Should college athletes get paid?

They make a lot of money for schools through rising ticket costs, winning championships, etc... Especially football players since they can't go to the NFL immediately after high school.

-Smithers

No.

Originally posted by BorgHunter
No.

I agree also. But some people are saying that we should b/c they bring in so much revenue for the school.

I personally think the full ride scholarships some athletes get these days is all they deserve. Some of these tuition rates are totaling over $100, 000 over a just four year span now.

I say no as well. Besides, it would only be the football and basketball teams getting money. None of the other sports generate any sort of cash.

The athletes that are in most class I NCAA teams are there because they want a shot at pro sports. Most are not interested in education. They are very talented and deserve to get paid, since millions of fans pay to see them play.

College and NCAA sports should be seperated. Let the athletes have the money they deserve, and college needs to charge students more tuition instead of taking advantage of athletes in order to make a buck.

Originally posted by Karankawa
The athletes that are in most class I NCAA teams are there because they want a shot at pro sports. Most are not interested in education. They are very talented and deserve to get paid, since millions of fans pay to see them play.

They don't need to get paid - they're getting a free education, and for those that aren't interested in that, they're getting free room and board and a chance to develop their skills in order to cash in later.

I don't know exactly how big-time collegiate sports developed, but I can't see how it can really be justified. I can certainly see the argument that sports serve as another way to help people develop, but I don't know how any reputable institution of higher learning and justifiy admitting students they wouldn't normally admit, spendings millions of dollars on coaches, facilities, etc. Something more along the lines of the college volleyball team seems about right to me.

A free education and room and board is hardly a fair price for the amount of fame and entertainment they are providing, when compared to professional athletes or even regular ole TV actors/actresses. The fact is, the NCAA makes bookoos of money off of college sports. Yes, colleges get a great deal of money out of it, and that sounds great, but let's face the facts, this is an exploitation.

By the way, in general, the football programs are the ones that make the money. A few schools also make money off of basketball. Almost every other sport is a loss. Since volleyball doesn't make money, there aren't big scholarships with perky deals set up on the side to attract the best athletes. And those sports are more in the mold of how a true college sports team should be, because money is not the object. Since profitability is the object in football (and sometimes basketball), some lying, cheating and stealing happens, as in all cases involving money. In this case, college athletes are the ones getting stolen from.

Of course, you can call my bluff here. If I'm right, an interesting opportunity exists. Would it be that difficult for a college level football league to develop? Could it lure away college athletes by promising greenbacks instead of free education? Of course, people want to think that those athletes are really there for education, and a league that developed that used money instead of education as a form of payment would immediately get called some very bad names, I'm sure. The marketing would be difficult...

I hardly see how it is an exploitation. The players with scholarships get a free education and free housing, and even the ones without it get tons of free publicity and get to have fun in the process. They should not get paid.

Giving a guy a scholarship and free room and board while you make millions is not exploiting? Cmon.

That's the same wage that slaves made 150 years ago, with a scholarship slapped on top of it. And hell, a lot of those scholarships are worthless to those guys.

EDIT: And if they happen to suffer a debilitating injury while playing, well, that's their tough luck!

Here's a thought. In baseball the major league teams subsidize the minor leagues. They send players to specific teams to develop their talent before they are ready for the big time. Perhaps something similair could be done with college football and basketball. The draft could be held in each sport at the high school level, and players assigned to colleges. In return, the professional teams would contribute money to the schools to help subsidize the teams. They would, of course, also exercise control of who the coaches would be at the college level.

If this were ever to happen, pretty soon they'd probly be negotiating whether or not to play high school players.

They should never pay college athletes. I see it as though they will soon become greedy, only want to play for money, eventually their grades will drop, and they won't have any sort of an education for when they wind up NOT making the pros....then where does that leave them?

You're comparing adults (college) to kids (high school). I think that would be exactly where the line should be drawn, between pro and amateur, at 18.