Typically, they are the only students who actually bring money into the university. With the recent explosion of college sports scandals (especially football) being made public, the argument that these players deserve to be paid is becoming more common.
What do you guys think? Are these collegiate athletes entitled to a piece of the pie they helped create, or are the scholarships and (oftentimes) free university education compensation enough?
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From: muddersmilk | #002 I see no reason why they can't sell their own stuff. That is just dumb.
Agree on that point. That Tim Tebow guy (I don't really follow college sports) is an adult. No reason he couldn't have signed a contract with Nike while playing college ball.
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muddersmilk posted... Don't pay them (beyond scholarships), but I see no reason why they can't sell their own stuff. That is just dumb.
This. There is really no feasible way to pay players enough to stop them from taking benefits, so just get rid of the ridiculous rules like "You can't sell your own jersey, even though the school makes millions off your jersey".
I don't know. Some players have to practice and study and that's basically all they do, they don't have time for a job, and some of them are not on full rides, or still have to pay living expenses/etc.
From: ExThaNemesis | #003 Absolutely not. They get compensated more than enough by getting to go to school for free.
This
And it brings in a ton of legality issues about title IX and which sports should pay which players and how to keep competition balanced and stuff.
Because if you pay players a flat rate, then it hurts school that don't make as much money from football, but if you make it a sliding scale, then all the good players will have more incentive to go to schools that make more money and it would make it an uneven advantage for big schools.
its just bad all around
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From: Dr_Football | #012 And yeah, only a few football programs actually turn a profit
Really... wow, I didn't think that was the case at all. I thought football programs were cash cows and that if it weren't for Title IX, universities across the country would drop tons of small teams and pump even more in football. My bad.
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But yea you are actually correct, football and to a smaller extent basketball pay for all the other sports at the college, and if they were able to get rid of those sports, would make a profit.
Of course Title IX sucks for many good reasons too
The reason you can't let players sell stuff is that any booster could pay a player ludicrous amounts of money for anything. It would used as a recruiting tool. Come and play for us and I'll buy your practice jersey for thousands of dollars.
The best solution I've heard so far is to give every school in the country amnesty for past trangressions, but have incredibly strict monetary penalties to be levied on the universities for violations going forward. That way school officials won't sit idly by raking in cash while the football team runs wild. They'll actually have to do something about it.