Should College Athletes Be Paid?

[donner]

How in the crap do you figure it was student lead? I have a child at Ole Miss working on her MBA and this was FORCED DOWN THEIR THROATS but the LIBERAL school president and faculty.

First, I said student-led in quotes because there wasn't much choice. However, the vote was called by the Associated Student Body, which is the elected body of students. Therefore, it was student led to an extent.

Second, i hope your child is having fun at Ole Miss. I know lot of the "liberal" faculty that you seem to have issues with (even married one) and they are mostly nice people. I don't always agree with their politics, but they are still good people. I was drinking with several of them tonight at City Grocery. I highly recommend it the next time you are in town. Go upstairs to the bar, ask for Chip, he'll hook you up.

 

[tran]

First, I said student-led in quotes because there wasn't much choice. However, the vote was called by the Associated Student Body, which is the elected body of students. Therefore, it was student led to an extent.

Second, i hope your child is having fun at Ole Miss. I know lot of the "liberal" faculty that you seem to have issues with (even married one) and they are mostly nice people. I don't always agree with their politics, but they are still good people. I was drinking with several of them tonight at City Grocery. I highly recommend it the next time you are in town. Go upstairs to the bar, ask for Chip, he'll hook you up.

Been there several time over the years. I was just pulling your chain over the Black Bears. I know it's a sore subject hell, it still pisses me off.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Robert871]

no. if anything i would say partial or full tuition and on campus lodging and meal tickets at the max a "free ride" but only pertaining to the school, not an off campus house, or money for off campus food, or a car.

if the kid is good enough to earn the money for playing a game, then they can do it all they want after they graduate, i feel they already get it easy enough what with some of them if not most of them, getting accepted into colleges that normally require higher academic performance then they had in high school, and charging them less if anything than they would someone who did have the competitive academic requirements .


from what i hear, which i should probably not say anything about since i do not have any proof form looking into it myself. but i also believe that if a school is going to take money from the state, and money form tuition, it should not be allowed to turn a profit from sports and selling crap. of course it sounds like most of them write the books so they never make a profit anyways. just my two cents. i know i am just a dumb community college punk that is dreaming of making it big, but it pissed me off when TCC took money from our glorious leaders and agreed to make the highschool grads of 2007 and i think 8 and 9 too, not have to pay tuition and i herd a rumor about books too. and then that same year they raised tuition prices for everyone else (i graduated 2006....).

 

[patrickcudd]

You guys need to look at all teams. I got paid over and above tuition, room and board in college, by the college, and it was all good by the NCAA.

I think it should be this way for all NCAA schools!

 

[mbear53]

No!!!!!!!

 

[fjtiii]

No! If they are on a scholarship they are getting a free education. What is that worth?

 

[JB Books]

Pay them in prostitutes and cocaine....just kidding.

I get the point many of you are making about them getting a free education, and you all are correct, it is worth a lot. However if any of you guys ever saw first hand what pressure the kids are under and the many restrictions they are under, you might have a different view. It is impossible for them to work a job like many other college kids do. They simply do not have the time. For all the revenue they bring the schools, they ought to get a stipend of spending money.

 

[rbror]

First of all the Athletic Department doesn't steal from the academic side. It is a separate entity and is its own corporation The academic side actually receives money from the athletic side. So don't worry about the athletic department paying their people more than professors, because it’s a different pool of money and its donated/earned money not tax payer money. The coaches and higher ups in the athletic department contribute to a multimillion dollar corporation and are paid as such. Most professors don't contribute to the university by making millions of dollars for the academic side of the university and so they do not get paid as well.
As far as the issue of athletes getting paid it is a slippery slope, but tuition, room, and board is not financially fair. There are more benefits than just the money, but it is a rip off when it comes to money. At a good BCS institution from 2005-2008 the two revenue generating sports (football and men's basketball) produced $291,525,827 collectively. There are 13 scholarships players per year on the men's basketball team and 85 football scholarships per year. Over a four year period the total the school paid for an out-of-state tuition player (this will be a high end number since there are in state players) including room, board, food, clothes, and any other expense paid to the player was ~$102,000. If this number is multiplied by 98 (total number of revenue generating athletes and considering them even in revenue generation which they are not) it is $9,996,000. This means that the athletes (the money makers) collectively got 3.4% of what they produced or about $280,000,000 of what they produced was given elsewhere. I know there are coaching expenses, training expenses, and administrative expenses, but don't act like the athletes are getting a fair shake. Even if the coaches, trainers, and administrators are accounted for with coaches at the university at about $6 million a year (these aren't OU's numbers I know Stoops makes this much himself), trainers/ doctors $2 million a year, and administration at $2 million/year (only the ones necessary for the revenue producing sports) and that is subtracted from the total the average scholarship athlete is still producing $612,244/year above what they receive. Travel and lodging for the games doesn't come close to accounting for this number. The players are being used. Yes they are “getting paid” with their scholarship, but it does not compared to what they produce.
Add on to that the average of about 50-60 hours per week of time it takes to fulfill all the commitments they have along with the bodily injury risk factor and financially it is terrible for the athletes. Many people will claim that athletes get a stipend for spending, reduced cost, special housing, or that some school's can pay their players more. Not true. The stipend is calculated based upon the cost of living in the area and the perceived cost of bills. So if a player is in Palo Alto their stipend would be greater than someone in Norman because it would cost more to live in the area. The stipend is only supposed to provide enough for the meals that are not paid for by the school, room/board, and bills such as gas, car insurance, cell phone bills, etc. The players do not get a reduced cost from the school, the two meals that the school above provided for the players (at the university above) cost ~$22/day and was taken out of the stipend money. The players live in "special" dorms, but these dorms by NCAA rules have to be open to all students even though they may be hard to get into and yes the players pay full price. It is almost impossible to have a job and follow NCAA guidelines so this stipend is the only source of money for the players.
It is a choice, but for many of the players it’s the only choice. It’s easy to say they could just go to college, but many of the players only chance to get a degree (or to play professionally) and pursue a better life is to participate in the system. There are no options for other than college to continue participating at the highest level possible at the time for the athletes. I don’t feel sorry for them it’s a great way to get through college, but financially they are being stolen from.

 

[LightningCrash]

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

 

[sumoj275]

There are some good arguments for and against. I will say the best thus far is from the new guy rbur. He makes many valid points, including how athletics covers a lot more than just their sport.