Owe nothing? You’re kidding me. They get a top quality education for free and now get paid for it. If they play well, their families are set for life. Without the Universities most of these guys and their families would remain in the ghetto and in poverty for generations
“Top quality” education is debatable in most cases. They get a free education on a very inflated cost product. College should cost between $10-$20k/yr. So they get $40-$80k over 4 years while the universities make in some cases nearly a billion in that time period. And without the universities, we’d develop a system like what they use in Europe for soccer and basketball - where universities have almost no influence on sports. The pro teams support farm teams and lower division teams to field talent.
Free labor is slavery. Education? Let the other students pay for it. I would agree with you 100% back in the 80’s but in 30 years time the tables have turned-no equal transaction here. There’s the 1% who make it as pros. 25 scholarships/yr I believe. NFL gets a free minor league system out of it. 18 year olds unable to make a living in the free world. It leads to the draft-a showcase of black athletes with their crying mamas showing they have family values stability. WE could go on.
“They get a top quality education for free and now get paid for it.”
Uh, it would appear that a good majority of them still spell it “kollege”.
And, given the “woke” idiocy at top management and some of the players, my concern for the whole bunch existeth not.
Except they DON’T get a top quality education. They get pushed to the “for athletes” courses that are basically high school freshman versions of the same topic. They’re only set for life if they wind up in the NFL, more importantly into the second contract. A low enough percentage of them do that they almost have a better chance of winning the lottery. And the ones that ARE looking like they’re going to get drafted are choosing not to get hurt in a bowl game. If the goal is set for life, then skipping the bowl game is the right decision.
‘Without the Universities most of these guys and their families would remain in the ghetto and in poverty for generations’
and yet the bulk of freepers want to see the colleges dump sports...
Most are not graduating, and without the piece of paper, the time in college is worth almost nothing.
Of the starters on the 1980 Georgia national championship team, only one player (the center) graduated.
I doubt things have changed much.
Sure, you can blame the players (and I do) for not taking advantage of their free education. Far too many think they are on the road to riches in the NFL.
But then, how many coaches encourage that attitude also? “You need to focus on football, that’s your future.”
I think you’re looking at this wrong. MOST student athletes do not receive a quality education for free, nothing is free and most importantly the majority of student athletes could not comprehend a quality education, it is not their forte.
Student athletes generate more value to the school than the cost of the mediocre education provided them or they are sent packing. Hell, I’ll concede for the sake of the argument that a student athlete with a good intellect, discipline and focus still provides more value to university than the cost. There’s a reason university athletic directors and some coaches are the highest paid university staff. Some coaches make more than the governor of the state.
I started college on a partial football scholarship back in 1973. The system was bad then and IMHO, it has only gotten worse. Are the recent changes appropriate?
Truthfully I’m still undecided about how I feel about them legally paying the student athlete other than to say it’s always been done in some form or another. At least now the university is transparent and doesn’t have to be clandestine and also only pay off certain players?!?!?!
Of course, the days of team spirit and loyalty are gone just like free agency killed team loyalty in the NFL while offering the players the opportunity to sell their services at market value. We must remember, athletes even the student ones are a commodity, right?
And the revenues from football for the top four universities range from $56 million for U. of Mich to Texas' $92 million.....
The top NFL prospects aren't in college for the education, they're there for the chance to get drafted. And the colleges don't care if they get educated or not, they just want them play and win.
Additionally, if a star athlete receives a career ending injury, the university has no obligation to keep him on scholarship and definitely no obligation to provide him with whatever post college medical care that may be required.
Problem is that they don't get a top quality education.
They may get a degree that will allow them to be a PE teacher at some public school and that is about the most they get.
It they don't get injured.
If they do they will have a hard time getting any job that will cover their medical bills.
There should be a total separation of school and sports.
“Without the Universities most of these guys and their families would remain in the ghetto and in poverty for generations”
Exactly. Without Virginia Tech, Mike Vick would have ended up in prison.