re: Eric Reid's quote

This is retarded. Collegiate sports are just that, competition between college kids. You start paying kids then they might as well turn it into a minor league or go pro.

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So while many many students have to take out loans and leave college with huge debt, football players leave with no debt, have a scholarship that if they keep all 4 years is worth well over $100K and a degree that they can use to make money in the workplace after they graduate from a state university.

No way they should be paid. Their books, housing and food is all paid for too while enrolled.

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Get back to me when you make your school 600k a year.

That's how much profit 1 scholarship football player turned over at Penn State last year. I imagine it's higher for us...

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These players do more than 35k a year's worth of good for the school they play for.

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That is irrelevant. Do you think corporations pay every employee whatever amount of money their particular job is responsible for? Of course not. They pay what they have to pay to get someone to do the job. If a billion people can do the job, then it's not going to be highly paid no matter how much money the company is making off of it.

The question is, how hard is it to get people to make money for the NCAA playing football (or basketball, or whatever). The NCAA could pay 120 NFL salary caps to get players, and still only make a marginally greater profit than they could without paying a dime. Why? Because so long as the teams are all offering the same, it will still be competitive and people will come to watch their teams. Look at college basketball; how long has it been since college basketball was the highest bidder for 18 year old basketball players' services? Do peope still watch and buy jerseys? Of course. If JJ Reddick wanted to be "compensated" for the amount of revenue he generated for the team he played for, he could have gone to the NBA instead of Duke. And you know what? Duke would have given his scholarship to someone else and the NCAA would have made about as much money for televising Duke basketball games.

The only reason this silly argument has any traction at all is because there does not currently exist a viable professional league for football players right out of high school. And I believe that is the only sensible solution. Any players who really can't stand people making more money off them than they make for themselves could jump right into the NFL and see how it feels to be compensated the full share of the revenues generated that they and their fellow players believe they deserve. In other words, they, too, could go sit at home drawing unemployment while their union drags along a lockout where none of them get paid.

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Get back to me when you make your school 600k a year.

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And some accountants and salesman make millions for their company.

Your point?

This editorial is dead-on:

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The NCAA's amateurism rules are a sham. In his 1995 book Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes, former NCAA head Walter Byers said he invented the term "student-athlete" just to move amateurism to the fore. It is astonishing how so few of us are bothered by college athletes' being treated as chattel for the enrichment of a few. "Collegiate amateurism is not a moral issue; it is an economic camouflage for monopoly practice," wrote Byers, who in his 36 years as NCAA executive director implemented and enforced many of the ridiculous rules that are still on the books.

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Time to Pay Players

Texas and ESPN will figure a way for Texas to be able to pay the minor sports. Oh wait, they already have.

So while many many students have to take out loans and leave college with huge debt, football players leave with no debt, have a scholarship that if they keep all 4 years is worth well over $100K and a degree that they can use to make money in the workplace after they graduate from a state university.

No way they should be paid. Their books, housing and food is all paid for too while enrolled.


Agree 100% and if this isn't enough incentive to play college sports,..then to hell with them and move on....

Les just solidified his image as a players coach, in a tactful way. College athletes won't be paid anytime soon, and Les knows this so he can pick the side that makes him popular with recruits and players.

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My response is, i've never EVER heard of a star player (whom i'm assuming you want to pay because your argument is they make money for the school. 5th string DB doesn't ... but anyway) financially struggling. Besides all the shite LSU gives them, they are often taken care of by the community.

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Guess what George? That shite is ILLEGAL and can get you popped like Ohio State.

A stipend would give student-athletes a modest amount of spending money to have fun in their spare time. Nothing more, nothing less. Nobody is going to get rich off getting $700 a month or something.

The stipend would not stop, say, Cam Newton getting $180,000 from Auburn. It would stop some of the BS where players trade in their jerseys for some spending money because they are broke.

With a stipend, AJ Green's deal doesn't happen.

It's a slippery slope. Do you pay starters more or all 85 equally. I have a son at Tulane and I can tell you a 4 year full ride is in the neighborhood of $150K. Then you'll have alumni start funds to pay coaches more who will pay players out of pocket. The point made is that players have lots of benis around campus and town.