tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post1055031488599804465..comments2023-10-31T06:31:41.395-04:00Comments on Bottom of the Barrel: I'm Just Not Sure About Paying College AthletesBengoodfellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-24090727947997574962011-06-08T18:06:07.974-04:002011-06-08T18:06:07.974-04:00Rich, part of the problem is just the aspect of ev...Rich, part of the problem is just the aspect of everyone is getting paid except for the athletes. The athletic directors don't want to seem like they are exploiting them and the players want to get paid. So they don't give a shit about normal students at the school because those students don't have an advocate. In an era when many states are cutting grants and other Financial Aid for students, colleges are thinking about increasing the amount of money paid to athletes. Think about that. Your money to get an education will be cut, but their money to have a stipend to live on is being increased. It's just the way things work. At some point athletes will get paid and leave college with minimal loans while you toiled away and end up with back-breaking debt because you dared to try and get an education. <br /><br />I could go on and on. People don't see normal college students as being exploited and they don't seem to care too much about tuition costs. Mostly, the idea you would need money to live off is completely ignored. <br /><br />I do think the biggest problem is memorabilia sales and things like that. Making money off the student's likeness on a video game rubs me the wrong way.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-29945203330337998972011-06-08T15:52:17.840-04:002011-06-08T15:52:17.840-04:00BGF, you're kind of on the right track.
I'...BGF, you're kind of on the right track.<br /><br />I'm just tired of hearing 18-19 year old kids complain about not having "enough" money to do what they want while in college. I'm sorry, you're in college, you're not supposed to have the most luxurious life imaginable.<br /><br />I spent 4 years busting my ass to get through my undergrad, worked for a year have been in grad school for 2 years. All counted, I'm down roughly 240k for this experience.<br /><br />As an engineer, I don't really do "easy" stuff. On top of that, I have to teach, run labs, grade, proctor, etc. Like I said earlier, I make about 4.50 an hour for my work and that factors in the "free tuition" that I get (for classes I don't take).<br /><br />So basically, to hell with 18,19 year old kids who think that they deserve to drive a Hummer instead of taking the bus because they play football. I'm sorry, but advanced physics is much more difficult to do and you don't see the Physics majors driving around with nice cars.<br /><br />Do football players bring in a ton of money? Sure, but they also get more money back from the school than anyone on campus. <br /><br />Now, the NCAA profiting on their likeness is a lot of horseshit and makes me feel sick inside, but if you pay players in college, what's to stop some high schools from paying players? My HS sold tickets to HS football games for almost 20 bucks a pop. Add in merchandise and I was in the same position as most NCAA players.Richnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-56219712198554115302011-06-08T12:37:13.726-04:002011-06-08T12:37:13.726-04:00Murray, I think he brings up a valid argument with...Murray, I think he brings up a valid argument with the internship thing. I think he's pissed he works hard and brings in money to his school, but he is expected to pay his own living expenses.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-25846918357154832932011-06-08T09:09:04.429-04:002011-06-08T09:09:04.429-04:00Arjun, at the heart of it paying for a student'...Arjun, at the heart of it paying for a student's cost of attendance and paying for living expenses is something all college students have to deal with. So I don't know if paying the student-athletes for this specific cost they incur is fair. Every college student goes through having to pay for things they need. <br /><br />I bring in more money at my job than my salary compensates me for, just like Peyton Manning brings in more money for the Colts than he gets compensated for. So I understand how the scholarship doesn't compensate the player enough for what he does, but it is that way in every facet of work life. <br /><br />As I said (for some reason your comment went to spam so that's why I didn't comment on what you said before now), I don't like how the replica jerseys with the player's number on the back gets sold and the college can make money off the jersey and the licensing of that player's appearance. That does strike me as a bit unfair. The replica jersey, and even the video game, issue does strike me as a bit unfair.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-5348432000482842902011-06-07T21:54:02.291-04:002011-06-07T21:54:02.291-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-24100249809795438782011-06-07T21:53:05.589-04:002011-06-07T21:53:05.589-04:00Rich, interesting reasoning looking at college foo...Rich, interesting reasoning looking at college football as an internship. Not sure I have looked at it this way or not before. <br /><br />One of my biggest issues with paying student/athletes is it spits in the face of other college students who do work to further themselves and don't pay a dime. In fact, they have to pay for the opportunity to do so. The college athletes don't have to pay to get their name in the public eye, it happens with their success. In fact, they get the opportunity to be in the spotlight for free. <br /><br />It is true there are meals comped and if the student/athletes need more money to live on, it is available to them if they choose to take out loans. But of course they are too good for student loans so they should be given more free money. These are my old arguments for not paying college athletes and I still tend to lean that way. <br /><br />Still, the university makes a ton of money off them...but as you said that's what happens to others as well. Of course, you are just a grad student so no one gives a shit about you being used by the college. <br /><br />I will say I don't like how replica jerseys of athletes are sold, just without the name on the back. The internship is an interesting way of looking at it, I would be interested to see what the counterargument to that would be.Bengoodfellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09401971573776672570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-1173957731154164732011-06-07T19:13:13.239-04:002011-06-07T19:13:13.239-04:00it's debatable whether we should pay athletes ...it's debatable whether we should pay athletes for sports themselves. on one hand, the amount of revenue that they bring in is disproportionately higher than what the scholarship compensates them for. however I think you make a really good point that every other student has to struggle to meet living expenses AND they have to pay for tuition, room, board etc. on top of that unlike other students. Title IX also complicates the issue.