Big Ten considers pay proposal

[WestCoastHawk]

This is what Joe Paterno always wanted to do.

A lot of these players have no extra money on top of their athletic scholarship (from tough circumstances). So this extra money would help them do things normal college students do. Go to movies, buy DVDs, get some ice cream, etc.

Also, theoretically this would help defer them from stealing since they can just buy it now = less players being kicked off of the team.

 

[DwayneTwill]

A lot of these players have no extra money on top of their athletic scholarship (from tough circumstances). So this extra money would help them do things normal college students do.

Most normal college students have to pay for their own education.

 

[UrbandaleHawk01]

In opening this thread I am really astounded at the amount of posters on here who think this is a good idea. Where to begin with all the potential problems? Here is #1

Title IX - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Iowa football team is self supported, yes. But are its womens sports? And are you prepared to pay the female athletes as well as the other male athletes who don't play football or basketball?

#2 For all the football programs out there that are not self supported and that state's taxpayers will not pay 2-5k/yr for a scholarship athlete, what say you for those programs? Give an athlete a choice between a school that's going to pay him/her an additional 2-5k/yr for spending money vs a school that does not, no brainer decision.

#3 Slippery slope argument. You open this door and it's only going to get wider as time goes on. Read this book if this argument is unclear to you [ame=http://www.amazon.com/You-Give-Mouse-Cookie-Give/dp/0060245867]Amazon.com: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (If You Give...) (0000060245861): Laura Joffe Numeroff, Felicia Bond: Books[/ame]

#4 If a college kid wants some spending money, do what the rest of us did. https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action. If all you need is an extra 2-5k/year then the athletes will still be sitting MUCH better than most of us who left school with 40k+

I'm sorry, but this idea is ludicrous in my mind. With all the perks athletes get along with free tuition, free books, free room and board, it's very hard for me to get on board with this in any way.

 

[HawkForce]

Who cares! Once you open up pandoras box you will have nothing but additional attempts going forward to increase their "pay". It starts out as $2k per year then there are 'other' things that need to be paid for so they ask for add'l money. It will never stop.

Why is so God Damn hard for some people to sit back and just enjoy what they have? These kids - every damn one of them - is getting to go to college for free. Sure they have to play football and practice and go to class but how many mother f'in college students have to work just to afford tuition, room and board?

If you want to talk about how much coin the other students have to spend? Its called student loans, a job, parents or a combination of the three. Once they get finished with actually earning a degree they are strapped for years with loans with a starting pay somewhere in the $40s (if they are lucky).

As a college student who is an avid sports fan....I totally 100% endorse that post....I don't understand why athletes should get additional money....they already get full tuition and books...as well as a stipend if you live off campus I believe...It baffles me...and it ticks me off.

I don't really care how much their play generates for the University's....They're still students....it's bull.

How about they all realize they are getting an education and degree to use in life...and will not owe a dime (unless it's a partial scholarship like wrestling). Unlike the rest of us who have to work, and take out loans. I wish my only worry was studying and practicing a sport, or lifting....etc.

 

[treychase]

That's the problem is you couldn't possibly pay all the athletes, so then you have to choose which ones get it. Then equality issues become blown out of control. That is the reason this won't work. Even though football and basketball support 99% of all the other sports, the tennis players and swimmers, etc will want their share too. It's a way for the Big Ten to try to separate themselves from other conferences. It would be a great strategy, but it has a lot of drawbacks. We'll see.

Of course they'll pay them all. Men, women, all sports.
Total cost won't exceed $2.5M, which prices out the Boise St's, Iowa St's, etc.
That's what this is about...creating a separation of the big boys from the little boys.
Creating a new upper division of college athletics, leaving the little boys behind.
That $2.5M is chump change for the big boys but devastates the little boys.

The ball is already rolling for the elite programs to leave the ncaa, this is just the next step. Actually the ball started rolling in about 2005.

