Let me throw out a couple of numbers for you. 21,447 8,244 42,224
Pretty big numbers huh? The first number is the average annual total cost of a college student at a public university. That number includes university fees, tuition, room and board and textbooks. The second number is the average tuition cost per year at a public university. The astounding third number is the average annual total cost of a college student at a private university.
What can we surmise from these three numbers? It costs a lot of dough to go to college. Going to college is a privilege, not a right. There are many people in this country, even with the help of loans or financial aid, that just will not be able to attend a four year university. Yet, some people will argue that for college athletes, this free tuition is just not enough. Their argument is that The NCAA makes X amount of money a year off of them and the athletes should be compensated for it. (Let’s take all of the other college athletes out of the equation, because it is usually just Division I basketball and football players that people talk about when mentioning this. Also, they are typically the only sports where there are full scholarships)
Here is my argument. These athletes are already being compensated. Don’t tell me that the chance for a four year college degree from a college or university does not mean anything. Don’t tell me that being a football or basketball athlete does not immediately put you ahead of other job applicants when they do graduate from the college or university.
Let’s take a look at those numbers again and multiply them by four…the first one is now 85,788, the last one is now 168,896. Again, that is a lot of money. That is a lot of money that these athletes do not have to pay because they are good at putting a ball thru a hoop, or breaking a tackle. Many of these same athletes would not even have the chance to go to college if they were not good at sports.
Am I saying that the NCAA isn’t a corrupt organization? No. Am I saying the NCAA does not exploit these kids? No. However, I am saying that paying college athletes (again basketball and football) is ridiculous. It is not right for the NCAA to be completely corrupt. However, just because it is corrupt does not make it ok for college athletes to get paid. Two Wrongs do not make a Right.
Jones, the cost of college is a completely fictitious number with no basis in reality. Using the cost of college to justify the slave-labor that is college football and basketball players is completely wrong.
College tuition is a massively inflated value. Colleges randomly assign arbitrary tuition values, knowing that a significant majority of students won’t be able to pay those values. Students then apply for college loans and scholarships, making the actual cost of college reasonable. The loans and scholarships prohibit the ability of the free market to deflate college values. If students actually had to pay $40,000 per year to attend college, no one would pay, and so colleges would lower their tuition costs. Since we have loans and scholarships, colleges can charge whatever they want. The issue of inflated college tuition, and the impending market correction (similar to the recent housing bubble, and the not-so-recent dotCom stock market bubble), is no support to your “don’t pay college athletes” argument.
There is only one reason that college athletes aren’t being paid. Greedy men that run the NCAA and colleges want to keep all that money for themselves. And that is not a good reason to not pay your employees.
On top of the fact that college athletes aren’t paid, the brutal regulations and restrictions that prevent college athletes from even interacting with future employers (agents, professional teams, sponsors) are ludicrous. These interactions have the potential to open many doors for athletes after college, and would establish a great basis for a future career. Instead , these interactions lead to suspensions, loss of scholarship, and other penalties.
Why should college athletes be paid? Because they work hard and earn the money (ticket sales, TV contracts, corporate sponsorship, and everything else that is currently kept by the school and the NCAA). It’s the same reason that anyone gets paid.
Sorry Watts but this is just something that we are never going to agree upon. Yes, not everyone has to pay full tuition because many will get scholarships and/ or financial aid or have loans taken out. However, those loans have to be paid at some point, and with interest. You know who doesn’t have loans? College football and basketball players.
To call college football and basketball players playing a sport, slave labor i believe is completely wrong. Slaves didn;t have a choice…you don’t want to play basketball or football, fine don’t play. Otherwise you have to follow the rules…god forbid!
Man these guys just have it so hard…they get to play basketball or football, take the easiest classes at the college level, and get their hands held 24/7 by advisors, coaches, teachers etc etc etc.
There are options for these players…go do what Brandon Jennings did and play for a year in Europe and then go to the NBA if you don’t want to follow the rules.
