🏈 Players and the talk about compensation

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

I have a hard time grasping this concept. Indulge me here for a few. Star players are on this bandwagon that the NCAA, Universities and whomever are profiting off their name or what have you. I understand that these guys basically have to give their all to the process of becoming a athlete, they have little time to actually hold down a job and so forth. Correct me if I am wrong, are they not being compensated with a full ride scholarship? Is there not some sort of stipend these kids are getting? Do you change all the rules for a few prima donnas like Johnny fing Football. We are talking 4 years, some have 3 to make their name known, and BA-zing they are instant millionaires.

The game I love, college football is turning into the lower level NFL with more rules and loop holes than I care to keep up with. The college game is being tarnished by greed, not the basic fundamental of what it is suppose to be, a learning process where you can get a education and have the privilege to represent your school for a much greater concept. A EDUCATION.

It will be a sad day when greed overruns the process of being the chosen few to play for great colleges and have the privilege to give back to it and help the ones that are carrying on the great tradition of college football.


In the mean time, Roll Tide Roll and lets hope this wave of greed will be cured by a balance of sound people running these institutions to come up with a decent way to keep this sport, College Athletics, the way it has been for the last 100 plus years, the same. Pure, not about a individual, but about a team, a University that I care, love, and have pumped much money in and not minding it. There is a bigger picture here than just an individual, there is a University near you that is getting kids interested in attending them even if they are not gifted enough to walk out on Bryant-Denny Stadium and strap that chin strap on.

66

 

[BamaFisher]

I'd have to agree with you - these folks that argue that a scholarship isn't worth it don't cut the checks i do every month. Think a free college education isn't worth much? This guy right here is currently paying on 3 college degrees from UA (BS and MS for myself and BS for the wife)...oh by the way I'm into year 14 of payments. 14 years of a drag on my income and still a couple to go. Someone offers any of my kids free ride - I say jump onboard!

 

[bamaraider]

Can't pay just football players. How is it fair to pay a football player this amount, but not pay the rowing squad the same amount. Then not all schools are as profitable as UA. How on earth would Tennessee be able to pay every athletic student when they're like $400 million dollars in dept? Seriously, I hope this topic dies. Probably won't, but it is what it is. These kids get a full ride scholarship at a University of their choice, and some think that's not enough. They get free tutoring, free travel, live for free, and free food. Then also they literally have built in connections. They don't have to worry about networking and such, because their name is out there. I don't see a problem. I would have given my left arm to have either one of those. I get some grow up in a poor life, and they need to feed their family, but that's why you're in college. So afterwards you can get a job, whether it be sports or what you majored in to help your family and yourself. Just my .02.

 

[JoshB]

Can't pay just football players. How is it fair to pay a football player this amount, but not pay the rowing squad the same amount.

One could easily make the argument that the rowing squad doesn't even make the school a penny while alot of football programs bring in literally millions to the schools...

I can agree with all that free food, free living, free education, etc. is definitely compensation but at the same time they are making the schools, coaches, administration, NCAA, conferences, etc. millions every year but if you take a free pair of shoes someone wants to give you you're screwed. If some jackhole offers to give u a 1,000 bucks for you to write your signature on some pictures, you're screwed. How does any of this make sense especially when you got certain schools auctioning off dinner with players for thousands of dollars. It's okay for Alabama to slap #10 on jerseys and sale the hell out of em but AJ can't see a dime of that money? Simply because it doesnt say "McCarron on the back?" Why can their likenesses be put on video games and not get a cent while EA has to pay the NFL players to use their likenesses?

There should be SOMETHING they can do, whether it's set up some type of account/system where each #10 jersey sold (or whatever number), a certain percent (doesnt even have to be that much) gos into that account and the players get that money when they leave/graduate. How bout EA Sports has to pay each college football player an equal amount for using their likeness in that damn video game (yes I know this is a key part of the O'Bannon case). The school wants to sell footballs autographed by the team? You gotta give up a piece of that pie to the players too maybe. IDK I just know things are definitely out of wack and it personally doesn't sit right with me.

