The Shame of College Sports

[KSig RC]

Saying athletes earn "nothing" in exchange for their services is silly hyperbole, to the point of being borderline retarded behavior.

Athletes may not receive cash value equal to what they earn for their teams (then again, obviously neither do Pro athletes, or the teams would be bankrupt), they certainly do get compensated - free tuition, room, board, books, stipend, plus additional benefits not available to student body at large.

Now, whether athletes take advantage of these things (or are put in the best situation to do so) is a different conversation - but when the value of a college degree over the course of a lifetime is estimated to be worth six figures or more ... well, we've reached your compensation figure from the last article already.

Football and basketball players at major programs are earning TONS of money for their schools, and likely not getting commensurate compensation, but it's irresponsible and stupid to claim they're getting "nothing" in return.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Athletes may not receive cash value equal to what they earn for their teams (then again, obviously neither do Pro athletes, or the teams would be bankrupt), they certainly do get compensated - free tuition, room, board, books, stipend, plus additional benefits not available to student body at large.

Now, whether athletes take advantage of these things (or are put in the best situation to do so) is a different conversation - but when the value of a college degree over the course of a lifetime is estimated to be worth six figures or more ... well, we've reached your compensation figure from the last article already.

Football and basketball players at major programs are earning TONS of money for their schools, and likely not getting commensurate compensation, but it's irresponsible and stupid to claim they're getting "nothing" in return.

Exxxxxxxactamundo.

Add to that the networks and resources that student-athletes gain from excited students and alum. Having attended and been employed at universities that take athletics very seriously, I have grown to be very annoyed with the average student athlete in terms of academic performance and the ability to use resources wisely. Many student-athletes make the average college student seem like more than a lazy C student. I was pleased by the relatively few student-athletes over the years who weren't pretending they were going to the pros, and weren't pretending that people will give a shit that they played for (insert team) for the rest of their life, and therefore used this tuition-free education to prepare for graduate school or occupations.

[AOII Angel]

I have to agree. Playing college football for LSU is a ticket to do whatever you want in life in the state of Louisiana. You want to go to a professional school...which one? Yes, you have to have decent grades, but your competitiveness level is boosted 1000-fold by adding LSU Football to your CV. A small percentage of players go on to play for NFL teams, but that's not the only benefit.

[Cen1aur 1963]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Saying athletes earn "nothing" in exchange for their services is silly hyperbole, to the point of being borderline retarded behavior.

Athletes may not receive cash value equal to what they earn for their teams (then again, obviously neither do Pro athletes, or the teams would be bankrupt), they certainly do get compensated - free tuition, room, board, books, stipend, plus additional benefits not available to student body at large.

Now, whether athletes take advantage of these things (or are put in the best situation to do so) is a different conversation - but when the value of a college degree over the course of a lifetime is estimated to be worth six figures or more ... well, we've reached your compensation figure from the last article already.

Football and basketball players at major programs are earning TONS of money for their schools, and likely not getting commensurate compensation, but it's irresponsible and stupid to claim they're getting "nothing" in return.

Ditto to this.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Now, whether athletes take advantage of these things (or are put in the best situation to do so) is a different conversation - but when the value of a college degree over the course of a lifetime is estimated to be worth six figures or more ... well, we've reached your compensation figure from the last article already.

Well, we all know there are programs who push the athletes through academically and when they graduate, NWIH do they have the knowledge that you should have that goes w/ a college degree. If they get hurt and their career ends, they're toast. I guess that's the different conversation you're referring to. And really, as far as that goes, it doesn't begin and end with athletes.

I was rewatching "The U" on ESPN and the guys said that in the early 90s their weekend stipend for meals was $30. As one of the very large dudes pointed out $30 wasn't enough to feed him for a day let alone two.