Pro - big programs
Semi-pro - wage limits.
Amateur - only scholarships like now.
The current system is b.s. where colleges make hundreds of millions of dollars for sports programs while paying a pittance to atheletes and forbidding them to earn more.
So, how does a college player, like a star QB, share his jersey revenues with the following people who were provided for him free of charge:
A: his offensive linemen
B: his receivers
C: the coaches who made him better.
D: the trainers who made him better.
E: the university, that filled the stadium with fans long before he got there, and will long after he leaves.
F: the citizens of the state, who built the stadium
G: the journalists who give him tens of millions of dollars of free press
….etc etc etc….see where this is going? The notion that a current crop of players “generate the revenue” is just fallacious.
Are you suggesting that the athlete is free to use the school's copyrighted name and logo in order to profit from selling his merchandise?
Colleges have rights, too.
NFL players do not use their team logos without permission.
The ideal of paying college football players is nonsense. First, only about 25 major programs make a profit as it is now. (One article says 22 in 2010, and I’ve heard 26 during some recent discussion on sports radio).
And does anyone seriously think, in today’s legal environment, that any school could get away with paying only football players?
There might be some basis for giving players a cut of profits made from merchandising, autographs and other profitable activities in which players might participate.
But the idea of paying players is complete nonsense. But, hey, what about those huge high school programs in football crazy states that make a profit? Should those HS boys be cut in on the profits? They don’t receive anything for their efforts but personal satisfaction and recognition. (And HS basketball players in some areas.)
Allowing standout college athletes to make money off of likenesses, jerseys, etc is the answer to this.
NCAA played themselves into this, and they were warned every step of the way.
Every step.
The NCAA is a cartel. Pure and simple. It needs to go away, just like the BCS did. It too was a cartel.
More proof that a fool and his money was lucky to find each other in the first place.
Do you guys really think the Div I premier athletes are getting an education? They might be getting a diploma but many of these guys graduate barely able to read and write.
For example USC got caught creating special classes just for their athletes which turned out to be fake, on paper only, classes.
There are thousands of stories out there where even at honest colleges the athletes, coaches and parents would pay “tutors” to do all the athletes assignments and take the exams for them.
College Athletes absolutely be on a stipend. It isn’t like they have time to hold a part-time job while they play or train. Personally I think they should be given $2k a month plus free tuition, housing, books and food.
If they are employees, don’t they have to declare their free tuition, books, fees and tutors as income and pay taxes on it?
OK, here is my 2 cents, as if anyone really cares.
College sports is a multibillion dollar enterprise that has allowed the university system to get filthy rich from sea to shining sea in America.
There is not a medium sized city in this country that does not have some sort of higher education entity in its area. Whether it be a community, state University.
These education entities are raking in big bucks off the talent of athletes. Usually basketball, football, and baseball, are the sports that rake in the big bucks.
These big bucks allow the higher education system to buy up properties at a rate far higher than the civilian sector in the areas. In Chico, where I live, Chico State University is the largest property holder in the are, just above Enloe Hospital.
These university systems use their tax free money to influence the politics in every city and town they reside in. Ever wonder why all these college towns are so liberal when the surrounding areas are conservative? Well it all goes back to the money.
We all bitch and complain about the way these so called higher education entities do more to propagandize our children to get them to vote against their parents then they do teaching them anything worth using. After all, a good 85% of college graduates never ever get a job in the field they studied in college.
So, back to the athletes. I think each and every kid who is playing any type of sports that the higher education entity is making money off, should get paid. Then, if the kid wants to go to class, let them pay for it out of their salary.
Then, we can eliminate the charade that is played and accept the fact that college Basketball, Football, and baseball, are nothing more than a minor league training system for professional sports.
This will reduce the money the university systems are making and maybe just maybe reduce the amount of money these tax exempt entities use to influence politics in cities and towns across America. Along with maybe just maybe they will discontinue teaching students propaganda and get back to educating them on how to actually get a job from what they are learning.
Your third paragraph is poorly written. You jump from thesis to thesis with no bridge.
Might want an editor.
Future potential college athletes will rue this day. We'll soon be witnessing the end of college football as we know it.