Don't look now but the NCAA world could be turned upside down.

[Timonen]

Ok...change it to "all college students"

Most college football players have the same "marketable skills" as non-athletes. If the NFL is screwing these marketable athletes, then why not sue the NFL? Again, no one is forced to attend college. I think Ray Seals would differ on whether someone is forced to attend college too. As for the middle ground...if these players are so "marketbable" then by all means they should jump ship and some savvy businessman can take advantage of this marketable sweet spot. The fact is, right now, outside of the university setting that provides these players with a handsome benefit worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, no one wants to see them. If that were not true, we would not be discussing it.

You're going to use Ray Seals over 30 years ago to back up this point? Really? I actually think he was prior to the formal rule, but not sure. Either way, a monopoly (NFL) colluding with the NCAA to create a system like this isn't supposed to be allowed. You're rationalizing a scenario that preserves college football as we know it...which is fine because we all love it...but let's call it what it is. The large share of players would be nowhere near the university if not for football and have no interest in being there beyond football. They should not be forced to submit to the system as the only minor league system for football. Want to get creative to maintain what we've got? Let them major in football and focus their attention there. It could have offshoot courses like financial management, organizational theory, leadership, etc...but all under the umbrella of football. That could create something that's actually desirable in lieu of getting paid, which is what would happen if there was a minor league structure and the ability to go straight to the pros.

 

[All4SU]

If paying them is indentured servitude, what is it called when they are forced to go to college for no pay because of an arbitrary rule that the sole professional organization made up?

Please note my use of the word "perhaps" in the original post. The statement was to demonstrate that the current situation with the allusion of education is one thing. But to pay a token amount just to keep that system in place may be even worse. And as I said, I am in favor of tearing the current system down.

 

[SWC75]

I believe we, as a society, will be doing a great disservice to these young men (and future student athletes) if we start paying them. Rather than just trying to throw scraps of money at them to placate them, we should be trying to fix the system. Call me a blind optimist if you like, I don't care.

This is my reality:
Paying kids simply perpetuates a system which is flawed. Sure, we as fans think it's great. But these kids deserve a chance to get a real education. Most D1 athletes believe they will make a living playing their sport...cash in on the big money. The vast majority will NEVER see a dime from the NFL or the NBA. 99% of them.

If you throw some peanuts at them in college -- enough to keep them from suing your a$$ for example, all you will be doing is prolonging the inevitable. They will graduate (or not) with no legitimate education, and no career potential. You'll just keep them in sneakers and McDonalds for a few years, and then back they will go from whence they came. "Thanks for your time. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

If you try to FIX the system, you just MIGHT be able to change the was our society views college sports, and more importantly, education. Help the pros set up their minor leagues for basketball and football. Let kids who want to play for pay go there and earn a few bucks for a year or two. Make a scholarship a legitimate road to an education for a kid who will likely never see the big money of the NBA or the NFL. Stress the value of the education. When those "pros" are back in their neighborhoods in 2 years, with nothing to show for it, the message may start to get through to people:

Your athletic abilities are a road to an education, a career, and a LIFE. Not to the NFL or the NBA.

I don't want to introduce race into this discussion, but it's there, so I will. A majority of the athletes we are talking about here are minorities. If I was a part of the black leadership in this country, I would be screaming to everyone who would listen, that paying these players is just another form of indentured servitude -- perhaps even more than it is now.

We are using these kids, and we have to break that cycle. The answer is not to throw them some scraps, simply prolonging the inevitable. The answer is to get them on track to an education. And we, as fans, can just $&% off. It doesn't matter if we get big TV contracts for our conferences, or if we get prime time ESPN games. Our schools will not shrivel up and die. College sports will not go away. It may look a little different, but it will survive. Fix it. Don't just grease it up.

A lot of problems could be solved if the NFL and NBA created a minor league system like baseball and hockey so that athletes wouldn't have to pretend to be college students to get there. Let the guys who want to go right to professional sports do so. College should be for the players with real academic goals for whom a scholarship would mean something besides the opportunity to play. And I don't think the popularity of college sports would suffer: that's based on the smll markets they represent who want their teams to put them on the map.

I think a lot of the recruiting, eligilty, discipline and legal problems the colleges are currently dealing with would go away.

 

[retro44]

set rules, like pay for play.

starters get $$, bench warmers get none.

"do you want to ride the bench for 2 or 3 years at ohio st, and make no $$??

or do you want to come to Syracuse. Start...and get $$$ by august 31?

you can be you in this falls ncaa game.

your call kid......"

yup great idea...just take the starters knees out in practice and if that fails, just push him down the steps and then wait because you are next

 

[Crusty]

yup great idea...just take the starters knees out in practice and if that fails, just push him down the steps and then wait because you are next

Don't they do that now?

 

[All4SU]

The NFL says you need to be in college for x years or be a certain age...so if you want to be a professional football player, you are forced to attend.

SO change that.

 

[All4SU]

A lot of problems could be solved if the NFL and NBA created a minor league system like baseball and hockey so that athletes wouldn't have to pretend to be college students to get there. Let the guys who want to go right to professional sports do so. College should be for the players with real academic goals for whom a scholarship would mean something besides the opportunity to play. And I don't think the popularity of college sports would suffer: that's based on the smll markets they represent who want their teams to put them on the map.

I think a lot of the recruiting, eligilty, discipline and legal problems the colleges are currently dealing with would go away.

