<p>"In a decision on Friday, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California, ruled that a group of players could sue the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a class action, in an effort to change rules that bar athletes from earning money on their images." ...</p>
<p>Johnny Football becomes Johnny Billionaire.</p>
<p>Judge's</a> Ruling Allows College Athletes A Cut Of TV Money - Business Insider</p>
<p>This bothers me. </p>
<p>“The lawsuit takes on the highly lucrative business of college athletics, where universities reap billions of dollars from men’s football and basketball, but players are not allowed to profit.”</p>
<p>‘Not allowed to profit?’ Apparently they don’t see full ride scholarships as being profitable. </p>
<p>I’d love to get a full ride scholarship, but I’m only an aspiring physicist, and I don’t excel at running a ball down a field.</p>
<p>College sports are definitely an incredibly central part of college, and colleges owe a big part of their funding to sports. However, a college athletes free ride IS their profit. They are already reaping the benefits of these profits. That’s why they are able to go to school for free, while others have to take out student loans and finish college with tens of thousands of dollars in debt.</p>
<p>comfortablycurt, if a live broadcast of you working on problem sets was able to bring in millions upon millions of dollars a year, and your primary academic advisor was the highest paid person in the school, do you feel you should be eligible for some sort of fraction of their proceeds?</p>
<p>They already are receiving a portion of the proceeds. It’s called free tuition, room, and board.</p>
<p>Hardly. There is a million dollar industry built on the backs of these kids. Tuition is nothing.</p>
<p>Some of these kids are from incredibly impoverished backgrounds and they aren’t allowed to have a free pizza. It’s ridiculous. </p>
<p>In the meantime, the people working “compliance” to keep them from taking that free pizza are being paid a half a million dollars with a free golf membership. It’s ridiculous. It’s a “jobs” program for middle aged men.</p>
<p>Good for them. NCAA was treating them like cattle and now they will reap the rewards.</p>
<p>Good. Maybe this will encourage more “profitable” players to finish their education rather than moving directly to the pros. </p>
<p>Comfortably, I’d venture a guess to say that there are actually more full rides for academics or need than sports (when looking at all colleges). The vast majority of college athletes are not getting full scholarships.</p>
<p>Think of it this way… it would be like you getting a full ride PLUS being expected to put in dozens of hours off your off-time to practice and compete in something that you don’t get academic or financial credit for and that others make millions doing. We’ll say tutoring or something (there really isn’t an example I can think of) that you don’t get paid for.</p>
<p>If they play d1 athletics most also get the top of the line supplements and get trainers and nutrionists to work with them as well as living in nicer then average college facilities</p>
<p>The logistics of paying college athletes would be a nightmare. Would the NCAA have to pay every athlete or just those in revenue producing sports? And how much would those athletes at schools be paid? Would quarterbacks be paid more than linemen?</p>
<p>Economists have pegged the market value of the average football player at Alabama or Texas at about $500k per year. Average basketball player at Duke is worth about $1 million per year.</p>
<p>Just because it is somewhat messy and complicated to pay athletes in the revenue producing sports doesn’t mean that it is legal. </p>
<p>The courts ultimately are going to decide this (google up the Ed O’Bannion case). Good chance the NCAA and the schools are going to lose. So says USC’s athletic director Pat Haden (who happens to be a Rhodes Scholar and a lawyer).</p>
<p>It’s time for sports to stop using colleges as their minor leagues. I’m sick of it. So many times when Div. I football players are interviewed, they can barely make themselves understood – terrible grammar, just sounding like thugs. (And many actually ARE thugs; there is even a daily radio spot documenting college athlete felony arrests.) It especially bothers me when they are “students” at highly competitive schools, where you KNOW they never would have been admitted based on their grades and test scores. Div. III has the right idea. Get in to the school on your academic merit. THEN you can try out for the athletic team of your choice. Be a Student-Athlete, NOT an Athlete-Student.</p>
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<p>Quartersbacks vs. Lineman?</p>
<p>What about men vs. women? Obviously, the audience for men’s basketball, football, and hockey are much larger.</p>
<p>This seems to be a very sticky subject and I can’t decide where I stand, but I definitely agree with Repede, there’s so much data that would have to be factored in and no matter what, some group would think they were getting screwed.</p>
<p>I will say though, it sucks that some athletes who come from very poor families have to go around knowing their family might not even be able to eat dinner. Tuition doesn’t really help them there, at least for the first four years. I do not know how this should be dealt with though, so I don’t want to take a side!</p>
<p>Maybe they should tie academics standards to that paycheck. It is a school after all.</p>
<p>I don’t think college athletes should be paid (aside from scholarships). This will make things spiral out-of-control - colleges will move even further from academic mission and closer to training camps for NFL.</p>
<p>Then should students on full academic scholarships be forbidden to sell autographs, memorabilia, etc. if they are able!</p>
<p>The whole thing has spiraled way out of control. These are academic institutions. Student athletes should be students first. The games should be free or cheap to go to and students should be known in your biology class, history class, computer science class. They should be fun diversions from student’s studies with just a few games a year… not this whole mercenary thing they’ve become. </p>
<p>Also check the numbers. The majority of schools are actually losing money on their sports programs. Money that is often state funded by tax payers. </p>
<p>The problem of course is that it’s too late to go back… there’s a massive industry and culture built around this junk… it’s terrible and a disgrace. Paying student athletes money is just gonna make things worse.</p>
<p>I hope the athletes win. It’s good for the athletes that help bring in $millions to the university and networks. I’m all for it.</p>
<p>@comfortablycurt- They should also receive a salary because they are WORKING for the university.</p>
<p>No they should. They are getting paid enough already.</p>