Lastly, don’t try to tell me that college athletes don;t have interactions with potential future employers. Are you kidding me? These guys routinely hang around boosters who have a lot of money and have a lot of pull. It is not against the rules for these boosters to say hey…contact so and so..they have a job opening up that you may be interested in after college. Or hey, after you graduate, if you don’t want to play ball, come work for me. Athletes have a gigantic leg up in this regard. One of the best things about being a college athlete (if you aren;t good enough to make the pros) is the people they get to interact with consistently.
Jones, let me re-post my last sentence, for emphasis.
Why should college athletes be paid? Because they work hard and earn the money (ticket sales, TV contracts, corporate sponsorship, and everything else that is currently kept by the school and the NCAA). It’s the same reason that anyone gets paid.
Free college tuition is not “payment”, especially considering that college tuition is a massively inflated number.
I’ll agree, “slave labor” is not the right term. How about “colonialism”? Would you be happy if America were still under British rule? Britain would be reaping the benefits of the hard work of our labor, the exploitation of our natural resources, and the rewards of everything America offers, even though it’s actually America that is doing all the work.
Watts, as i said earlier…neither of us is going to convince the other. You are acting like everyone can pay for college no matter what, or that it is no big deal. Ask some of the people that graduated from college our year how hard it was for them to get thru school because of financial reasons..and that was because of tuition. Ask anyone who has to pay college loans until they are in their mid thirties if they would not have minded a free ride.A full ride is a huge freaking deal. Maybe 200 kids a year out of basketball and football will be drafted and make a team, and thus make money. The rest will have to get a job. That “rest” is not being exploitated by the NCAA. They are lucky to even be able to go to college, let alone for free. The 200 or so who do get drafted…they will get their chance at the millions.
Anywho here is my main reason as to why college athletes should not be paid. It would completely ruin the game…period…end of story. This is why the NBA and the NFL suck in many ways…its a me me me, whats in it for me, when do i get paid, where is my next sponsor. The great thing about college sports, especially basketball and football is the pagentry, the atmosphere, the pride in the school, the spirit, the name on the front of the jersey rather than the back etc. You pay college athletes, all of that is completely gone. It would be a minor league system. Keep pro sports where they are, and college sports where they belong.
Jones, I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I’m just proving that you are completely wrong on this.
I’m not saying that college is cheap, or that a full-ride isn’t a great thing. I’m saying that the cost of college is ten times higher than it should be. $40,000 per year is insane. The only reason they can charge that much is because it’s so easy to get loans/scholarships, and so the “free market” of capitalism doesn’t drive down the price.
If milk cost $10 per gallon, no one would buy milk, so stores can’t charge that much. Stores can only charge $3.50 per gallon, because that’s all that people are willing to pay. Consumers essentially dictate the price – that’s the “free market” of capitalism. This doesn’t happen with college tuition.
If college is $40,000 per year, that’s a $160,000 loan for a four-year program. If you wanted to get a $160,000 loan for a house, you would have to sign extensive paperwork and have an impeccable credit rating. And if you default on that loan, the bank can repossess your house. A college loan is completely different. College loans are much simpler to get, even for high school students with no credit history, and with no collateral. Because of this, the cost of college is kept relatively high, because easy loans and scholarships mask the true cost. You talk about people in their mid-thirties who are still paying off loans. I bet they wish they could travel back in time and tell their 18-year-old counterparts not to take on that loan. Colleges are predatory lenders to inexperienced high school students.
The cost of college is incredibly inflated. So you can’t say that a college basketball player receiving a full ride is being “paid” $160,000. The cost of tuition has no connection to reality.
I’ve decided that each blog comment that I write is worth $25,000. Don’t worry, though, I’ll give you this one as a gift. Have I given you a $25,000 gift?
Paying college players would completely ruin the game? This is already happening. Conference re-alignment, TV networks dictating schedules (ask Bond about WVU Thursday night games), brutal over-commercialization. Everything has a sponsor. There is no “for love of the game” anymore. Everyone is getting paid, except for the players that make all this possible. If it were me, and I was playing for free, and everybody else was making millions, I would be pissed.
You are not proving anything, you are just expressing your opinion, and trying to change my view. As I said earlier, we are just going to go around in circles on this issues. I think that you are completely wrong, you think the same about my opinion on this.
