Let's NOT Pay College Athletes
- Thread starter jerseyshorejohnny
- Start date
TRabinowitz
Member
Schools should not be forced to pay everyone, but should be allowed to pay anyone. Basically, there should be a free market system where student-athletes can negotiate a contract just like the coaches, ADs and administrators in the athletic department. They should also be allowed to accept endorsement deals and sign agents. A free market system avoids the issues of having to pay everyone. For 99% of NCAA athletes, a free education IS a good deal for them, however 1% of those athletes bring in 90% of the money, so it is unfair to cap their compensation at expenses-only. If coaches, administrators, ADs and presidents can benefit off the free market then student-athletes should be allowed to as well.
beast of the east
Active member
Your logic is honorable but has faults. A well endowed school could gain an even more formidable recruiting edge by paying top athletes more than anyone else could. I don't believe NCAA D1 athletes will get paid anytime soon, mostly because the NCAA has zero interest in that and more importantly there is no reasonable way to distribute welath unless it came directly from NCAA coffers and distributed evenly to D1 money producing sports participants. Then you have the issue where many D1 men's basketball schools belong to conferences without TV contracts, and attendance at games is in the hundreds if even that. If you don't pay those guys, a kid who has a chance to start at a lesser school could choose to get paid somewhere else, widening the gap.
I love the idea of a guaranteed education - at least tuition and fees for an extended period, and maybe room and board for 6 years for all D1 athletes in money producing sports. I'd also be in favor of an trust that matures at age 30 for all D1 athletes in revenue producing sports that is equal for all scholarship athletes in those sports.
Way beyond the direct revenue produced by the sport - ticket sales, tv money, and apparel and souvenir licensing, these athletes produce something equally as valuable - increased applications and resulting higher academic profile for many schools. Ask Georgetown alums from the 60s and 70s how relatively easy it was to gain admission there before basketball gave the school enormous national prominence.
The only real thing that schools have to spend on athletes is room and board. A seat in a classroom costs the university very little. Considering that the best athletes are one and done, they don't even get the benefit of a degree.
I'd have a tiny bit of feeling for these schools if the revenue produced reduced tuition for the general population of students. But considering that tuition, room and board is over $60,000 per year at many private schools, those with the highest revenue producing sports programs do not offer lower tuition than their counterpart schools with virtually no revenue producing sports.
TRabinowitz
Member
I disagree on this point. First off, the top tier recruits in football and basketball go to about 10% of D1 schools as it is, so in reality nothing would really change. There is already an incredibly stark imbalance in terms of where the talent goes. Secondly, I actually think in some cases you would have large donors at small schools that could bid enough for bigtime talent. If schools with stacked recruiting classes are spending considerable money on their top 4 or 5 guys in the class, there are schools that would be willing to load up an offer from boosters that is of high-major quality but wouldnt be a top priority for those well endowed top schools.
If the nba wants to restrict who is eligible to work for them than they are more than capable of doing so. NCAA has its own requirements to get into school, why cant the nba have theirs?
Have NBA create developmental club teams associated with (but not part of) universities, ie license the name St. John's, lease the campus arena, etc. Extend collective bargaining rights to players to establish a salary guide and cap for each team. Compensation includes free tuition if a player chooses to pursue a college degree, but is not obligated to do so.
Boom.
Problem solved.
Going to grab some lunch.
Probably take the rest of the afternoon off.
Boom.
Problem solved.
Going to grab some lunch.
Probably take the rest of the afternoon off.
College athletes are paid. Just heard Jim Calhoun say that his players received nine thousand dollars a year. Pell grant was six thousand and the school was permitted to give each player three thousand a year for expenses.
jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
WALL STREET JOURNAL OPINION LETTERS
Paying College Athletes for ‘Amateur’ Sports
College athletes have an opportunity for a “debt-free education,” but they have no free time to get one.
April 1, 2016 / Wall Street Journal / Letter's To The Editor
Regarding Prof. Howard P. Chudacoff’s “Let’s Not Pay College Athletes” (op-ed, March 29): The professor admits that college athletes “devote 40-60 hours a week practicing, playing and traveling for their sport.” Another way of saying that is that they are working full time, even overtime, in their athletic endeavors. They may get an opportunity for a “debt-free education,” as the Brown University professor notes, but they have virtually no free time to avail themselves of that opportunity.
He somewhat grudgingly notes that “some do help earn millions for their school.” Of course they do, and the millions they earn help pay the professor’s salary and the ridiculously extravagant salaries of the coaches and athletic directors who earn far more than university presidents. There’s something seriously wrong with this picture.
Don Kaul
Chicago
Not only are college athletes already compensated very handsomely for playing sports, Prof. Chudacoff doesn’t mention that this compensation is tax free, unlike the earnings from which most students pay for their education. If college athletes were taxed on the full value of what they received from their universities, I would be more sympathetic to their demands for higher compensation.
Thomas F. Schlafly
St. Louis
If the student athletes were paid a salary, an “arms race” would quickly develop in which the schools with the most money would start paying more and more to get and retain the best athletes. Forget about the quality of the school. As an example of a salary “arms race” just look at the packages that some colleges pay their football and basketball coaches even now, and the jumping around from conference to conference that takes place.
Joe Carbone
Southbury, Conn.
The most significant reason college athletes should not be paid is that playing a sport in college gives athletes the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities to professional sports organizations, which may, in their first contract term, pay them more than many of us earn in a lifetime.
Warren Herron
Marietta, Ga.
I’m sure Prof. Chudacoff would rather have top-shelf clothing, good food, access to state-of-the-art facilities and a leather-encased laptop for compensation instead of cash.
