Has anyone heard...

[ProfessaBull]

the buzz about congress looking into paying college athletes? Always a great debate, just curious to know if there is any validity to what I heard.

Love to hear some your takes on this issue as well.

[Greg Auman]

The idea of paying college athletes, while noble, is a logistical nightmare.

You wouldn't be able to pay, say, football players without paying athletes in all other sports -- they currently received the same scholarship, put in as much time in many cases, and can't be punished because they play to smaller crowds for less marketed sports that generate less revenue. Every player must be compensated the same, not only within a roster, but from school to school, at least at the Division I level. So the starting quarterback at Notre Dame gets the same payment as the 110th player at Buffalo. For the stipend to be at a level that all universities, big and small, can afford, it would be an inconsequential amount of money. You're talking about hundreds of athletes on every campus -- the financial burden would be too much for a large majority of the colleges in Division I athletics.

If somebody has an easy solution to this, hey, lay it out. I haven't heard one that makes sense in the last decade this has been floated about. In theory, when you hear it from a college football coach, it makes sense. But in practical application, it has to extend to all teams at all schools, many of which are already losing money before they're mandated to pay their athletes.

[ProfessaBull]

Good points but if congress is truely getting involved they must have some sort of plan for this. Will they raise student's athletic fees or stop paying university presidents inflated salaries? How much control does congress have over the NCAA?

I agree, you do have to pay every athlete an equal amount if this were to take place. However, we have athletes making poor decisions to earn extra cash and that becomes a problem too.

The easy solution to this problem is the current solution, don't pay them anything. How about this, instead of directly paying every athlete, you make a job available for them in the off season. Are you going to tell me business owners wouldn't be chomping at the bit to have a student athlete working for them?

I just want to know what is currently being done?

[SANJAY]

Good points but if congress is truely getting involved they must have some sort of plan for this. Will they raise student's athletic fees or stop paying university presidents inflated salaries? How much control does congress have over the NCAA?

I agree, you do have to pay every athlete an equal amount if this were to take place. However, we have athletes making poor decisions to earn extra cash and that becomes a problem too.

The easy solution to this problem is the current solution, don't pay them anything. How about this, instead of directly paying every athlete, you make a job available for them in the off season. Are you going to tell me business owners wouldn't be chomping at the bit to have a student athlete working for them?

I just want to know what is currently being done?

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

[D1DDY]

kiss our OCS hopes goodbye if that happens..

[ProfessaBull]

I'm not so sure congress is involved, I heard it on the radio this morning.

[Bull94]

I think all athletic scholarships should be done away with. Why should someone get a schollly for a sport unless the revenue earned actually can pay for it? Why should revenue producing athletes pay for those that don't bring in the money? It's not fair to them.

A certain percentage of revenue minus expenses should be given to these athletes that bring it in. Starters should be paid more than reserves. Base that on credits per start. School tuition costs come out of that and keep the alloted scholarships for revenue producing sports. Athlete's whose jerseys  are sold should be given a percentage and kids should be able to sell their marketing services to whomever they choose.

We live in a capitalist society and yet players like Troy Smith and his teammates can bring in $10's of millions of dollars to their schools and get the same scholarship that someone who plays tennis gets. There is something wrong when a coach can earn $4M per year to coach kids that don't get a dime other than the scholly. Heck they don't even guarantee those.

I understand that many teams would have to fold but if there is not an economic demand for it then they should. Unless donors can specifically provide the funs to operate a sport then it shouldn't exist.

[Joe]

Won't happen for a very long time. Your talking about destroying programs and giving athletes less of an opportunity to compete because the costs of paying athletes will hurt the schools.

[Bull94]

Won't happen for a very long time. Your talking about destroying programs and giving athletes less of an opportunity to compete because the costs of paying athletes will hurt the schools.

yes destroying programs that can't support themselves. That's how it works in the real world. Profesional leagues fold all the time because they aren't economically feasible. Why should it work any differently in college?

Paying coaches millions doesn't seem to hurt the schools why should paying the players? It would not give revenue producing athletes less of a chance to compete. It would fairly compensate them for the Billions of dollars they generate these schools.

[Ruger7mmmag]

Easy answer is allow them to work but put a cap on how much they can make.