Should student athletes be paid?

Great Debates
1

I think the answer is obviously yes, but most people seem opposed to the idea. I don’t consider student athletes NORMAL students. They have different standards for academic admissions, they have massive constraints on outside work and profit while at school and playing their sport, they are essentially unpaid employees.

There is no free ride there, they generate far more revenue than it costs the schools to provide, and unlike regular students, they have less flexibility in that they often have set and rigid schedules. Time allotted for practice, class, exercise, game time, etc.

The opposition to paying them strikes me as a vile mixture of elitism of academics uber alles (as if people with a greater knack for physicality ought to be penalized from capitalizing on their skills while in school - NO one cares or expects an undergrad who bands together to create some new app or software company that takes off from profiting, even though many of the skills and personnel may have come from said school, but hey, they were smart to bless them, and f*ck the ones who try to use physical advantages to get ahead). The idea that they should feel grateful for the free tuition and room and board and nothing more than the 2% chance of going pro reminds me of the attitude displayed by this lovely cpac member:

shelter - food shelter - food - oh and an education (at much higher drop out rates plus that 2% pro chance)

Sounds pretty similar to me.

Weak Counter : But the schools don’t have the money to pay athletes, many sports programs are losing money.

ME : Then perhaps they can cut their coach’s 5 million dollar salary in half and split some of that among the players. Non profits just move profits around, spending lavishly on facilities or inflated coach/staff salaries. There is PLENTY of money to go around, they just CHOOSE not to spend it on players.

…

But that’s just me. I could be wrong, or not completely right, so tell me now.

2

Well you open up a can of worms if you start paying them. Suddenly they are employees. There’s a lot of legislationthat would suddenly have to be enforced. You couldn’t just take 500k from the coach and split it, there’s payroll taxes etc that suddenly have to get paid too.

An American education is expensive. I don’t think it’s crazy to think of that as a decent compensation. But obviously, that is being given in a shady manner with bullshit bird courses and leniancy. Kids lose there scholarships due to injury. If they aren’t getting paid they most certainly should be treated more fairly in the way they are suposedly compensated.

3

Yes, of course they should be paid. They should not, however, receive a scholarship.

4

Should they have to go to school?

5

Why not? Most college sports programs are nothing more than farm clubs for the pros; why not have the pros subsidize them?

6

Yes. Treat them as college employees like any performers the college might hire for their events.

7

but you take away their scholarships right? and the free dorms, and free food and free tutors, right?

8

Which athletes are bringing in all this money? The swimmers, gymnasts, and softball players? If $60k a year in free tuition isn’t enough for a college softball player, how much should she get? How much should the bowling team get?

Do you want all athletes paid, or just football and (men’s) basketball? Because I doubt there’s a field hockey team in the country that could maintain itself on the gate receipts and tv revenue it brings in.

9

Should they even have to go to school?

Eta: well yes, Grotonian. This is usually only brought up in the case of high revenue sports. So?

10

yes

11

giving free (inflated) tuition does not cost the schools a ton of money, neither does room and board since that is mostly a sunk cost more than paid for by the athletic programs.
Obviously not all athletes will get paid something if anything, it would depend on how much the specific sport brings in.

12

yes but if they get paid they loose their scholarship right???

13

Student athletes are a hybrid, not normal students, so stop pretending they are one or the other. Currently they have the burdens and responsibilities of both a job in athletics obligations and school obligations. As long as they are required to meet dual obligations they ought to be compensated for both if that is part of the package bringing them on.
In a similar way academic scholarships are free to set rules of minimum gpa’s as a condition of paying for a free ride academically, free room and board, free tutoring, and LESS restrictions on actually capitalizing on their efforts and talents while in school. Why are they special and the athletes treated less so? Because you look down on someone who gets rewarded at some college because of their athletic ability? Get over it, this is nothing but rank jealously and bitterness at not having every scrap of life be perfectly fair in all arenas, it’s not meant to be.

14

Can we just jump to your point? You think that their scholarship and room and board IS their payment, correct? The problem is that is largely fraud. They are often not getting a real education. They are not protected by any workplace legislation and can lose their “pay” with an injury (in a job where that is highly likely) or on the whim of a coach. NCAA rules prevent easily transferring to another school to play if you are dissatisfied. It’s not remotely so cut and dried.

15

Actually I have no problem with Student Athletes receiving a small salary, I just think the idea that they are somehow being exploited is ludicrous. As is your idea that there is some type of burden attached to being a student athlete. Not that they don’t have difficulties. But the benefits far outweigh any hardship.

16

They could get a real education if they wanted it. No one is preventing them from applying themself academically. I do agree that if you get injured you should keep your scholarship.

17

But that’s not true - look, for example, at the findings of fact in the NLRB decision (warning: PDF) on Northwestern’s petition to unionize student athletes. That decision notes that, during the season, students are required to spend 40-50 hours/week on team activities… and that’s at Northwestern - what do you think happens at an SEC football factory? That doesn’t leave much time to “get a real education” during the fall semester, now matter how much they want it.

People working full-time attend college all the time, but nobody expects them to be full-time students. Yet we have no problem saying that these student athletes, who are required to spend more than full-time hours on their sport, are “wasting their opportunity” if they can’t pull that off. That’s a ridiculous double standard.

18

Then all sports activities should be contained to one single semester, in which the students take only one class. They can take summer school to balance it out and graduate on time. And enact strict standards that you can’t put in over 40 hours a week for athletic activity, even during the season.

19

So you agree some massive changes have to happen to make this fair? You just don’t think they should get payed?

20

I do think things need to change. I do think that there are a lot of unrealistic pressures playing a sport like football or basketball at a top level school. I do think they should receive a small salary, enough to order pizza every now and then or to buy new clothes or put some gas in the car and take a long road trip. But I also think a small stipend like that should come with an academic scholarship, particularly if you come from a low economic background.