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<p>[The</a> Shame of College Sports - Taylor Branch - The Atlantic](<a href=“The Scandal of NCAA College Sports - The Atlantic”>The Scandal of NCAA College Sports - The Atlantic)</p>
<p>I work at a university with big-time sports. I believe that college football and basketball should NOT be used as the minor leagues for the NFL and NBA. Many (most) of the athletes who play on our football and basketball teams should not be at this institution academically. They struggle. They fail. Many do not graduate. It’s sad to watch.</p>
<p>They don’t want to be here other than to play football or basketball. I do not blame these players. This is the system in which they must participate in order to achieve their dream of playing professionally. (And, of course, most do not achieve that dream, but they chase it against the odds.) If the NFL and NBA need farm teams, they should create them. And pay for them.</p>
<p>And for those students who want to be students AND play football or basketball, the university can field teams. But, then, 100,000 people won’t crowd stadiums every Saturday afternoon and TV won’t pay big bucks to televise the action, so this will never happen.</p>
<p>And for those of you who doubt there are kids, and at my school there are lots of them, who come from abject poverty and CANNOT afford a thing beyond what their scholarship covers (tuition, room & board) I invite you to come talk to them. They cannot go home during vacations because they cannot afford to do so. They are in the middle of a rural area with no real public transportation to get anywhere. They cannot go to a doctor or a dentist beyond what student health covers (which, if it’s more than a basic problem, you’re out of luck.) And no one can give you a thing, or lend you a buck, because it could be considered a bribe and is against NCAA rules. </p>
<p>It’s a broken, corrupt system and the “scholar-athletes” universities like to brag on, are, for the most part, the losers.</p>
<p>I absolutely have compassion for everyone who comes from difficult circumstances. That doesn’t translate into “student athletes” receiving compensation beyond full scholarships. What is the estimated value of a full scholarship/free education? Certainly could be $250,000 plus. What more is it that these “student Athletes” “deserve”?
I understand the exploitation contention, I suggest if they don’t want to be exploited don’t except the scholarship money from a school that has a program with such notoriety. What more does a school owe them beyond a potential quarter of a million dollar education? Are there any super star professional athletes that you are aware of that are suffering financially (Baseball, Basketball , Football) because they didn’t get a sneaker deal in college?</p>
<p>“Full” scholarships do not cover the estimated full cost of attendance and are thus not really “full”. The typical gap is a few thousand $$s. That is the gap the stipends are designed to cover.</p>
<p>Prefect and inthebiz have it right, in my opinion. The problem isn’t the colleges and the NCAA (ok, might be the NCAA), but the problem is MORE that professional sports like football and basketball use colleges as their minor leagues. </p>
<p>I am not at a university with big time sports and I still see too many kids who come to school because they think they can keep playing, and even though in the school’s history only ONE athlete has gone pro in the US, they dream the dream. And like inthebiz’s students, many struggle and fail. </p>
<p>I’m not saying boot sports out of colleges. Athletic opportunities do provide entry into academia for many students who do really want the education. NCAA DII and NAIA schools do give scholarship money, as well. Can’t say I’m opposed to scholarships on principal, either.</p>
<p>But, pay college athletes? No. Make the NBA and the NFL develop their own minor leagues the way MLB has. If college ball stops being the path to the pros, I think you’d see major improvements on campuses as a whole–no more bloated football coaching salaries, or fleets of admins and staff people for each team, etc.</p>
<p>So, you want to cut more good jobs in this economy? Also NBA is not only place to be a pro. A number of players from my school have made a nice living playing in Europe. </p>
<p>[Where</a> are they now<!-- ? –> Rashard Griffith - UWBadgers.com - The Official Athletic Site of the Wisconsin Badgers](<a href=“http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/073009aab.html]Where”>http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/073009aab.html)</p>
<p>I agree with you Poet that real poverty exists. I question whether or not that has anything to do with college Athletics. How many student athletes come from below the poverty line. As individuals (you are right that thhese kids have families that they might or might not contribute to if they were working rather than going to college) they rise above the poverty line line by virtue of the scholarship and “incidentals.” Room and Board is just the beginning. They are also given thousands of dollars in clothing and accessories, their laundry is done for them, they teach at summer camps for which they are paid. If it were such a hardship, then why are they competing so hard for a handful of spots. </p>
<p>The problem isn’t that a kid from poverty can’t buy pizza while he’s living the good life at college, it’s that the school isn’t worried enough about making sure he is getting the education that can lift him out of poverty when he goes undrafted (as most of them do) at the end of his eligibility.</p>