Jones, my blog posts are the definition of “proof” – a logical analysis and explanation of a specific point. I will accept that you view this as a matter of opinion, and so you don’t believe there is a true “right” or “wrong” in the situation.
In review, here are the points that you’ve put forward:
1) College is very expensive. College athletes are allowed to attend college for free, and so they are receiving reasonable compensation for their athletic performance.
2) Paying college athletes would “ruin the game”, because it would take away from “the pagentry, the atmosphere, the pride in the school”.
Here are my responses to your points:
1) The cost of college tuition is significantly higher than it should be, due to predatory lending practices and prevention of free-market economics.
2) College athletics are already completely inundated with money. Conference re-alignment, TV networks dictating schedules, brutal over-commercialization. Everyone is paid except for athletes.
Here are my points:
1) College players should be paid for their work, just like everyone else in the world, especially when so much money is involved in their activity. When I was in college, I earned money for my abilities as a computer programmer, even though that was directly related to my college degree. Antepenko did the same thing.
2) Forced and regulated separation of college and professional sports leagues prevents college players from networking with future employers, a resource that could be incredibly valuable to college athletes. This resource was incredibly valuable to me.
3) Your concern with the “pagentry” is your problem, and shouldn’t affect other people getting paid. If I like the “pagentry” of Cox Radio, should that prevent you from getting paid?
I love this blog! Wadow! Keep the words coming, Jones, I like your stuff.
Here are my responses to your points..
1.) Its college, not the pros.Colleges were built to educate. You just think that colleges have all this freaking money floating around their athletic fund that they have to give to players. When in fact, most colleges are in the red when it comes to their athletic budgets. Xavier, Louisville are the exception, not the rule.
2.) Complete bs and completely untrue. Being a college athlete gets you into networking with big boosters. Those boosters are excellent resources for finding jobs once you graduate. Better networking than the normal college student…it is not even close.
3.) Cox is where I work. College is not where you work, it is where you go to school.
Well played, Jones! I like where your heads at on this one. I accept your position. Keep the blogs coming!
watts here is an article i found by seth davis that articulates everything that I have been trying to say much clearer than I ever could….
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/seth_davis/09/21/Branch.rebuttal/index.html
Good article.
The author uses a lot of your same claims (i.e., “Student-athletes earn free tuition, which over the course of four years can exceed $200,000.”), and I still disagree with those claims. College tuition isn’t worth $200,000, and college shouldn’t cost that much. Free-market, college loans are predatory, blah blah blah. I charge $25,000 for each blog post, but I’m giving them to you for free, so I am giving you a $25,000 gift. That’s crap.
I do like this statement: “They also get coaching, training, game experience and media exposure they ‘earn’ in their respective crafts.” That is true, student athletes benefit greatly by the coaching they receive.
The author discusses “what a student-athlete genuinely needs”. How much money does a college student “need” to live? I am not concerned about what any student “needs”. Only paying people based on what they “need” is some form of socialism. I’m more concerned with how much they “earn”, based on ticket receipts, TV contracts, merchandise, etc. If you earn money, you should get that money – college athletes included. As the article mentions, “the NCAA received $771 million from CBS and Turner to broadcast last year’s basketball tournament.”
The author also discusses how many college athletic departments are not profitable. I blame that on poor management of the athletic department, as the article mentions “runaway spending on coaches salaries, new facilities and frivolous items like private jets”. I don’t feel that’s relevant to whether or not an athlete should be paid for their work.
The author’s other claims are simple conjecture and fantasy. Yes, players have the option of turning professional – regardless, I still think they should be paid when in college. Should a school be compensated for offering its training and practice facilities to athletes, or receive a future portion of there earnings? No, some revenue being earned through college athletics would still go to the schools. Do we need to worry about Bob Stoops offering a car dealership to a potential recruit? We only have to worry about that now, since normal payment activities aren’t permitted.
I will agree, there is no chance this will ever happen. It’s just something people talk about, like tax reform and balancing the budget. As I said in a previous post, rich old men are currently getting all the money, and they have no desire to share.