 

[steveey]

This is a terrible idea. Some of these athletes don't know how lucky they are to get a free education. If they don't make it to the NFL they are saving themselves thousands a year when they are in the working world. I know my wife and I would love to have the extra $400 a month I pay for my student loans with a kid coming and all. Maybe they should have paid me money when I was running cross country.

 

[PJHawk]

As a college student who is an avid sports fan..... I wish my only worry was studying and practicing a sport, or lifting....etc.

Although you claim to be a student and college sport fan it seems based on your post you have little grasp of what being a Division I athlete entails.

As for the rest of you paying a stipend to players such as Jim Delany is proposing in this era of multi-billion dollar media contracts and multi ten-million dollar coaching contracts is the fair thing to do. IMO eventually after enough legal battles and court wrangling even more money is going to be paid to the players with schools setting up a type of annuity account for players who meet certain academic requirements and complete their eligibility.

 

[hawkeyemark]

Who cares! Once you open up pandoras box you will have nothing but additional attempts going forward to increase their "pay". It starts out as $2k per year then there are 'other' things that need to be paid for so they ask for add'l money. It will never stop.

Why is so God Damn hard for some people to sit back and just enjoy what they have? These kids - every damn one of them - is getting to go to college for free. Sure they have to play football and practice and go to class but how many mother f'in college students have to work just to afford tuition, room and board?

If you want to talk about how much coin the other students have to spend? Its called student loans, a job, parents or a combination of the three. Once they get finished with actually earning a degree they are strapped for years with loans with a starting pay somewhere in the $40s (if they are lucky).

I don't like this proposal either for many of the reasons that other posters have cited. I don't begrudge college atheletes one bit but they pretty much live in a different world from the rest of us given the many benefits that come from playing college sports competetively on scholarship. At age 54 I don't make even $40,000 a year and as a government employee under a pay freeze likely never will. I have a college education and between my years in the military and civil service I've worked my butt off my entire working life. I don't think we need to create any more sense of entitlement for college atheletes who already enjoy many advantages compared to their peers.

 

[PJHawk]

I don't like this proposal either for many of the reasons that other posters have cited. I don't begrudge college atheletes one bit but they pretty much live in a different world from the rest of us given the many benefits that come from playing college sports competetively on scholarship. At age 54 I don't make even $40,000 a year and as a government employee under a pay freeze likely never will. I have a college education and between my years in the military and civil service I've worked my butt off my entire working life. I don't think we need to create any more sense of entitlement for college atheletes who already enjoy many advantages compared to their peers.

Yes you do. Consider this an intervention so to speak for a 54 year old man who's obviously bitter about his own life and now has class envy toward a mostly disadvantaged group of teenagers/young men in our society who happen to play college athletics. This proposal is about giving them an extra 50$-100$ a week to make sure they can afford to: "....buy pens and toothbrushes and the occasional off campus meal. It's about making sure they can pay all their medical bills or insurance co pays because sometimes schools don't cover everything even in the event of a sports-related injury. Individually, no athlete will get rich if this plan gets approved by the schools in the FBS or all of Division I."

 

[SDK46]

$100 a month is really going to cause all of these catastrophic and dire consequences and sequella?? Really?

The catch-22 most of you are missing is some of these kids, while having school paid for, don't have any discretionary income. Why do you think some are kids are hocking memorabilia/selling tickets to get tats and the like?

And IX doesn't say anything about who would/should get paid under this scenerio. It's about women having equal opportunity to participate, which, thanks to the FB program, they do!!

Enough....it's a no brainer....pay the revenue-producing athletes $100/month and be done with it. They've earned it, a thousand times over. Sheesh.

