Should we pay players?

[KansasCityCats]

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/27210000/ncaa-start-paying-athletes-208m-settlement

I'm clearly in the minority.  If a "student athlete" wants to make money off their name/likeness, they should play professional sports immediately out of high school.

The point of playing NCAA athletics is to obtain a degree & prepare yourself for the next level (if you're talented enough to make a living as a professional).  With a free degree, food plan, workout facilities/trainers, upscale housing, academic advisers and a "rock-star lifestyle", it's hard to argue that our basketball players aren't getting reimbursed for their time in Tucson.  Hell, my financial adviser said that it will likely cost me $400K/child to attend college when they graduate high school in 12-14 years. 

If the players want to make money immediately...drop out of college & become a pro.  If you want a degree (and the ability to have a real job), enjoy your time on campus because somebody is "holding your hand" throughout the process.  It's a hell of a lot easier to coast through school when you have resources to help you with homework on a daily basis...

The O'Bannon argument is BS.  Look at the books; almost every athletic department is in the red (or at a break-even).  The universities don't have the ability to pay athletes...and I'm glad that they don't because most small sports (gymnastics, tennis, track, volleyball, etc) would be cut if we gave preferential treatment to football/basketball (and possibly baseball/softball).  I love the fact that my daughter may have the opportunity to get a free education because she excels at soccer. 

Don't take away the opportunity for the majority of student-athletes because some greedy future NBA lottery pick can't wait 1-2 years to make money.  Follow RJ Hampton, Brandon Jennings & Terry Armstrong's lead.  Play overseas, make money immediately, skip the college experience and do us all a huge favor.

[Little George]

It is a totally crap set of rules they ha e either way. A player can make millions on a baseball co tract, then co.e back to play football, but can no longer make money? I think It was Greg Anthony from Unlv that had his own shirt company. Not sport related. The NCAA made him sell it or not play. Why? The NCAA was making money using player names with EA Sports and the players can do nothing? I just don't like the double standards and unfair judge.ents handed out by the NCAA as well as some crap rules they have.

[PBCatfan]

Lololol I could not disagree with you more. At no point in the last 50 years has college football or basketball been "clean". Not once. Not ever. So basically we can either get rid of college athletics or we allow the players to earn money in the free market at whatever age they are able to command compensation.

Any argument to the contrary is just a gee golly, head-buried in the sand, out of touch opinion not based in reality.

You will never get rid of money in college sports and it is foolish to pretend it is possible.

[Little George]

Lololol I could not disagree with you more. At no point in the last 50 years has college football or basketball been "clean". Not once. Not ever. So basically we can either get rid of college athletics or we allow the players to earn money in the free market at whatever age they are able to command compensation.

Any argument to the contrary is just a gee golly, head-buried in the sand, out of touch opinion not based in reality.

You will never get rid of money in college sports and it is foolish to pretend it is possible.

You are not disagreeing with me!
In the EA Sports scheme they merely needed to compensate the players for using their names. The rules are screwed up. That is just what it is. The NCAA is responsible for this mess and they hand out punishments based on their own benefit not equally to all schools. The NCAA is at the heart of corruption in college sports. Why is it Anthony had to lose his business?

The NCAA should be an oversite organization, but instead it is a greedy group of extortionists taking advantage of students. They should be force to non-profit status and to divide all income amou g the institutions/athletes they proclaim they are protecting.

[KansasCityCats]

Yup.  The "return after baseball" rule is a horrible contradiction to the NCAA's standards.  I agree that players should be able to run successful entrepreneurial businesses that are not related to college athletics.

PBC is absolutely right that the system has been broken for decades.  After football is investigated by the FBI (or whatever ridiculous group decides to take on the project), I assume that "some" of the side-money will disappear.  It's still crooked, and likely will be for a while.

[PBCatfan]

Yep LG and KC. It really is as simple as this: College Fball and Bball are a billon dollar industry. Alabama and Clemson have 100's of millions on the line. The notion that adult men, ambitious, competitive MEN would allow the whims of a 16 or 17 year old teenager to determine and dictate THEIR success is just foolish. Nick Saban, Rick Pitino, Sean Miller, Coach K, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Dabo Swinney, Lane Kiffin, or literally any other head coach at the elite level. A ton of mid majors were involved in this last bs FBI investigation. Tiny schools who just happened to snag a player who developed into a stud and they wanted to keep him. They have families, legacies, expectations.


This is big business and should be thought of that way. It has NEVER been left up to just which school these kids actually like or what classes they want to take. It never has and it never will.

It is that simple. I don't understand what the opposing argument could be so if anyone has a solid one please share, I am genuinely interested.

[KansasCityCats]

The NFL's rule is that they think their sport is unsafe for kids to play prior to age 21.  If a kid wants to get an education prior to that age, go play NCAA football & follow the rules of your school's "enforcer".

If you want to go into the workforce, play in the CFL or go get a real job (while training) until you're eligible for the league.

This is a professional league issue...not a collegiate issue.  The simple fact is that college athletes can play in NCAA affiliated programs if they want to get an education while under NCAA rules.  If not, they can make the decision to do something else with their lives.  Nobody is forcing them to go to college.

College football is a big business for a handful of schools.  Even Arizona was not profitable on the following list: https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/

Texas had the highest revenue, but they only profited approximately $7MM.  Of their 682 student athletes, would you really want to give $10,264/kid, or would you only give preferential treatment to the "money sports"?

There are too many questions and issues involved that would keep collegiate athletics lopsided if personal money became involved.  It's a greedy argument for families of athletes that can't make their own choices in life.

[PBCatfan]

I think we got our wires crossed here KC. NOBODY is advocating for the schools to pay the players. You just allow the players to earn money in the free market. They are very different things but allowing the free market to take care of it makes your point about an individual program's revenue and profitability totally irrelevant.

[Little George]

I think we got our wires crossed here KC. NOBODY is advocating for the schools to pay the players. You just allow the players to earn money in the free market. They are very different things but allowing the free market to take care of it makes your point about an individual program's revenue and profitability totally irrelevant.

Yes, Like when Greg Anthony owned his own shirt business prior to ever going to college and they made him get rid of it? Stupid!

[KansasCityCats]

Totally agree.  Sorry, it's such a loaded question because there are so many different ways for "amateurs" to make money.

The Anthony thing was ridiculous & I don't get how you push kids away from pursuing their own businesses, while attempting to educate them as business-people.  So silly.