks the athletes should be paid, let me ask you this.

Are you willing to pay every athlete at the schools? You will have to, all athletes are under the same restrictions no matter if you are a football player or a water polo player.

 

Nope. I'm willing for the players to get paid their market value. As I stated before, you have a very finite time as a college athlete (especially at UK or Alabama or whatever) where you can make a large sum of money by sigining autographs, making appearances...things like that. If people are willing to pay money to get your name signed on a napkin, then you should be able to make money off of it. Guess what, in four years, the VAST majority of DI athletes will never come close to being able to make that type of money again.

 

I don't get comparing them to normal students. How does that impact whether they should get paid for the use of their likeness and image? Whether they do or not has little impact on normal students.

Nope. I'm willing for the players to get paid their market value. As I stated before, you have a very finite time as a college athlete (especially at UK or Alabama or whatever) where you can make a large sum of money by sigining autographs, making appearances...things like that. If people are willing to pay money to get your name signed on a napkin, then you should be able to make money off of it. Guess what, in four years, the VAST majority of DI athletes will never come close to being able to make that type of money again.

 

I don't get comparing them to normal students. How does that impact whether they should get paid for the use of their likeness and image? Whether they do or not has little impact on normal students.

How do you do this without it being a bidding war during recruiting? There is a small percentage of college athletes that would have much value realistically selling their autograph, but coming out of HS they all "Think" they are going to be a star and move on to the NBA and NFL. All of those kids would be expecting to sell their autographs and get "Paid", schools/boosters would be guaranteeing X amount of sales for X amount of dollars as a recruiting tool.

 

I just don't see how that can work.

How do you do this without it being a bidding war during recruiting? There is a small percentage of college athletes that would have much value realistically selling their autograph, but coming out of HS they all "Think" they are going to be a star and move on to the NBA and NFL. All of those kids would be expecting to sell their autographs and get "Paid", schools/boosters would be guaranteeing X amount of sales for X amount of dollars as a recruiting tool.

 

I just don't see how that can work.

 

Isn't that going on right now?

I've gone back and forth on this topic. Not really sure where I stand on the issue.

 

I do think the athletes should be paid in some way. If nothing else, maybe 100 - 200 dollars a week due to the fact that they truly don't have the time to have a job. I don't think this type of money would cut down on any booster/agent/player relationships though.

 

I'd love to see a situation where the top athletes could sign shoe contracts or other endorsements if offered. Again, this isn't completely fair due to different schools having different affiliations with Nike, Adidas, etc... The Nike schools seem to have enough advantage as it is.

Isn't that going on right now?

 

Not of that sort and no where near as wide spread as it would be if something like your proposal went into play.

I was a D1 athlete so i do know what is involved. And despite the amount of work involved, the access to all the stuff I mentioned, much of which is not available to the average student, is definitely a nice perk to have, and a benefit. You make it sound like the opportunity is not a privilege. College itself is not easy, and athletics does make it harder. But you get preferential scheduling, unlimited access to the best tutors on campus if you need one, and other perks to help you out academically.

 

So while I'll agree it's not necessarily glamorous, it is still a pretty darn good gig, and better than the average non athlete.

 

"How'd you like to have free gym access, free travel across the country a few times a year to play in a game, free food, free doctors, free trainers, free housing (with no utilities to pay) and a chance to be seen on national TV, plus a free education and opportunity"

 

The stuff you mention is pretty much available to all students that live on campus minus the preferential scheduling, and again that word "free" come across. Nothing is free, everything has a price and it's just my opinion that the athletes deserve a little more when coaches and schools are making millions off their backs.

"How'd you like to have free gym access, free travel across the country a few times a year to play in a game, free food, free doctors, free trainers, free housing (with no utilities to pay) and a chance to be seen on national TV, plus a free education and opportunity"

 

The stuff you mention is pretty much available to all students that live on campus minus the preferential scheduling, and again that word "free" come across. Nothing is free, everything has a price and it's just my opinion that the athletes deserve a little more when coaches and schools are making millions off their backs.

 

I get what you're saying about everything having a price. But, I can tell you, the universities ARE NOT making "millions" off of all athletes. I played D1 baseball (with a handful of guys who went on to play professionally), and my college didn't make a dime off of me or any of my teammates. Granted, this was low level, D1, and baseball generally doesn't generate very much revenue. But my example of the scholarship long snapper at a major university is a good example....nobody is making money off of him. Take UK for example (or for that matter any other major BCS school). UK basketball is a brand. Alabama football, USC football, etc, are all brands. It has very little to do with who plays for them as to how much revenue they generate on TV contracts, booster donations, etc. Heck Notre Dame has a lucrative TV deal while being a marginal team for the better part of the last 20 years. People don't like Notre Dame because of the players. These schools all have huge, loyal alumni bases (many of which are very well off). And in the states without pro sports (UK, Alabama, etc) they are the only game in town. The faces change year after year. Back to UK, how many players on the UK basketball team have been true marketing icons?? ....perhaps Anthony Davis with the whole unibrow thing, but for the most part the stuff you see in terms of merchandise is UK basketball, not individual players. What star has driven Alabama football merchandise sales lately?? It's all about the brand, not the players. Yes, you have to get players to help support the brand, but college sports are not a star driven entity like pro sports. It's the individual schools themselves. 99% of all college athletes have ZERO viability as marketing giants that the schools can make money off.

 

The only exception to this is the whole video game industry, and I do have a little bit of an issue with a players likeness being used without some sort of compensation.

Might want to check your facts there. UL is on par with all but 5 or 6 programs in the country, and are going to get a huge boost next year with the ACC cash influx. UL isn't Texas, OSU, Bama, Michigan or Florida but they will be right at the top of the list of the next group for a long time...

Not sure what your looking at but everything article I can find says you need to check your facts. Guess I'm not reading the right reports.

Anyone who thinks the athletes should be paid, let me ask you this.

Are you willing to pay every athlete at the schools? You will have to, all athletes are under the same restrictions no matter if you are a football player or a water polo player.

Actually, all options discussed to this point (like the MEA) involve only subsidizing fully-aided student athletes.

 

The Title IX issues are going to be very tough to work around with football in the mix.