<p>One of the things that I wonder is whether 65 $2000 stipends wouldn’t be better spent giving out a few academic full rides. And yes you can give them to some bright kids who live in poverty but don’t have the athletic skill play a sport. Maybe our colleges can be a force for lifting people up instead of making money for a few rich cats.</p>
<p>Perfectly stated Disneydad.</p>
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<p>Source? I know a lot of student athletes at 2 Big 10 schools and that would be news to me. And yes, even some who are big name athletes.</p>
<p>Many scholarship athletes would say otherwise. You don’t want to wear gym clothes and sneakers everywhere you go–that’s what they get–not normal shirts and slacks. And they don’t get normal laundry done for them either.just workout and practice clothes.</p>
<p>^ That is correct from my (mostly outside) observations, barrons.</p>
<p>Also I don’t think players are allowed to be paid for camps. A brochure on one makes no mention of players being part of the staff.</p>
<p><a href=“http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wis/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/summer-camp.pdf[/url]”>http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wis/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/summer-camp.pdf</a></p>
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<p>Because they see playing college sports as a path to the pros, and that’s the holy grail.</p>
<p>I think most are more realistic and see it as a path of getting to college. Pros would be the icing.</p>
<p>By the logic on this thread, GE should pay to train their employees, and so should every other field. </p>
<p>Is sports not a career?</p>
<p>By the logic on this thread, law firms should pay to educate attorneys and hospitals should pay to educate doctors. Pre med all the way through. </p>
<p>Schools should pay to educate teachers.</p>
<p>So OK. Lets allow payments to athletes. Now lets do a thought experiment: There are about 25 D1 football teams. Not all of them give full rides to all their players. How do we decide who gets “pizza money”. These rules have to apply to everyone. So lets fashion a consistent policy that applies at least to the 16,000 football players out there. Should the 2d string cornerback at Wagner college who grew up in NYC public housing get money to buy “slacks” (i will tell you right now, that kid wouldn’t know what you were talking about if you said “slacks”)?</p>
<p>Perhaps that is why the idea of a stipend has already been shot down by the Championship schools. They cant afford it! </p>
<p>So maybe we limiit the stipend to Bowl eligible schools. Now the Championship schools have lost their ability to compete because players that they might attract with a full scholarship are going to say why should I start at your school. I can ride the bench at a bowl scool and get paid. Now the rich schools are getting richer. </p>
<p>Second thought experiment: Lets let kids sell autographs. Free Market right? Until The rich alumni supporter who owns the supermarket near the stadium that sells beer to all the tailgaters, starts telling high school recruits, come to our school and I will make sure you can sell autographs. wink wink nudge nudge. Thats why jobs were against the rules in the first place. No show jobs are an easy way to throw money around.</p>
<p>Do amateur eligibility rules apply to all 450,000 college athletes? Is 4 years of eligibility an arbitrary anachronism. If we are going to pay them, why limit it to four years. Why not five? Or six? </p>
<p>On the other hand, it is not fair that there are college athletes who carry programs and make other people rich but can’t cash in. It may be a neccessary evil
I really am interested in ways to reform the college system to make it fair for all students. I just don’t think it is as simple as throwing a few extra bucks at the athletes.</p>
<p>I should probably shut up now and go back to lurking on the boards for information to help me help my HS junior to find the right college.</p>
<p>A student of mine is leaving college for an electrician apprenticeship. There are fields where the profession trains its own. </p>
<p>One may also argue that sports should become more like law school or med school, with the student competing for the privilege of playing and paying to do so.</p>
<p>Should colleges stop functioning as minor leagues for the NBA and NFL, there are several logical conclusions one could reach.</p>
<p>How would you determine who deserves this money? Does the rich guy on the equestrian team deserve a stipend?</p>
<p>Hospitals do pay (with support from the Federal government) to educate doctors. It’s called Residency. And we all support this- and although our medical system is often criticized by people outside the US (wasteful, inaccessible to many people, inefficient, etc.) there are few people with any knowledge about the topic who criticize the US system of training physicians.</p>
<p>I’d be hard pressed to find a group of people who think we need to be doing MORE to cultivate a professional athlete class! I feel for the individual kids who get caught up in this, but as a national priority? Not so much.</p>
<p>Exactly blossom!</p>
<p>“I really am interested in ways to reform the college system to make it fair for all students. I just don’t think it is as simple as throwing a few extra bucks at the athletes.”
Yes exactly Disneydad!</p>
<p>“I should probably shut up now and go back to lurking on the boards for information to help me help my HS junior to find the right college.”
Do they have 4.4 40 speed?, A 25 foot jump shot that is automatic?, a 95 mile an hour fastball and pin point control?</p>