Is college athletics a sweatshop?

CNN.com ^ | January 9, 2011 | Bob Greene

[misterrob]

I looked at this a bit further and found that the student scholarship athletes can earn up to $2K a year. That isn’t a whole lot when you think about it.

[Celtic Cross]

The point is, colleges should give scholarship precedence to those who excel ACEDEMICALLY. Isn't that what higher ‘education’ is meant to be about???

[RatRipper]

Yes, football and basketball players should get a stipend.

I agree. Most come from families with little financial means. The practice and workout schedules are such that they do not have much free time for part-time jobs. Free time would better be used for studying. Part time jobs are under a microscope from the NCAA Gestapo. And the good programs are making millions on them. You better believe, at least at the more successful programs, it is effectively a sweatshop.

My son got recruited some a few years ago. The dirty little secret is that players from poor families usually get the preference on athletic scholarships because they can use Federal government grant money to the student to offset costs to the scholarship funds. That is the REAL reason the disparity is so large in the number of blacks vs. whites on team rosters. I think they would have more because of basic talent levels, but not in such a wide disparity in terms of percentages.

[VegasCowboy]

Yes...a sweatshop where virtually every young athlete in America would love a chance to work.

A few of the big-name programs make big bucks on their football programs. Most struggle to get by, and frankly having to pay their athletes outside of scholarship/tutors/etc. would probably just fold up camp.

[brownsfan]

“The point is, colleges should give scholarship precedence to those who excel ACEDEMICALLY. Isn’t that what higher ‘education’ is meant to be about???”

I have to agree, the system has been deformed. College is about more than book learning. The idea is to produce a graduate with lots of experiences, not just classroom. And that’s why there are sports, clubs, trips, etc.

Major college sports, especially football and basketball have gotten out of hand. My point is, in the system, as it’s currently constituted, players for the money making sports teams should get a stipend beyond their scholarship.

[bray]

Go Ducks!!

[Mr. Blonde]

He said that the so-called "free ride"-- the popular term for athletic scholarships -- usually doesn't pay for an athlete's day-to-day living expenses, which some college athletes struggle to meet.

Football for sure and I think Basketball are not allowed to break up their scholarships. A full athletic scholarship covers room and board. No matter how they do that, cutting them a check if they live off campus or giving them a dorm room and meal card they can get all of their necessities other than clothes. That is a pretty good deal on top of the education they are getting. Just because the athlete doesn't think the education is as valuable as their ball handling skills doesn't mean it isn't. The profitability of football and basketball is already overstated it would probably drop to zero with paying the players.

[Comparative Advantage]

I can’t disagree. I didn’t know about the $2K maximum.

Interesting...

[Nonstatist]

If CNN is so worry about exploitation, why not get rid of Division 1 sports altogether? No scholarships for athletes, and the quality of sport drops to guys working out after going to class, like it was meant to be. Then , if the NBA and NFL want to have a minor league system, they can fund it themselves.

[Nonstatist]

Eliminate athletic scholarships and force these universities to focus on their core mission of educating students for tomorrow’s work needs. Sports team will still be there, however, the particpants will be actual students.

I agree. Make every college in the country Division 3 sports; no athletic scholarships, only walk-ons. If the NBA and NFL want to train athletes, let them do it on their own dime. To large extent thats what hockey and baseball do.

[fungoking]

“The point is, colleges should give scholarship precedence to those who excel ACEDEMICALLY. Isn’t that what higher ‘education’ is meant to be about???”

When you get 90,000 people stand out in cold weather and scream their heads off for the math club that generates 10’s of millions for the college let me know.

[Lost Highway]

It’s always easy to be generous with someone elses money.

[misterrob]

Raise the limits these men can EARN from having part time jobs outside of the game. Limit their hours so they not only EARN a degree but graduate.

College football is big business yet the ones doing the bulk of the work on Saturdays have limits placed on them. Why did Jeremy Bloom have to give up his endorsements from skiing just so he could play college ball? Nothing capitalistic about this and yet these institutions take in tax payer money be that state tax receipts of Federal money. They don’t pay any property taxes yet they still manage to sponge off the communities in which they operate.

[Yaelle]

I didn’t read the full article but a college scholarship is a wonderful thing for those kids!!! My experience is not with football, but with another sport in which the athletes are very well trained and work their asses off, because they love the sport and want to succeed. Being an NCAA athlete is a wonderful thing. It’s nothing to pity. MOST ATHLETES are not on TV like the b-ball and football guys are. They do it for the love of the sport, the thrill of tough competition, and the full or partial scholarship does not hurt.

[petitfour]

Full tuition, room and board. What else is needed? Clothes? Pell grants are rather generous nowadays. Anybody who has tuition, room and board paid can live off a Pell grant. And then there are student loans.

Those poor college athletes. Next they’ll whine about the poor high school athletes that get nothing from anyone.