I find this to be one of the most misguided questions asked. In reality, ALL COLLEGE ATHLETES GET PAID. And I'm not talking about the hush, hush $50 hand shake that HBO currently talked about in its Real Sports with Bryant Gumble, if you haven't seen the most recent episode you should check it out. What I am talking about is tuition, apparel, tutors, housing, food, early registration, coaching, strength trainers, doctors, tickets to other sports events, tickets for your sports events for family members, the list goes on and on.
Now you might think I'm biased by being a former college athlete. Well maybe I am, but only to a small degree. I was never a scholarship athlete. I didn't have tuition, books, room and board, or any of what you think of when you hear scholarship. However, even though I didn't have a scholarship I enjoyed SEVERAL perks being an athlete. I can't begin to put a price on having early registration, knowing I would not only get the classes I needed, but I would be able to get them at times convenient to my schedule. If I was having trouble in a class there were tutors available to me, at no cost. I can't even remember the amount of free clothing I received as an athlete, and most of it I didn't "need" for training purposes - I was a diver, all I needed was a suit and towel. I had doctors to go to for illness or injury. I was given a stipend while traveling to meets or training over winter break. I was able to travel for free to all of my competitions. The list is endless.
Any way, the point is athletes are getting paid even if they don't have a salary or hourly rate. In 2008 the New York times valued the average scholarship at $10,409. Take that over four years and that's over $40k a student athlete doesn't have to worry about in student loans. And that's just the average, Colin Cowherd stated on his radio show a few weeks ago that the average basketball scholarship (full-ride) is worth $120,000!
Now I'm totally naive here, colleges and universities are making millions of dollars on the two major sports - basketball and football. However, without the income from those sports there would be only a few other sports able to operate. Most college sports operate in the red, meaning they don't generate enough money to be able to run the program. Without that money there would be no swimming, tennis, rugby, golf, tennis, etc. And there would certainly not be scholarships for those athletes. The money is not all being pocketed, the colleges and universities need the money-making programs to make all other programs exist. And although all of the money in college athletics stays in the athletic department they certainly also help to promote the rest of the college/university to help bring in more of your average students. Think of all the adds you see for a particular school while watching a game featuring that team. All of that money is used to make a better school for EVERYBODY. This may not seem fair to the star football/basketball player helping to bring in that money, but without all of the star whatevers before him/her how do you think he's able to go to school for free?
The bottom line is student athletes are being given a chance at an education, usually a discounted education. An education/degree will pay them more than any salary the school can pay out while they are athletes for that school, that is if they choose to take advantage of it.
I agree... I looked at being a college athlete as a job. I was being paid to be an athlete in the sense of I got a small scholarship, perks such as you stated for traveling etc. The sport was my job and to keep in good graces, my education was a part of my job. In order to be an athlete I needed good grades. In order to compete on the team I needed to work hard at practice and perform.
ReplyDeleteI dont believe college athletes should be PAID in the sense of cars, cash etc. They need to earn it, they get a salary as professionals. The salary, cars etc should be kept to when they turn pro.
I did a paper on this in grad school. You are right on, Mandy! Another facet that no one thinks about is even if you did decide to pay athletes (esp. football and basketball), how do you make it fair? Do all 85 football players get it? What about sports that generate revenue at some schools but not others (i.e. UConn women's hoops)? Do they get paid too? Most overall athletic departments are in the red even WITH football and basketball, so where then does this money come from? It's true that companies like Nike are making tons of dough from these athletes, but it's not true that the actual University or their employees are sitting around getting rich. I'm with you girl!
ReplyDelete