 

[bamafan4ever]

The Title IX enthusiast will not stand for football getting paid while "rowing", as an example, sits on the side whether they generate one penny in revenue or not. Take that any way you wish but paying athletes in any college sport is creating a slippery slope.

 

[ElephantStomp]

They either need to pay all or none.

I stated on another topic that I got a scholarship to rodeo at a school and while being in college I was able to rodeo professionally and make all the money I could and there was no rules against it I was even able to obtain sponsorships from different companies and was given money, free equipment, traveling expenses paid for, and entry fees paid for, but a football player can't get a cut of the profits from the schools that are making the money they are because of these football players??

 

[RollTideinGA]

I've been saying for years they should put a fund aside for each player of every sport and if they graduate they get the full amount, if they play 3 years they get a percentage, and if they play 2 they get a smaller, etc. They could throw in bonuses for championships, awards, etc also.

I think this would be beneficial to some who play sports that have no professional league. And yes it would probably be a small amount in the eys of a guy going and signing for big money in the NFL. But I think it is something considering the NCAA , the conference, and the school all make money off these kids. Sure they get an education for free, but mostly with football players it doesnt balance out. Take that education cost and break it into an hourly wage and see how even it is. Im sure it wouldnt be minimum wage.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

The Title IX enthusiast will not stand for football getting paid while "rowing", as an example, sits on the side whether they generate one penny in revenue or not. Take that any way you wish but paying athletes in any college sport is creating a slippery slope.

A really good breakdown of Title IX and paying athletes is at this link

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/09/how-title-ix-relates-to-paying-players/

Proportionality would destroy college sports.

The real solution to this is to allow players to get drafted straight out of high school. Right now, there is a valid argument that NCAA Football is really the NFL minor leagues due to draft rules. You rarely see any players get to the NFL without going through college first. And those who do are usually not drafted but get invited to camps and have to work their way on through the practice squads.

 

[bamafan4ever]

A really good breakdown of Title IX and paying athletes is at this link

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/09/how-title-ix-relates-to-paying-players/

Proportionality would destroy college sports.

I had not seen this before. Thanks for the link. Very good read!

 

[psychojoe]

I will be a contrarian here. Figures that I have seen indicate that what the NCAA calls a full scholarship isn't quite that. While there is no disputing the value of the scholarship for those whose livelihood doesn't come from performing at the professional level, figures that I have seen indicate that the so called "full ride" falls anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 short of paying all the yearly college expenses. Many athletes resort to filing for and receiving Pell Grants to make up the difference. I feel strongly that an athletic program that is as prosperous as ours should be able to pay enough of a supplement to make it a true free ride, and it is something of an embarassment that these young men and women have to resort to the Pell Grant program.

I would include all of our scholarshipped athletes in this. Terry has posted these figures before, but essentially football has a huge profit, basketball is in the black a bit, gymnastics does a bit more than just break even. All the other sports (not that sure about softball) are in the red.

 

[BamaFan334]

AJ McCarron's #10 wouldn't be jack without that Alabama "A" on the chest. It's the school that fronts the money so these guys have a future. It's the school and player's before them that have collected the money to pay for that state of the art weight room, all of that food and nutrition given, medical attention and prevention offered, clothes given to you and your family, tickets to the games (best seats in the house), ability to progress to the NFL, an opportunity to get a free college degree that allows for a life after football and a back up plan if an injury occurs or plans just don't work out. I'd say that is compensation enough, just like the first poster said. I'm about to start paying on my loans that will take me 20 years. The issue I have is that the players profit off of the school, and therefor the school profits from them. It's a vicious cycle, but everyone is getting something of value here. Would Johnny Manziel be a Heisman contender if he went to Sam Houston State or Louisiana Monroe? Highly doubtful, so we can say that Texas A&M being the institution it has become well before ole Johnny came to campus is way more responsible his ascension to the top than his talents alone. Texas A&M is the team that negotiated it's way into a rivalry with Texas, found its way into the SEC, so without that there is no platform for these guys to even become profitable. Not to mention, who is going to buy a blank maroon #2 jersey? No one, but I'll tell you that Texas A&M will never stop selling jerseys with their emblems and logos all over them, even after the second coming of Christ leaves campus.

