Well, looks like I'll have Saturdays free...

[Spaceboy1980]

South Park understands it, lol:

Eric Cartman as Slave Owner - YouTube

 

[tastybasslines]

Couldn't have said it better...

However, I thought I wouldn't have had to break out my list as detailed as you did.

I mean, partying, buying food that isn't provided for you at the meal centers. I know for a fact that University of Florida and Florida State University football players are only allowed 2 meals per day from the dining facilities.

Beyond that you have smaller, quality of life things that other students with full ride scholarships still need, like:
sheets,
shoes,
clothing,
snacks for your dorm room,
the occasional dinner with friends at some cheap franchise store, and you don't want to feel like the poor guy at the table because you have no money, so you only get water and then eat breadsticks all night,
money to rent or buy a movie,
to get the new CD you want,
to buy a bass,
Fraternity dues,
Dinner with your girlfriend NOT at the meal center,
etc.,
I can go on and on.

These things are definitely not essential to life, sure, but without playing football or basketball or whatever, these kids could be out with a college job somewhere at Starbucks or something, and earning their own money to do with as they please. Instead, they have to devote 15+ hours each week to football so you can sit back on your couch, drink a beer, and enjoy the fruits of their labors.

I think it's time for you to stop being butthurt about this.

 

[XtreO]

Take the name "sports" out of it and call it "advertising". It's a business model. The advertise programs that meet on fields, in gyms and on tracks are marketing. The better the advertising, the better the draw of customers (students). You pay for advertising in the regular business world, why should this be any different. I suppose you could call them interns, but the fact remains that they do the work, they should share in the profits.

Well. I see it as just another way to get your tuition paid. You can go the brain-way or the sports-way, I don't actually see any difference between the two apart from the obvious. The sports-way generates a lot more money than the brain-way it is true, but that doesn't alter the fact that you do get your education paid. Considering the opportunities for the athletes, I'd say it's a pretty sweet deal even though they don't get much of the profits the college reaps from it.

 

[Jhengsman]

Well. I see it as just another way to get your tuition paid. You can go the brain-way or the sports-way, I don't actually see any difference between the two apart from the obvious. The sports-way generates a lot more money than the brain-way it is true, but that doesn't alter the fact that you do get your education paid. Considering the opportunities for the athletes, I'd say it's a pretty sweet deal even though they don't get much of the profits the college reaps from it.

It is the difference between a doctor practically giving his training years for free in hope of a higher paid future. The athlete who plays in a money generating sport has given away some of his most productive years as the cartel known as the NCAA, as the Olympic Committee dropped out of the slavery business, allows Miami of Ohio to keep some male football and basketball players.

 

[tastybasslines]

The one thing people forget is that there are no minor leagues for Pro football. Hockey, basketball and baseball all do. They can get paid there and try to improve and make a career for themselves. The CFL is not the minor leagues of the NFL - the NCAA is the equivalent of the minor leagues for the NFL, and the NCAA, a monopoly, with no checks and balances, squeeze every penny they can out of these players.

The whole system could use an overhaul, but it's just disgraceful to me for the colleges to NOT pay the players anything at all, under the guise of "integrity" and "college morals" etc...while the colleges rake it in and recently, sell out to new conferences to make even more money.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

The one thing people forget is that there are no minor leagues for Pro football. Hockey, basketball and baseball all do. They can get paid there and try to improve and make a career for themselves. The CFL is not the minor leagues of the NFL - the NCAA is the equivalent of the minor leagues for the NFL, and the NCAA, a monopoly, with no checks and balances, squeeze every penny they can out of these players.

The whole system could use an overhaul, but it's just disgraceful to me for the colleges to NOT pay the players anything at all, under the guise of "integrity" and "college morals" etc...while the colleges rake it in and recently, sell out to new conferences to make even more money.

+1

 

[FilterFunk]

I suspect they make more money on endorsements (Nike,etc), than they do on actual ticket sales. The coaches can and many do make a boatload of money.

Yep. And none of that "boatload of money" goes to the players who wear the uniforms that bear the Nike logo.

 

[sloasdaylight]

The one thing people forget is that there are no minor leagues for Pro football. Hockey, basketball and baseball all do. They can get paid there and try to improve and make a career for themselves. The CFL is not the minor leagues of the NFL - the NCAA is the equivalent of the minor leagues for the NFL, and the NCAA, a monopoly, with no checks and balances, squeeze every penny they can out of these players.

The whole system could use an overhaul, but it's just disgraceful to me for the colleges to NOT pay the players anything at all, under the guise of "integrity" and "college morals" etc...while the colleges rake it in and recently, sell out to new conferences to make even more money.

Booyah, big +1 as well.

 

[fhm555]

I was listening to a radio show and a guy was talking about what football would generate for one of our state universities.

He said football would earn the school more than 63 million this year.

 

[XtreO]

It is the difference between a doctor practically giving his training years for free in hope of a higher paid future. The athlete who plays in a money generating sport has given away some of his most productive years as the cartel known as the NCAA, as the Olympic Committee dropped out of the slavery business, allows Miami of Ohio to keep some male football and basketball players.

