Why would I give them a scholarship when I’m paying them?

Why?

I don’t pay for my medical benefits at work and I still get a salary for my labor. I don’t pay for continuing education at my job… and I still get a salary.

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The same reason why I get medical benefits and get paid a salary.

But they are students. Most college athletes don’t make it to the next level. They depend on their education. Other don’t need their education.

So why not just count their education as payment? Thats not exactly chump change…It’s not like they aren’t bennifitting by playing for the school.

They could… but my medical benefits are counted as income. Why should their education be counted as income?

That means for the athletes who aren’t as elite… they will pay taxes on their 80k education even though they may only make the minimum salary from playing football.

I’m not talking about big money. Maybe $500 a month to live on since they can’t have a job.

The problem is that it is insufficient payment for some players and some programs. It also has to be discounted in value in some programs since the team demands prevent full utilization of what a college offers.

If the motivation is to protect amateur sports, then dial down the revenue side. Don’t broadcast nationally, rely on ticket sales alone. Keep coverage regional.

It is just not tenable to rely on market controls to let schools and media reap incredible profits on the hard work and talents of exceptional athletes.

If we want to keep the big time entertainment, the solution will need to be market driven: which means an arrangement the athletes agree on rather than collusion of the schools to regulate what the athletes are allowed to negotiate.

Sucks, but fairness and freedom trump my need for amazing sports moments.

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Should a player at 'Bama get the same as one from Cowlick U?

There are so many scenarios out there about who would pay for what if total compensation becomes law.
One thing that was brought up today on ESPN was the question of what happens to coaching salaries if the school has to spend money to get athletes?

It should not be prescriptive. There will need to be negotiation on compensation as there is with other free markets.

This is a complex case where collaboration increases the value of the product so it may not be unexpected that revenue will end up being shared out of proportion to the marketability of the big names.

It will never be perfect or even good, but the current state of affairs is too lopsided to continue.

Because the product’s value is enhanced by the perception that these are students. The scholarships increase the bottom line.

I was listening to this being discussed on the radio and this will eventually lead to actual formal means of compensation.

A full ride scholarship pays for everything included in it is some living expenses. They have no expenses except for what they produce like a car payment. It was a $100 dollars a month when I had it in early 80s.

This is gonna get very messy until some rules get put in place.

You can’t. It’s federal law pal. I think it falls under ‘Title IX’ IIRC.

All college athletics will need to be eliminated. Those that survive will die the same slow death minor league baseball is going through.

Not quite true. Title IX prevents them from cutting a disproportionate of Female sports. Revenue has no bearing.

I’m not sure this is even a good decision.

Here’s the problem: Even within FBS there are two tiers: Power 5 and Group of 5. Power 5 conferences have very very lucrative TV deals (among other revenue streams), and Group of 5 gets almost nothing for TV revenue.

And that is just one revenue stream.

Power 5 schools can afford to pay players a lot more than group of 5 schools.

Then within the power 5 schools themselves, you have revenue generating sports, and non revenue generating sports. How do the players in non revenue generating sports going to get paid where there is no revenue to pay them?

Add in Federal Law (Title IX), and you have a recipe for the complete destruction of college sports.

This is a total mess IMHO.

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That all depends on the degree they get. I worked at a high school - predominantly white middle/upper middle class - the majority of the football players were not much into the student aspect of school.

Here’s a question. How many of the athletes who don’t make it in professional sports are getting good paying jobs with their degrees?

Uh, you need to go read up on it.

It requires schools to have equal numbers of male and female athletes.

If the only sports a school has are men’s football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball (the only college sports I know of that generate revenue), you don’t have equality under Title IX.

Title IX - Wikipedia

This is now officially a mess.