 

[hawkeyemark]

Yes you do. Consider this an intervention so to speak for a 54 year old man who's obviously bitter about his own life and now has class envy toward a mostly disadvantaged group of teenagers/young men in our society who happen to play college athletics. This proposal is about giving them an extra 50$-100$ a week to make sure they can afford to: "....buy pens and toothbrushes and the occasional off campus meal. It's about making sure they can pay all their medical bills or insurance co pays because sometimes schools don't cover everything even in the event of a sports-related injury. Individually, no athlete will get rich if this plan gets approved by the schools in the FBS or all of Division I."

Wow. You need to more carefully not let your opinions color your judgements about people. I have a really good life and don't feel the least bit bitter. I love what I do, where I live and make a decent enough amount of money to support one person. For me quality of life has nothing to do with how much money you make. I meant to make the point that college atheletes have a leg up already compared to their peers. Why do we need to make sure they have enough spending money? Most college students pay for their own education and will spend years paying off their debt when they graduate. On top of that college atheletes have connections when they enter the work world not available to regular students. They should appreciate what they have and the good fortune that comes with having the talent to get a free college education and everything that comes with it.

 

[DwayneTwill]

And IX doesn't say anything about who would/should get paid under this scenerio. It's about women having equal opportunity to participate, which, thanks to the FB program, they do!!

Title IX:
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..."

If you think there's not going to be a Title IX problem with this, you're a loon.

 

[HawkForce]

Although you claim to be a student and college sport fan it seems based on your post you have little grasp of what being a Division I athlete entails.

As for the rest of you paying a stipend to players such as Jim Delany is proposing in this era of multi-billion dollar media contracts and multi ten-million dollar coaching contracts is the fair thing to do. IMO eventually after enough legal battles and court wrangling even more money is going to be paid to the players with schools setting up a type of annuity account for players who meet certain academic requirements and complete their eligibility.

What exactly do you think being a college athlete entails? Because I envision it as multiple hours per day practicing (football usually runs about a 3 hour practice I do believe), then you have lifting/conditioning, travel time, and games....I just don't feel that it's that big of a disadvantage. There are alot of students that work for the University 20 hours a week. And some that work a full 40 at other places on a night shift (although that is rare I know a couple.)

But I am interested in what you believe being a college athlete entails....

Sure they spend alot of time with athletics....but normal students don't have access to a multi-million dollar "Athletic Learning Center" either...

I love NCAA sports, however they are still students...

 

[gergend]

I'm sick and tired of hearing that these athletes are being taken advantage of. They are getting their college education paid for.... They get to travel all over the country for free they get treated like kings... Most of us that went through college the normal way eating frozen pizza and mac n cheese. I'm still paying off my college education and would love to have had it paid for. Don't get me wrong I love sports but come on the line has to be drawn somewhere. Paying someone 2 to 3 K is not going to solve the Cam Newtons who are getting 250k plus cars and what ever.

 

[MultipleDundieAwardWinner]

I'm sick and tired of hearing that these athletes are being taken advantage of. They are getting their college education paid for.... They get to travel all over the country for free they get treated like kings... Most of us that went through college the normal way eating frozen pizza and mac n cheese. I'm still paying off my college education and would love to have had it paid for. Don't get me wrong I love sports but come on the line has to be drawn somewhere. Paying someone 2 to 3 K is not going to solve the Cam Newtons who are getting 250k plus cars and what ever.

When is the last time throwing more money in more hands in a corrupt system has helped anyone? If you honestly think that players are going to stay away from agents because of the whopping $400 a month they are making, then you are just too naive to discuss this with. I don't see how anyone can not have the foresight to see how many new problems this will create, whule solving almost none.

Durr, no Mr Booster, I don't want that free car, I'm gonna make $3,000 a year playing for Illinois!

 

[SDK46]

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Dr. Boyce Watkins: The Madness of Not Paying College Athletes

NCAA Power Brokers Begin To Flirt with Idea of paying College Athletes

 

[DwayneTwill]

" + artTitle.replace("-","") + " - " + "Kansas State Collegian" + " - " + "Sports" + "

Dr. Boyce Watkins: The Madness of Not Paying College Athletes

NCAA Power Brokers Begin To Flirt with Idea of paying College Athletes

That's some stupid s**t right there.