Sorry for the rant, but this stuff is starting to get out of hand, and the egos involved and the unappreciative sentiments of many is pathetic at best. I just hate the undervaluation of an education in today's entertainment world. So many of these guys will leave schools and never be heard of again, only to be on tv years later shown working at a car dealership and in mountains of debt. I worked my butt off to earn my degree and paid a hell of a lot of money, so I know how appreciative I would be to have the ability to earn a free education on top of doing something I love, and having over 100,000 cheering me on every weekend inside the stadium and millions around the world watching. Roll Tide.

 

[musso]

A really good breakdown of Title IX and paying athletes is at this link

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/09/how-title-ix-relates-to-paying-players/

Proportionality would destroy college sports.

The real solution to this is to allow players to get drafted straight out of high school. Right now, there is a valid argument that NCAA Football is really the NFL minor leagues due to draft rules. You rarely see any players get to the NFL without going through college first. And those who do are usually not drafted but get invited to camps and have to work their way on through the practice squads.

Good post. Let me add to it.

The NCAA and NFL are essentially labor cartels for amateur and professional football respectively. Together, the NCAA and NFL monopolize their domains for the benefit of themselves and their corporate partners at the expense of the players. Go back and review the AFL-NFL merger and you'll see some shady antitrust violations including an agreement that the newly consolidated NFL would leave college alone, effectively paving the way for the NCAA monstrosity we have today. Together the NCAA and NFL are symbiotic.

Thanks to the NCAA's onerous prohibitions on student-athletes sharing in the profit of their own success and stardom, the NCAA, its corporate partners, and high school and college coaches are all participants in a kind of modern day slave trade. Meanwhile, the NFL's antitrust immunity allows them to exploit professional players and externalize the cost of a "minor league" onto taxpayers who subsidize collegiate athletics. Meanwhile the NCAA, as a partner cartel to the NFL, has coordinated a systematic dumbing-down of college degrees for the sake of academically challenged but athletically gifted blue-chips. So not only are 3-4 years of money earning potential stolen from young men in their prime, but the value of four-year degrees have been devalued as well.

The NFL needs to man up, in more ways than one. Without going into its privileged monopoly thanks to the capitulation of the federal government, it ought to internalize its own developmental league, thus providing an alternative professional path for the academically challenged but physically gifted teenager. This would remedy the "arms race" in college football and in collegiate athletics in general. With less pressure and monetary incentives to win at the college level, this would likely result in greater freedom for all student-athletes to live more normal lives under a more humane regime, be it a saner NCAA or some other governing body that universities agree to join/create. I could go on and on about the possible positive outcomes, but suffice to say the more options presented to players, the better.

 

[bamafan4ever]

So musso...you skipped right over it (I'm sure by "mistake") but you actually agreed with me! Let's mark the date! :moon3:

 

[bamaledge]

I have an idea! Pay the players and then make them pay for everything just like an ordinary student and see how they come out financially. The day they start paying players AND giving them a "free" ride is the day I quit supporting college football.

 

[musso]

So musso...you skipped right over it (I'm sure by "mistake") but you actually agreed with me! Let's mark the date! :moon3:

:cheers:

 

['65 Cobra]

A really good breakdown of Title IX and paying athletes is at this link

http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/06/09/how-title-ix-relates-to-paying-players/

Proportionality would destroy college sports.

The real solution to this is to allow players to get drafted straight out of high school. Right now, there is a valid argument that NCAA Football is really the NFL minor leagues due to draft rules. You rarely see any players get to the NFL without going through college first. And those who do are usually not drafted but get invited to camps and have to work their way on through the practice squads.

Wow, that is an excellent article. I would add that not everybody qualifies for a Pell Grant. They are need-based for low income students.