If the ancient Greeks had allowed their athletes to be paid, maybe they could have afforded some clothes.
One or two of y’all really appreciated Bryan raising sports topics in my absence, so here goes: Should college athletes get paid?
Here’s the summary section of the bill that would provide for that:
A BILL TO AMEND CHAPTER 101, TITLE 59 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO COLLEGES AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING GENERALLY, BY ADDING ARTICLE 5, TO PROVIDE THAT PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS IN THIS STATE SHALL ANNUALLY AWARD STIPENDS TO STUDENT ATHLETES WHO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERCOLLEGIATE SPORT AND MAINTAIN A GOOD ACADEMIC STANDING DURING THE PREVIOUS YEAR, TO PROVIDE CONDITIONS FOR RECEIPT OF STIPENDS, AND TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS; TO AMEND CHAPTER 101, TITLE 59 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO COLLEGES AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING GENERALLY, BY ADDING ARTICLE 6, TO PROVIDE THAT PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS IN THIS STATE SHALL CREATE A STUDENT ATHLETE TRUST FUND AND FUND THE TRUST WITH A PERCENTAGE OF THE INTERCOLLEGIATE SPORT GROSS REVENUE GENERATED FROM CERTAIN SOURCES, TO PROVIDE THAT FOR EACH YEAR A STUDENT ATHLETE MAINTAINS GOOD ACADEMIC STANDING, FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS WILL BE DEPOSITED INTO THE FUND ON HIS BEHALF AND THE TOTAL TRUST FUND AMOUNT MAY NOT EXCEED TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS PER STUDENT ATHLETE; TO PROVIDE THAT AFTER FULFILLMENT OF ALL ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATION AND COMPLETION OF A STATE-APPROVED FINANCIAL LITERACY COURSE, THE PARTICIPATING INSTITUTION SHALL PROVIDE A ONE-TIME PAYMENT TO EACH STUDENT ATHLETE IN THE FULL AMOUNT DEPOSITED IN THE FUND ON THEIR BEHALF, TO PROVIDE CONDITIONS FOR RECEIPT OF THE TRUST FUND PAYMENT, AND TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS.
I say no. And when you say that college athletes are providing services worth millions to their schools, and that (even though those on scholarship are provided with a free college education if they are willing and able to take advantage of it) they can easily be exploited, chewed up and spit out by such a system…
Then I say we need to change the system, not the status of the athletes. Step it back from being a big business. Move it back toward something more akin to intramural sports among actual students.
Of course, I know I’m speaking wishfully. This situation arises from a sort of mass psychosis in the general population, a society that for reasons that continue to baffle me places an absurdly high value on the outcomes of games. Actually, not only the outcomes, but on every bit of minutia in any way connected to these games.
And that’s the problem. I admit I don’t know how to change that. But I don’t think paying players is a solution to the problem. Seems to me it would take us even deeper in…
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The NCAA is to sports as the IRS is to efficient government. A needless bureaucracy tainted by greed, hypocrisy, and general stupidity.
I say let student athletes have the same rights as other students. That includes having jobs, marketing their own likeness, signing contracts with agents…at the same time, all student athletes should have the same academic requirements.
I guarantee you that half of the Kentucky basketball team hasn’t seen the inside of a classroom in weeks..and most if the nba bound freshmen won’t be going to class again. It’s a joke to call them student athletes.
You think Jadaveon Clowney was on track to graduate when he left?
When I was at Memphis State, one of the starters on the basketball team (which lost to UCLA in the NCAA final that year) was in one of my journalism classes. He never said much or made much of an impression, but he did show up at least occasionally.
I remember that, of course, because it was so unusual…
The day will come when such athletes find fewer and fewer colleges (and universities) exist off-line in the U.S.
The question for the vast majority then becomes how many will be good enough to play in minor leagues that do not yet exist chiefly because the general public is too disinterested to attend such contests. Imagine the competitive success of future Columbia’metro basketball and football leagues.
Let’s see how successful minor league baseball is after 5 years. That should help answer the compensation question in a realistic manner. Colleges have no business encouraging much less supporting professional athletes whose careers usually fade away too quickly in contrast to academic pursuits.
You mean put the student back in student athletes? Harvard football players must first be admitted, on academic merits, to Harvard and then they try out for the team. When we went to Steve’s reunion, I thanked the nice young men who unloaded our suitcases–guys who look like Bryan or Doug probably looked in college, and was surprised to find out they were the varsity players.
In a state that deifies the football coaches, I don’t see that happening here. I bet more people can name the starting quarterback for the Gamecocks than can name the Governor. I am not one of them.
Part of the problem is that the colleges serve as de facto farm systems for the NBA and NFL. If those institutions established their own farm systems as MLB has, many of the best players would move into that track rather than attending school, and the schools would likely have more players who are more student than athlete.
However, with the system existing as it does, then yes, the players should have either more freedom to pursue income on their own (as Doug suggests), or they should be compensated for their service at a rate commensurate with the income to generate for the colleges.
Interesting point. Baseball grew into the national pastime in a day when going to college was a fairly rare thing, so the farm system developed as a means of developing ballplayers until they were ready for the majors.
By contrast, football was originally just a college sport, and the college-educated were the main people who followed it. College football was already a pretty big thing before the NFL came along. So what motivation did the NFL have to create a farm system? None.
Speaking of professional athletes…
Yesterday, Stuart Andrews posted this video of a stunt being performed by a “professional rock climber.”
To which I had to respond:
Seriously. I mean, what NEED of society is addressed by someone who climbs rocks?
Stuart responded:
Which brings us back to professional football…
Why should a college athlete be prohibited from endorsing a product or selling his autograph?
One only needs to review the recent case of academic fraud that went on at the University of North Carolina to know that the system is broken. And who gets hurt the most? Black athletes who are accepted on lower standards, given easy class schedules to remain eligible, and then tossed aside when either their eligibility runs out or their skills are replaced by a better “scholar athlete”.
I hope it’s not an indicator of something underlying when you zero in on one group as likely to be “admitted on lower standards, etc.” The circle goes wider than a single race.
It wasn’t white students taking African studies classes at UNC.
Holy excessive capitalization, Batman!
???
I think someone was making a pop-culture referencing joke about the words in your block-quote being in all caps, which make it unpleasant to read.
Ohhhh. Well, that’s the way they do it in bill summaries. Makes it a little hard to read, I think…
Now there’s this story: “SC bill paying USC, Clemson athletes would break NCAA rules, colleges say“…
Some of the suggestions here remind me of James Mitchner’s late 1960’s proposal to turn major college athletics into a college sponsored minor league system to get rid of “shamateurism” and make the education of top athletes more relevant to their futures.
I like some aspects of the bill promoted in SC. Setting up a trust fund for each student/athlete makes good sense in numerous ways. I wouldn’t be at all opposed to the school being required to add to those funds a good portion of the revenue from marketing popular players’ numbers, images, etc. I would suggest a substitute or addition incorporating Spurrier’s older proposal to provide a per-game stipend (in high-revenue sports) for use in subsidizing family travel and other needs.
Any student-handled marketing, etc is an invitation for corruption, exploitation by agents, and dangerous distractions.
A “free education” as compensation for participation was a reasonable trade-off back in the days before college sports became such a money machine and when head coaches were paid 1.5 to 3 times what a regular professor made and most assistants made no more than a regular faculty member (many taught classes, mostly in PE). Football wasn’t a year-round deal, and practice time was more limited.