Goodness, no. It's the same as a med student doing work at a hospital during med school so they pay for his education. Or a law student working at an attorney's office to get his eduction paid. For the sake of the parallel; however much more profits the attorney's office gets for having the student there, he shouldn't expect a cut of that. He already gets paid. His tuition isn't paid for by him after all.

 

[fmoore200]

Has anybody read anywhere where there has been a study of the exact worth of a player at the college level (less the expenses of tuition, food, housing, transportation costs, books, etc..) ?

 

[Pilgrim]

It is the principle of the matter that bothers me. They are in college for an education, they are not paid athletes, nor should they be, even if you consider it(the dollar amount) to be a pittance.

I believe exactly to the contrary. I believe that they are entitled to be appropriately paid employees of the institution in the same sense that Teaching or Research Assistants are! They are making a valuable contribution in their own specific part of the college experience. To me, "appropriately" goes well beyond scholarships and board.

The principle to me is that they are living a lie, stating that they are amateurs. The institution benefits from their efforts in a way that is hugely disproportionate to their scholarship support.

Example: Research Assistants get scholarships and are also allowed to hold outside jobs. Their contributions are often minor and lead to discoveries with limited (at best) commercial value. Athletes can't hold jobs, can't sell anything they receive as a gift related to athletics, and provide support for a multi-million dollar athletic enterprise.

 

[basstotheface]

I'm fine with it as long as every player at every school is paid the same. I don't want the NCAA to become the MLB.

 

[BioDriver]

From what I've seen it's not as much as students on scholarships make. Hell, when I was on OU's symphony I made more in grants than the football (read: Adrian Peterson) and basketball players!

One thing to keep in mind is that these athletes don't intern during the summer, can't get a job due to their practice schedules, and their parents have to pay their way to away games. Ideally the grant money they're receiving would go toward the above.

Seriously, it's not a big deal. Watch the games and support your alma mater without letting politics get in the way.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

So Arena Football isn't considered minor league? This is a legit question, too. I figured if you didn't make the cut in the NFL you either went there or Canada to play.

 

[tastybasslines]

So Arena Football isn't considered minor league? This is a legit question, too. I figured if you didn't make the cut in the NFL you either went there or Canada to play.

No - first of all, it's a different game.

Second, those teams are not actually team or property of their professional counterparts.

MLB has thier own teams in the minors...same with hockey and the NBA has the D-League, all with teams that belong to the Pro team.

The NFL has only a practice squad, not another team or league.

 

[Jhengsman]

So Arena Football isn't considered minor league? This is a legit question, too. I figured if you didn't make the cut in the NFL you either went there or Canada to play.

No - first of all, it's a different game.

Second, those teams are not actually team or property of their professional counterparts.

MLB has thier own teams in the minors...same with hockey and the NBA has the D-League, all with teams that belong to the Pro team.

The NFL has only a practice squad, not another team or league.

It may not be a "Minor League" as MLB sees its minor leagues but just as basketball players who are unable to make it in the NBA or for their national team travel all over the world to keep their "hoop dream" alive. It is a minor league in that the pay is lower and it is a last chance to keep playing as they have aged out of or flunked out of NCAA football. And in the back of many minds is that they can be the next Kurt Warner.

 

[Chebass88]

...These things are definitely not essential to life, sure, but without playing football or basketball or whatever, these kids could be out with a college job somewhere at Starbucks or something, and earning their own money to do with as they please. Instead, they have to devote 15+ hours each week to football so you can sit back on your couch, drink a beer, and enjoy the fruits of their labors.

I agree with your listing of expenses. I disagree with this statement. The athletes subject themselves to these conditions in the hopes of playing professionally after school. They are not doing it for my entertainment. Of course, we can say that if there were no one to patronize it, there would be no sports, but the motivation for participation is not me or my benefit.

If they are good enough to play professionally after school, the salaries paid more than make up for any hardships during college.

 

[Southpaw5]

I believe exactly to the contrary. I believe that they are entitled to be appropriately paid employees of the institution in the same sense that Teaching or Research Assistants are! They are making a valuable contribution in their own specific part of the college experience. To me, "appropriately" goes well beyond scholarships and board.

The principle to me is that they are living a lie, stating that they are amateurs. The institution benefits from their efforts in a way that is hugely disproportionate to their scholarship support.

Example: Research Assistants get scholarships and are also allowed to hold outside jobs. Their contributions are often minor and lead to discoveries with limited (at best) commercial value. Athletes can't hold jobs, can't sell anything they receive as a gift related to athletics, and provide support for a multi-million dollar athletic enterprise.

If they are not in school for an education, they don't belong in college. Why don't schools just outsource them as employees and skip the education altogether. After all, that seems to be the sentiment, that they are here to play sports not learn, why not separate the two? Then they can be paid as amateurs without the guise that they are doing anything other than a job.

 

[macaroni tony]

If they are not in school for an education, they don't belong in college. Why don't schools just outsource them as employees and skip the education altogether. After all, that seems to be the sentiment, that they are here to play sports not learn, why not separate the two? Then they can be paid as amateurs without the guise that they are doing anything other than a job.

This seems to be the sentiment of many. In a perfect world, something like this would take place. Ain't gonna happen though