End College Sports Indentured Servitude: Pay "Student Athletes"

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This argument has certainly been around for a while and it is easy to see both sides of the argument.

If the athletes were paid a stipend for their "services", would they then pay the $20K to $50K per year that their education costs, if injured would they be eligible for WC and no longer be part of the university or continue to get an education?

Would these athletes sign contracts whereby they would stay in college for four years, to provide maximum ROI for the universities paying them?

Would the professional leagues enter into a contractual relationship with the universities so that no player would be drafted prior to the graduation date of his original college class?

If all of the changes are in effect then I think a stipend is certainly in order for the athletes.

Thanks for the article.

Very interesting

One big issue is who and how much: do you pay all athletes the same regardless of the sport. What about the sports that today are not allowed to give the entire team a scholarship (like baseball, they have 11.25 scholarships for 25 people)? What about walk ons? What about the athletes who do not have any scholarships? We have to remember that except for football and for some schools basketball programs, very few athletic programs can even pay their own bills. Do we just eliminate all sports that can't cover the cost of the program and the stipend?

How about removing athletics from what is suppose to be institutions of higher learning? Colleges should not be farm leagues for professional sports. I know what I am suggesting is heresy in many people's eyes, but look at MLB. They have a minor league and the only requirement to make it into the big league is talent.

IMO, in some schools it looks like everyone's getting rich except the players---even though they're doing a lot of the "heavy lifting" in generating the big bucks.

For example, at University of Maryland College Park, the star basketball coach (Gary Williams) was being paid $12 million per year. If memory serves, he got a nice raise (to $12 million) on an already hefty salary after the Terps went all the way to the championships---but admittedly, I'm hazy on ALL the details because (1) it's been a year or more and (2) I'd MUCH rather watch UFC than college basketball.

Penn State's football program is a $70 million per year cash cow. I'm sure that the late Joe Paterno was similarly well compensated. In both cases (Williams and Paterno), it's not like they were suiting up, hitting the field (or the court) and actually winning games---and the championships that cause the big donations to roll in.

The players do that. It doesn't happen without them---there's no reason why they shouldn't share in the "loot." I'm not suggesting that college athletes should be paid $12 million per year but they should get a fair compensation based on the "worth" of their program to the school's bottom line---and yeah, that probably means that the football and basketball players would make more than the soccer players and the wrestling team, and the men would make more than the women.

And, in any case, what happens if one of these kids is seriously and permanently injured...?

Pay 'em, I say. College athletes have been exploited long enough.