Some highlights:
"One can't help but wonder if the NCAA is engaging in a form of academic apartheid"

"Whether the athlete gets a degree is irrelevant when compared to the millions that have been extracted from him, and even if he goes on to play professional sports, this makes the crime no less significant. The truth is that college athletes in revenue-generating sports are treated as neither Americans nor college students. Their ability to enjoy college is stripped by the rigors of their professional sports schedules and Draconian training regimen, thrust upon them by money-hungry coaches who could care less about education. The idea that Congress has conspired with the NCAA to allow athlete labor rights to be taken away in a manner that would be illegal in nearly any other industry adds insult to injury. Keeping athletes and their families in poverty while coaches and administrators get rich is not only fundamentally un-American, it is an embarrassment to us all." (They're not treated as americans!?! The coaches are money-hungry!?!? The NCAA has conspired with congress to keep these kids down!?!?)

"Unfortunately, college athletics, K-State's athletic department included, have become too corporate and recruit athletes not solely for the purpose of making the team better, but to win championships that drive money to the school and into the pockets of coaches and administrators."

"Now, I'm not arguing that coaches should not receive bonuses or that K-State teams shouldn't strive for victory each time they take the field or court.But this has become out of hand. "

"Furthermore, doesn't every student at K-State not receive a quality education and the "college experience?" Therefore, we must eliminate education from the perks of playing NCAA sports." (That's my personal favoite)

"Most significantly, athletes are starting to ask the hard questions and receiving more opportunities to mobilize against their oppressors. The reality is that college athletes themselves could shut down the entire system instantly by simply refusing to play in the NCAA tournament without being properly compensated." (I expect this to happen very soon. LOL)

"It’s time to end the academic apartheid of the NCAA, where white guys walk away with most of the money and the black men have nothing to share with their families. Athletes do the work, so they deserve the compensation. If athletes aren’t getting paid, then no one should get paid. But if coaches, commentators and administrators are getting rich, then they have an obligation to compensate their sources of labor. That’s how things should be done in America."

 

[hawkeyemark]

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Dr. Boyce Watkins: The Madness of Not Paying College Athletes

NCAA Power Brokers Begin To Flirt with Idea of paying College Athletes

I read the links here and the Boyce Watkins column from Huffington Post in particular left me a little cold. We can all probably agree that big time college sports have become a little too corporate and all about money. That doesn't mean that we exploit student atheletes in the process. They make sacrifices to compete but they acrrue a free education and benefits not afforded to their fellow students. They go to college as students first.

The arguement about kids coming from disadvantaged backgrounds doesn't cut it. Many bright kids not able to afford college end up joining the military. I process them in personnel support every day at work going through intelligence training here at Corry Station in Pensacola. Those kids represent the cream of the crop in the Navy and come from every type of race and background. If our young people playing college sports feel exploited and not well enough compensated they have options.

 

[olddude]

Of course they'll pay them all. Men, women, all sports.
Total cost won't exceed $2.5M, which prices out the Boise St's, Iowa St's, etc.
That's what this is about...creating a separation of the big boys from the little boys.
Creating a new upper division of college athletics, leaving the little boys behind.
That $2.5M is chump change for the big boys but devastates the little boys.

The ball is already rolling for the elite programs to leave the ncaa, this is just the next step. Actually the ball started rolling in about 2005.

Thats exactly what it is. Also if you dont think this is a ploy by the B10 to "level the playing field" with the SEC, you are mistaken

 

[DwayneTwill]

Thats exactly what it is. Also if you dont think this is a ploy by the B10 to "level the playing field" with the SEC, you are mistaken

How would this 'level the playing field with the SEC'? If the Big Ten does this and the SEC doesn't, you don't think that the SEC will also do it within .05 seconds?