This should be in the College Forum..but...

There are many more posters in here.

I would like to start a discussion about college athlete's and a stipend. Should they get one? Should it be for the money producing sports only? If you think they should get one, how much should they get? If you don't believe they should get one; Explain?

PS- I know this is a baseball forum, but this is also the slow time of the year for discussions

 

Entitlement!!!

I know the arguments for such compensation are that the athletes of major sports are bringing in huge revenues(TV deals and advertisements and gates) for their schools and conferences. Much of what these schools make go right back into the major sports' budgets to continually improve facilities that the same athletes enjoy.

If, by stipend, you mean laundry money and bare essentials (e.g. $200-300 a month), yes. But I definitely believe paying athletes for their service is ridiculous. These athletes ARE receiving something. In many cases, they are basically receiving a free college education and the opportunity to become a multi-millionaire afterward, whether it's as a professional athlete or in whatever field they are majoring in. The compensation is already there. Entitlement is a disease that is spreading all over the place.

Many college sports have definitely become big business, but so is college admissions and the college bookstore and everything else related to college. Colleges themselves are in business to make money. They are not philanthropic school houses ran by priests and nuns any longer. The NCAA now allows student-athletes to get a part-time job and earn up to $2,000. Let them go work for a "friend of the program" for a couple hours and make money that way.

Someone will probably say that if colleges are allowed to pay athletes more will stay in school rather than leave early for the pros. Thus, colleges will actually make more because their marquee players stay longer. That should be dealt with in other ways, not throwing money at it like is too often the solution for so many of the problems of today.

 

Even though I think there is a certain amount of exploitation present, the greater concern for me involves the disparity between "revenue" and men's "non-revenue" scholarship limits. The next time you watch your favorite Division IA college football team, remember this: That's 85...eighty-five...8-5...scholarships on the field. EVERY scholarship player receives a FULL college scholarship. That's tuition, fees, books, housing, and meals.

Then, the next time you watch your favorite Division I college baseball team, keep in mind that you're watching 11.7 scholarships (IF the program's sufficiently funded.). The average roster size is between 30 and 35 players (Can be appreciably higher at some programs.). Divide 33 by 11.7 and you can quickly estimate that the average player is receiving about 1/3 of his costs; but, the range among individual players is often considerable.

College athletics involves an extraordinary level of commitment. The prospect of holding down a job simultaneously if the student-athlete is devoting adequate time to studies and the field is generally unrealistic. However, the football player's time commitment is no greater than the baseball player's.

If a stipend were paid, I guarantee you that it would be paid exclusively to players in two men's sports: football and basketball. Without question, Title IX would require that an equal level of remuneration flow to women athletes. Meanwhile, men's "non-revenue" sports like baseball would continue to languish in relative terms.

The NCAA should address that before they widen the inequity further.

 

Here's one for you, Prepster. Division ll baseball gets 9 scholarships, but the sport that brings in a ton of revenue, Squash, gets an equal amount of scholarships......hmmm....got to start practicing

 

There are many things that concern me about the NCAA, but one hypocracy that sends me up a wall is to hear a college president advocating the role of a student athlete. They preach to the masses about the importance of the athlete to be like everyone else at the school; same privileges, same responsibilities and then remark on how fortunate their student athletes are in attending their school. They are always remarking about the importance of being a student...then they say nothing when their students are having to travel and play games at midnight because the TV media tells them to.

I agree with most everything I have read so far, but I would like to draw attention to the fact that many college universities have prostituted themselves for the sake of TV revenues. They can take the faces of their players and sell programs, tickets, sportswear and advertise on TV to the tune of millions of dollars. You're right Prepster, the one word that comes to mind is....exploitation.

Having said that, I agree with Caroliner. He's right on target

 

good on this forum

just a note about choosing the baseball forum for this topic. I know what ya mean. I have found if you want good / knowledgable / unbiased discussion on an "issue" topic, do it on "baseball".

note: those football guys apparently don't care to discuss issues; it's just scores, picks, records, standings, etc...............boring.