Dimitri Triantafyllides, CFA
Charlotte, N.C.
Allowing professionals to compete in the Olympics didn’t ruin the Olympics, and paying college athletes won’t ruin college sports. It will just create a little equity in the system.
Mark Gilles
Menlo Park, Calif.
What Mr. Chudacoff asserts isn’t true for most Division 1 schools. The more typical facilities my son had available in that division are nothing like the opulent facilities described.
John V. Leach
Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Paying College Athletes for ‘Amateur’ Sports
College athletes have an opportunity for a “debt-free education,” but they have no free time to get one.
April 1, 2016 / Wall Street Journal / Letter's To The Editor
Regarding Prof. Howard P. Chudacoff’s “Let’s Not Pay College Athletes” (op-ed, March 29): The professor admits that college athletes “devote 40-60 hours a week practicing, playing and traveling for their sport.” Another way of saying that is that they are working full time, even overtime, in their athletic endeavors. They may get an opportunity for a “debt-free education,” as the Brown University professor notes, but they have virtually no free time to avail themselves of that opportunity.
He somewhat grudgingly notes that “some do help earn millions for their school.” Of course they do, and the millions they earn help pay the professor’s salary and the ridiculously extravagant salaries of the coaches and athletic directors who earn far more than university presidents. There’s something seriously wrong with this picture.
Don Kaul
Chicago
Not only are college athletes already compensated very handsomely for playing sports, Prof. Chudacoff doesn’t mention that this compensation is tax free, unlike the earnings from which most students pay for their education. If college athletes were taxed on the full value of what they received from their universities, I would be more sympathetic to their demands for higher compensation.
Thomas F. Schlafly
St. Louis
If the student athletes were paid a salary, an “arms race” would quickly develop in which the schools with the most money would start paying more and more to get and retain the best athletes. Forget about the quality of the school. As an example of a salary “arms race” just look at the packages that some colleges pay their football and basketball coaches even now, and the jumping around from conference to conference that takes place.
Joe Carbone
Southbury, Conn.
The most significant reason college athletes should not be paid is that playing a sport in college gives athletes the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities to professional sports organizations, which may, in their first contract term, pay them more than many of us earn in a lifetime.
Warren Herron
Marietta, Ga.
I’m sure Prof. Chudacoff would rather have top-shelf clothing, good food, access to state-of-the-art facilities and a leather-encased laptop for compensation instead of cash.
Dimitri Triantafyllides, CFA
Charlotte, N.C.
Allowing professionals to compete in the Olympics didn’t ruin the Olympics, and paying college athletes won’t ruin college sports. It will just create a little equity in the system.
Mark Gilles
Menlo Park, Calif.
What Mr. Chudacoff asserts isn’t true for most Division 1 schools. The more typical facilities my son had available in that division are nothing like the opulent facilities described.
John V. Leach
Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Here is something to think about. When Coach K was first hired at Duke, his salary was $40 thousand dollars a year and his players got tuition, room, and board. Now his salary is over 4 million dollars a year and his players still only get tuition, room, and board. Something is very wrong here.
Just read that Coach K makes $6,043,979.00 a year not including bonuses. This is insane. Without the players, he is not worth anything. Imagine if all college athletes got together and said that we are not playing anymore until we get paid. Corporate America has such a big stake in sports that they would get paid.
Imagine a year without college football or basketball, you can't, can you.
Don't disagree with you Panther, but I couldn't have ever imagined not watching baseball again, and last time the players went on strike was the last time I paid for a ticket to a baseball game. I rarely watch a game on TV also. If college players were to go on strike, I'd just go find myself something else to do, like watch more high school games. Some sort of overhaul of the system is needed, but the players, the schools and corporate America had better think long and hard before letting it get to that point.
There is so much money passing through college football and basketball that there is no reason why the D1 athletes do not receive a modest stipend equal to what a part time job would pay to assist their expenses to merely serve as "W.A.M." (a/k/a walking around money).
And this is exactly the problem in the NCAA's argument. They want to turn around and use the tuition and room & board argument, but it just doesn't hold water when you look at these salaries:
Nick Saban - $7,087,481
Jim Harbaugh - $7,004,000
Urban Meyer - $5,860,000
Bob Stoops - $5,400,000
Jimbo Fisher - $5,150,000
beast of the east
Active member
Just think that attendance alone for the Final Four games yesterday was 75,000 - more than 3 times any NBA game. The TV audience worldwide was staggering. For the final days, college fans shift their own alliances from their own eliminated teams to other conference teams or secondary teams they follow. The revenue generated is phenomenal. Players are playing on the biggest stage of their lives - even bigger than the NBA stage some will ascend to. What do they get out of it all? Opulent cinder-block dorm rooms sleeping 10 feet from a teammate, even in a suite, and elegant cafeteria style food. Classrooms? Well, when you play big time college basketball, expect to miss enough classes that would fail an ordinary student where there is mandatory attendance. Even an average student would find it very hard to keep up athletic and academic responsibilities. Our own Chris Mullin graduated 13 years after the Final Four.
The system is a farce, but it won't change.
The system is a farce, but it won't change.
You would think that earning a degree in four years would be an accomplishment for an athlete but the system has become so corrupt over the years that it has become common for basketball players to earn degrees in three years allowing them to transfer and play elsewhere immediately.
Fifty years ago most basketball players left school after four years many credits short of earning a diploma. They had the option of continuing their education and earning a diploma or going without. Today's system is corrupt at even the most respected schools.
Fifty years ago most basketball players left school after four years many credits short of earning a diploma. They had the option of continuing their education and earning a diploma or going without. Today's system is corrupt at even the most respected schools.