let's see what they get: free tution free room and board free tutoring (the good ones) travel free gear access to some of the finest training facilities and the opportunity to make some serious cash ...also being coached by the best college coach in the country for free and for what....to play football for 3 months, not including spring. i on the other hand am in law school paying over 20 grand a year just for tutition and can only pray to make 10% of what these guys make by playing a GAME. It is their choice to reap the benefits of being a star player or being a normal college student.
The only thing I will say is that the Athletes that want jobs over the summer get hooked up with incedibly well paid internships. I knew a guy that played D-1 ball for a a major team. Over the summers, he was making $20 an hour sorting papers....Thats more than more non-athlete summer jobs pay. I am not saying they all get those jobs...but it isn't all gloom and doom for these guys as far as financing goes....
BB, I believe Rohan's free meals and bar tab would be a BIG NO-NO according to the NCAA. But of course, they don't have time to keep tabs on every single student-athlete in Division I, 24/7, so some stuff slides by. But one day, if we're not careful, that could come back to bite us in a bad spot. I have long been in favor of college athletes receiving a reasonable (keyword: REASONABLE) stipend for basic living expenses that the athletic scholarship doesn't cover and that these young men, who more often than not come from homes where they lived in crushing, SQUALID poverty, simply cannot afford to buy because they cannot have a job during the academic year, and are restricted in how much money they can earn during the summer (I believe the NCAA ceiling is $2,500). My dad often tells stories about what it was like for him when he played college football back in the '70s, when athletes weren't allowed to have a job, PERIOD. The scholarship paid for his tuition, his books, his dorm room, and three square meals a day. That was it. It did not pay for his clothes. It did not pay for Li'l Debbie cakes or Cokes in case you needed them for a late night sugar high to study before finals. It did not pay for gas in his beat up ol' Chevy truck, or to fix it when it broke down (which happened often). When that truck broke down, he walked everywhere, and he didn't get to go home until it was fixed. When he and my mother got married, she had to work to support them until his eligibility was over. My grandparents couldn't help them out because they didn't have anything to help him out with; they were all poor. One summer, he started mowing people's yards for money, taking cash. When his coach found out about it, he told my dad one simple thing: "Cash only. Don't you EVER let the NCAA find out." They never did. One luxury they were allowed, laundry money, was taken away his junior year. And dad has hated the NCAA ever since. No lie. I'm not saying student athletes should live like royalty. I am saying that, if the NCAA will only let them work during the summer, only lets them earn a limited amount of money in that time, and restricts what their scholarships apply to, then I think a small stipend to ensure that athletes have clothes on their back, gas in their car or can afford a plane ticket so they can go home once in a while, is the least they deserve. And if we gave them that, I bet we'd see a whole lot less "improper benefits" crap going on. Often these young men do things like take a free meal from a booster or something desperate, like sell their championship rings on E-bay, simply because they don't have any money whatsoever and would just like to not be broke and be able to buy snacks and clothing or gas. And they get in trouble for it. If they had a little money in their pocket, it would happen a lot less and we could severely punish those who still do for being truly greedy. I think a stipend of about $800 a semester, given to the athlete to be saved or spent any way he likes, would be enough to make sure he can have good clothes, some extra food, can do his laundry, or can afford a bus or plane ticket home when he needs to go home. We could also raise or completely lift the restrictions on summer job earnings. The NCAA has no right to say how much money a student-athlete can make from a legit job or internship. If they think an athlete is on the take or a booster is greasing them, let them prove it. Otherwise, butt out.
There was an article in the local paper (Knoxville, Tn) last weekend pointing out how few conferences make a profit on their athletic programs. Giving athletes, that no one comes to see, a salary is a quick way to cause most Universities to drop organized sports. Frankly I have often wondered why tax payers don't revolt from having to support athletics that very few are interested in watching. The majority of citizens work their butts off trying to send their kids to college and yet have to pay student fees to support athletes who are treated like prima donnas. JMO
If they want to get paid, I say let them also pay for their own schooling. They get a free ride towards an education. If they don't like the situation, they can quit playing ball, get a job, pay for their own school like the rest of the population.
This is where the problem would start. If you pay the football players, the baseball players want the same amount. If they get it, the basketball team wants it, then, the softball players, track, tennis, golf, soccer. phew! that's alot of $1000/month. Where does this money come from? And don't think about not paying one group, because lawsuits will fly soon afterwards!
Just my luck. My dad was an alcoholic. I'm ugly, fat, but happy. A few more years and it would have been someone else's fault. I guess what I'm saying is that most sign KNOWING they have no desire to get the degree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
probably not a problem for a sport like D-1 CFB, but what about the revenue-losing sports? wrestling, field hockey, title-9 stuff?
You know weather or not some of these guys are in it for the degree is up to them. Bottom line is they are in it for a future and they can roll the dice like the rest of us. Thier playing college ball to prepare for the pro's is like someone starting off at the bottom of the ladder with a VISION of going higher up. No garantee he will get there but he is also not treated any differently than his piers.