<br /><br />however what is not debatable is that it's bullshit that the NCAA can market specific players and sell their intellectual property in the form of putting their names on merchandise, video games, etc. and the specific players being marketed don't see a dime of that profit. It is complete, total, utter bullshit that when someone buys AJ Green's jersey he is the ONLY one who doesn't receive a cut of the profit from a good that only has value because of HIS labor. This would be like if i developed some new drug, only caltech took the patent away from me and sold the drug on the market without giving me a cut of the profits. Obviously football and therapeutic drugs are two very different things, but the principle is the same: when the NCAA markets individual players for profit, and takes advantage of those players' intellectual property (and by intellectual property i mean their production on the field, which, let's be honest is what adds value to the product; i don't buy a sam bradford jersey because it says oklahoma or because it says NCAA or anything - i buy it because it says Sam Bradford on it) by marketing their names, and then not giving any profits to the one person whose labor is what goes into making the product valuable. I really hope the O'Bannons win their case, because I cannot stand seeing the NCAA take advantage of players like this and not compensate players for the right to market their names on merchandise.Arjun Chandrasekharhttp://www.arjun-allthingssports.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-9773168144214295402011-06-07T16:48:52.686-04:002011-06-07T16:48:52.686-04:00To elaborate more (because it's totally necess...To elaborate more (because it's totally necessary), every internship on the planet is a raw deal in terms of the financial benefit to the intern.<br /><br />I worked at JPMorgan, worked with people do the same people doing the same work as me, but made a fraction what they did. <br /><br />However, I got to put "JPMorgan" on my resume which in turn led to job offers (before coming back to school). <br /><br />In the same way, NCAA players are trading pay for the chance to make a shitton of money in the future. Again, if there were no benefit to being an NCAA football player, the CFL wouldn't be unwatchable. The fact is that these "student-athletes" are interning. They get a modest pay (tuition, room and board, etc.) in exchange for being able to put went to: XYZ on their "resume" for the NFL draft, making it easier for them to make a gazillion dollars playing a game.FormerPhDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12837594679660975599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102327997051254703.post-6611201419691379362011-06-07T16:43:21.289-04:002011-06-07T16:43:21.289-04:00As an graduate student, all the fuss about paying ...As an graduate student, all the fuss about paying players rubs me the wrong way. I run 5 labs, two recitations and grade, resulting in roughly 70 hours of work a week. I then have to do research on top of that. My net pay: 4.50 an hour.<br /><br />You know what though? I knew what I signed up for. So did these kids. They don't have to go to college, but they choose to. <br /><br />Do they make money for the school? Absolutely. However, I have over 200 students in my classes paying roughly 4k a class. That's $800,000 in just tuition generated by my students in my class. I get paid a whopping 5k a quarter. So I bring in 80 times more revenue than I cost. I don't hear anyone demanding graduate students getting paid more.<br /><br />Also, all of my research? School name goes on everything I do. I get paid 0 fucking dollars for it. <br /><br /><b>That average estimated annual gap of about $3,000 would be given to the D-I player to help defray the costs of, say, transportation, clothing, laundry and pepperoni pizzas. It works out to a whopping $8.22 a day.</b><br /><br />I call fucking bullshit on this. They get a food stipend (or at the very least a meal plan) with their scholarship. They also get meals comped on the road. There are also provisions for housing as well. Transportation? Fuck that. Take the bus or walk like the rest of us.<br /><br /><b>We'd like to have a discussion about providing a grant-in-aid that corresponds to the cost of education.'</b><br /><br />Hey Delaney, there is no "cost of education" for these players because you <i>cover their tuition</i> under their scholarships. You want to give them spending money, just because you didn't call it "compensation" doesn't change the fact that you want to compensate the players.<br /><br /><i>The hardest part for me to justify in not paying players a stipend is how much money these players do bring into the school for that school.</i><br /><br />I get where you're coming from, but these players are getting a sweet deal. Free education, housing, meal plans, tutors, training staff, equipment rooms and coaches. All free for them. <br /><br />This brings me to the most important aspect: the name factor. If you go to OSU and play well, you end up in the NFL. Just like every other college student does with their <i>internships</i> that they typically aren't paid for. During my undergrad, I worked three internships, one unpaid, one for 7 an hour and the other was about 15 an hour. The companies I worked for benefited financially, I got my 7 bucks an hour. It's the way it works.<br /><br />If they think they're getting a raw deal, they can go play in the UFL or the CFL and make a paycheck, but they continue to go to college because it's easier to get into the NFL from USC than from the Toronto Argonauts.FormerPhDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12837594679660975599noreply@blogger.com