The Paddock

Ok, smartie. Should college athletes be paid beyond their scholarship and cost of living stipend?

I was just messing with you anyway. I know you haven't been around long, but I'm not going to call someone out. That's not holding a conversation with someone.

That's a great way of putting it. Another thing, say the NCAA gives athletes $1. If someone offers them another $1, are they going to turn it down? Money is money.

I don't think college athletes should be paid. They're already receiving stipends, plus a free education. They live in some of the nicest dormitories on the planet, and receive everything imaginable, from food to tutoring services most college students would be for.

You would have to make the stipend even. If you allow schools to pay different amounts, then money becomes a recruiting advantage.

What does everyone think of the Olympic model? No pay-for-play, but allow them to make money off of their image.

It's almost impossible to pay them because you're basically just talking about football players and men's basketball players who produce revenue. When you start looking at all the other student-athletes at the school, you can't pay them.

That being said, it really bothers me that a fortune is being made off their talents, and they have to live under some pretty ridiculous NCAA rules. Some leeway needs to be given for certain circumstances. I know it's not easy to do -- and could open a Pandora's box -- but stories about a coach not being able to buy a kid a sandwich or a school not being able to help him out when a family member passes away just seem ridiculous.

True. I have no good answer for how it could be done. I don't think anyone does.

Like everyone has said, there's no good way to do it. If you pay football players, you have to pay the women's tennis team. If you put lower revenue schools in the position where they have to pay their athletes, you have schools eliminating sports due to losing money. Essentially the end effort is football and basketball become paid sports on the men's side with two needed on the women's side to even out Title IX. The rest of your sports become Club sports. That would likely be the only way for individual college athletic departments to survive.

There has to be a way for players to have jobs of some sort, but the shadiness that comes with boosters giving athletes a legal paycheck becomes even worse. It becomes impossible to police without athletes earning money strictly in a work study position. However, you then take those positions away from students using them to pay for school while the athletes go for free. There really is no simple solution without talking yourself in circles, IMO. It's easy for the big media types to talk about the situation in definites on each side, but so much more is affected that the football media ignores to make their points.

If I were forced to come up with a proposal, I would say to allow the student-athletes to be allowed to take out student loans to supplement their stipend if extra money was a necessity. You then put it on the player to pay it back when they graduate or go pro. Loans are policed pretty heavily on the examiner and auditor side for banks and credit unions, probably even more through the government funded programs. Payments are deferred until they leave school and if athletes don't repay them, their credit is screwed. An easy lesson to be taught during the many education sessions athletes go through.

Just my two cents.

COLLEGE ATHLETES SHOULD BE PAID!!!!!!!!!!!!

In all seriousness, what does the NCAA do with the money? Is it used for all the scholarships? I know there are administrative costs associated, but are people getting rich? Are extra monies spent foolishly or placed in trust funds or used to open up other general scholarships?

I believe that there is a perception out there that old white men are getting rich off the labor of young black men. That's gotta be drving this.

After tonight's game, I feel like I should be paid...

I understand the argument, but it's hard to support. The NCAA philosophy revolves around "amateurism" (as hard as that is to believe). That means you pay the star quarterback as much as the women's field hockey's "victory cigar." There are 346 Division 1 institutions and each much sponsor a minimum of 14 sports programs. Football programs alone (assuming all had teams) would total 29,410 participants. You give each of them an additional $100 a year and that's $2,941,000. It's just hard to provide everyone with what they deserve. Maybe the NCAA shouldn't continue to exploit them. Anyone want to bet that we see sponsorship on game jerseys within ten years? Is everyone aware that there is a current proposal that would allow institutions to use their player's images to increase sponsorship? Paying athletes isn't reasonable at the time, but maybe we are moving towards that. Who knows. Hard to justify what the NCAA is doing as a "non-profit organization" though.

That's my thinking as well. You can't let money become a recruiting advantage.

What about Ralph Nader's thought of removing athletic scholarships?

Because of Title IX this is impossible. Most schools don't make money from their athletic department and if you pay one sport then you also have to pay all the other sports. It would bankrupt the schools and take away from the overall scope of schools athletic departments. Thousands of kids wouldn't be able to go to college because they'd lose their scholarships. Granted most of the non-revenue sports only offer a portion of a scholarship but that's better than nothing at all.

I also agree that the kids are getting an education, great medical/dental insurance, clothing(free shoes, school apparal), housing, and food. Now, could they also be given a little more of a stippend to help compensate for them not being able to work a regular paying job? Sure, perhaps that could be looked at by the NCAA as a need based grant for athletes and the money come from the BCS, TV deals, and NCAAT. Many of the kids that get athletic scholarships come from poor families and don't have money to go out, for a cell phone, or get a bite to eat off campus.