Agreed. And maybe, just maybe, society as whole might be better off. We would be educating a lot of kids who would value an education, and use it. Not just kids who want a pathway to the NFL.

 

[cuseincincy]

A lot of problems could be solved if the NFL and NBA created a minor league system like baseball and hockey so that athletes wouldn't have to pretend to be college students to get there. Let the guys who want to go right to professional sports do so. College should be for the players with real academic goals for whom a scholarship would mean something besides the opportunity to play. And I don't think the popularity of college sports would suffer: that's based on the smll markets they represent who want their teams to put them on the map.

I think a lot of the recruiting, eligilty, discipline and legal problems the colleges are currently dealing with would go away.

This is the most obvious answer and would solve most of the problems. I do not know why the NBA has never developed minor league systems. They have fewer players and equipment requirements than either baseball or hockey. It should be doable. Most likely reason is probably the success they have had allowing colleges to develop players for them. If they don't want to do it then they are apparently happy with the college and junior college systems to continue in their role. If a player doesn't want to go to school that is their decision. The NBA should not require any # of years of college. If a player is ready then draft him. If he's not then don't. It is not the NBA's responsibility to provide an income or support system to develop players that are not ready. If a player who is not ready wants to continue to play basketball to improve their game in hopes of a professional career down the road the college path is there. All they have to do is meet the academic requirements which is not all that great in the junior college world.

Football minor leagues is a tougher task because of the numbers of players and equipment involved in fielding teams. It is also tougher because of the physical nature fewer players are ready to compete with adults at a young age. Again, it is not the NFL's responsibility to put a support system in place but they should not have age requirements. Police themselves by not drafting players who are not physically ready to play.

The main thing in my mind that needs to be done is by the NCAA. They need to loosen the rules governing student athlete employment. Admittedly I do not know the current rules and acknowledge the inherent system abuse this may contain. But put some guidelines in place where kids can get jobs making minimum wage and police them to make sure they are actually working. If that means Jonny Football gets hired by a store to come and sign autographs for minimum wage so be it (that would be pretty dumb of him considering it would flood the market with his autograph and impair his future earning ability). But the kids who need it have to be able to make some pocket change. Lastly the NCAA needs to loosen its requirements about the ability of players who have been drafted to return to college. I say if a player has not played in a regular season NBA/NFL game then he should be able to return to college to play his sport. I know this is a dramatic change but what is the real difference between a kid who leaves early and doesn't make a pro team and the guy who didn't declare for the draft? This would be tricky but its really semantics the NCAA just needs to get over. They still have to be academically eligible and that should be the only thing that matters.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Why not have a pool of funds administered by the NCAA and pay each player on each team equally? Any school wanting to participate in the NCAA system buys into it.

Like some who have posted here I think the idea of scholar athletes in college football is a joke. It is broke and I don't see a way of fixing it. Maybe drop the concept of providing a scholarship to a student, don't even require football or basketball players to enroll, they'll just be an employee of the college. If a college DOES offer them a scholarship then fantastic, go get yourself an education, but don't make it a requirement if we're dropping the charade of scholar athletes.

This doesn't get directly at the issue of selling imagines/marketing/branding ... but once you establish that a football player is an employee, and not a student, then we can talk about individual player contracts for advertising, contracts with colleges advertising on behalf of their athletes, or NCAA owning rights to players and providing gross percentages (or whatever) based on profit.

 

[All4SU]

Why not have a pool of funds administered by the NCAA and pay each player on each team equally? Any school wanting to participate in the NCAA system buys into it.

Like some who have posted here I think the idea of scholar athletes in college football is a joke. It is broke and I don't see a way of fixing it. Maybe drop the concept of providing a scholarship to a student, don't even require football or basketball players to enroll, they'll just be an employee of the college. If a college DOES offer them a scholarship then fantastic, go get yourself an education, but don't make it a requirement if we're dropping the charade of scholar athletes.

This doesn't get directly at the issue of selling imagines/marketing/branding ... but once you establish that a football player is an employee, and not a student, then we can talk about individual player contracts for advertising, contracts with colleges advertising on behalf of their athletes, or NCAA owning rights to players and providing gross percentages (or whatever) based on profit.

Why not just have a College Player's Union? That way players can bargain and strike to get what they want. Also, why not let the real star players earn even more? I mean they deserve it right? (Insert sarcasm emoticon here)

Now, referencing the underlined passage above. Unlike you, I DO think it can be fixed. I just think people have to change their mindset, and there will have to be some tough decisions. Change isn't easy. The system is really out of whack. Got to break it down and start over.

 

[sufandu]

Everyone kills the NCAA for all of its rules. I think we forget why the rules were created in the first place. Cheating. Scholar athletes used to be able to work... until a booster paid them an obscene amount of money to not show up. That's just one example. The only people to blame for the insane rule book and lack of freedom for athletes are the coaches, boosters, and athletes themselves. The reason the NCAA doesn't let a kid benefit from his likeness is because the richest/most fanatical booster would buy a million jerseys so that a kid would come to his university. It'd be no different than free agency. When the NCAA tried to regulate it, someone would find a loophole. When the NCAA tried to close the loophole, people would kill them for all of their complex rules. See how this goes?

The NCAA will have to settle with the players. After that, they will never use an individual player's likeness again. No jersey sales with a number that's not retired. No commercials or billboards with players on them. You'll see lots of coaches, university logos, and university venues.