Posted on 01/10/2011 6:39:07 AM PST by Celtic Cross
(CNN) -- On Monday night, with millions of fans watching every play, Auburn will take on Oregon for the national championship of college football.
If you're viewing at home, you may notice the same thing you can observe each season at every massive college football stadium or glistening big-time college basketball arena:
Everyone working in the place is being paid: the hot dog vendors, the television broadcasters, the guy peddling game-day programs, the person who manufactured the university-logo jerseys and caps that are for sale at the souvenir stands, the employees changing lightbulbs in the tunnels. ...
Everyone except the people who are most responsible for putting the fans in the seats and in front of the TV screens at home: everyone except the players on the field.
(Yes, most if not all of them are the recipients of university scholarships. We'll get to that in a few moments.)
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
"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."
As do all college students, especially those who receive no money from the college because theres not enough left over after the athletes get their free ride.
Nobody is holding a gun to their heads forcing them to play. If they're not pleased with just a full scholarship, they can take their pampered selves someplace else.
Sounds like a good way to work your way through school to me. (I know that not all players get scholarships.)
Between tuition, and room and board, transportation to and from home a couple of times a year; it’s about $30-40,000.
Add great looking women wanting to be with you, it’s not a bad deal for the players.
Same here. What little I hear on the local AM stations some evenings right before I flip the station is the worship of college and in some cases HS ball players. Someone wants to play and does well, no problems there but the worship is unreal.
...and THAT should be the beginning AND the end of the discussion.
And the kids are not allowed to have jobs or receive outside assistance lest they be corrupted. Well, when the kid’s family is poor as dirt how is the kid supposed to get by?
“As do all college students, especially those who receive no money from the college because theres not enough left over after the athletes get their free ride. “
You think? Ohio State University got roughly $14 million for their appearance in the Sugar Bowl. That doesn’t count television revenue, ticket sales, and advertising throughout the season. The football team and the basketball team at most division I schools pays for the rest of the sports programs.
Football and basketball are big business at major colleges. The problem is, how do you break that out from everyone else? In the communist view, all must be treated the same. A member of the golf team, or tennis team is to be valued equally to the football team members.
Baloney, if a sport makes BIG money for a school, the athletes should be compensated. Yes, football and basketball players should get a stipend. Golf team, tennis team, volleyball team, sorry about your luck.
However,they don’t cover tattoos and gang-banger clothing!
Do Democrats sh*t in the woods???????? Yes!
Almost everyone of these kids who finish their eligibility or graduate, and are not selected to play in the next level—pro—,always end up in very good jobs given to them by influential alumni whether the former athlete is a glorified car salesmen,customer service rep or in marketing.
Alumni give the The former players these jobs as in public relations to sell/market the alumnus businesses.
Capitalism works well if we let it.
And it is naive and dripping with resentment.
These kids bring in millions of dollars for their university but are denied the opportunity to make extra money on the side to help get them through. For schools that recruit in poor areas the kids they bring in are not getting any real support from home. What good is a scholarship if the kids are destitute? If the kids are found to be getting perks like free meals from a local restaurant or getting some support from a booster then they lose their eligibility. Meanwhile, Head Coach gets an athletic shoe contract, a radio show, commercials and other $$ slots. A few million a year for the labors of a bunch of young men.
The system sucks....
Feel free to speak for yourself, but do not EVER assign me my thoughts and motives.
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.
It’s liberal ideology. Someone else makes money off of your labor. If they didn’t there wouldn’t be a job. I’m still paying off my student loans. Wonder how many student loans the football team has to deal with? It’s class warfare.
As far as the value of an education it varies from school to school. A full ride at Stanford can be worth $250,000. That ain’t working free.
shakin in my boots, bud
Then start a league with your own money and treat them “right”. You’ll obviously run e NCAA out of business.
Athletes are allowed to work during the summer months. At Ohio State, football players receive a $1600 a month stipend part of which is for housing. Apartments near OSU go for much less than that, so the rest of the money can be used for other needs (like skin art).
In my opinion, unions would kill the smaller/weaker programs and weed out alot opportunities to get good educations for high school athletes.
This is the same reason why I am against a college football playoff for DI-FSC. It would pair down college football to 30-40 teams and greatly reduce the athletic budgets and opportunities for vast numbers of athletes in many sports (college football and men's basketball are the only athletic money-makers for athletic programs and in some cases fund the budgets of all of the other sports at the university) that never will play professional sports.
Articles like this are written from the perspective of the very few elite of the elite that will play at the professional level.
What a simplistic answer to a problem of corruption
College is meant for education, not to be payed for a voluntary sport. My brother attends a private college, 'competitively priced', at $45,000 including room and board! Needless to say, he lives at home, paying 'only' the $32,000 a year tuition. For a respectable but never-heard-of college. He got the biggest scholarship open to home-schoolers, which covers less than half. Meanwhile these nitwits athletes who don't know an book from a blank get a free ride.
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