The NCAA billion dollar tournament

[Dave85]

People have passionate arguments over whether or not student athletes are actually employees, can form a union, and whether they should be able to get appropriate compensation for contributions to the NCAA's cash flow. Having students get paid for regular season games may be too controversial. But what about the NCAA tournament? The NCAA is going to make a billion dollars in advertising. Here is what I propose. For each player on every team invited to the tournament a player receives $10,000 as a freshmen, $20,000 as a sophomore, $30,000 as a junior, and $50,000 bonus payment as a senior. With 66 teams, 15 players, this would cost around $30 million dollars. Most of these kids are not going to play in the NBA. The NCAA tournament bonus may be the most amount of money they will ever make from their basketball careers. Why should the NCAA pocket a $1000 million dollars and not give each player a small pittance of gratitude for their cash cow. A $1000 million to $30 million may actually be too little. We could argue the correct amount but something is better than nothing!

A "student athlete" is just a euphemism for "slave" when the NCAA is making a billion dollars every year in my humble opinion. Although many people think the 13th Amendment is unconstitutional I think some injustices need to be address because it is morally the right thing to do.

 

[otisco]

Slave?

 

[Dave85]

Slave?

As in not paid. Maybe "intern" is the better word.

 

[Dave85]

Good video making my point:

 

[Ghost]

Just re-release the video game and pay the players for their appearance. Then only include the big schools so the pie is smaller. Then you don't have to worry about paying all the other sports - it's not like they're making college softball any time soon. j/k

Let them profit off of themselves as well - I was able to set up an autograph booth in college, nobody stopped me. If they want to sell their signature, or jersey, give them that money too!

 

[Dave85]

Just re-release the video game and pay the players for their appearance. Then only include the big schools so the pie is smaller. Then you don't have to worry about paying all the other sports - it's not like they're making college softball any time soon. j/k

Let them profit off of themselves as well - I was able to set up an autograph booth in college, nobody stopped me. If they want to sell their signature, or jersey, give them that money too!

That's why I wanted the NCAA BB tournament to be separate. If a bowl football makes millions then the players who participate should get some kind payment for it. If girls softball becomes as big as the NCAA tournament then the girls get paid. I just think the NCAA pocketing a billion dollars for one tournament and the players get nothing is over the top.

 

[Alsacs]

Southpark thought of this.

 

[JohnCuse44]

It's the whole slippery slope argument. Once the NCAA opens up to the possibility to play the players then the players could form a union and progressively ask for more and more each year.

Once you open that door you cannot close it. Once you start to pay you can't go back. Not that I agree with it but that must be part of the thought process.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I like the idea, and lets have some fun. Lets imagime SU was 26-5 and a shoe in for the tournament, but SU self imposed a 1 year ban. Could the players sue SU?

 

[upperdeck]

didnt we have this discussion the other day. a billion in revenue and of that most is already spent.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...ion-per-year-amid-challenges-players/6973767/

 

[Fly Rodder]

It's the whole slippery slope argument. Once the NCAA opens up to the possibility to play the players then the players could form a union and progressively ask for more and more each year.

Once you open that door you cannot close it. Once you start to pay you can't go back. Not that I agree with it but that must be part of the thought process.

This is like #405 on the list of things that I worry about. The colleges and universities need to get out of the professional sports business if they don't want to pay their players. Why is revenue for college basketball and football so great compared to college hockey and baseball? Is it because those latter sports don't generate revenue as professional sports? Nope. MLB is pretty close to NFL in revenue and the NHL is only a billion or so behind the NBA. IMO, it's because college baseball and college hockey don't always get the best young players because they have the opportunity to play professionally out of high school.

The professional leagues in conjunction with the NCAA (implicitly or explicitly) all work to limit the freedom of young athletes to earn their money through college athletics, drafts, rookie wage scales, and limiting free agency.

 

[Fly Rodder]

didnt we have this discussion the other day. a billion in revenue and of that most is already spent.
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...ion-per-year-amid-challenges-players/6973767/

Player salaries is no where on that list. You give me a budget and I can spend it. A good accountant can make it look like I'm losing money.

 

[Cowtown]

It's the whole slippery slope argument. Once the NCAA opens up to the possibility to play the players then the players could form a union and progressively ask for more and more each year.

Once you open that door you cannot close it. Once you start to pay you can't go back. Not that I agree with it but that must be part of the thought process.

That's a good observation. As I've always said, "Once the genie is out of the bottle, you're not going to get him back in." Here's another: as soon as the players become paid, they're in effect employees. And if they're injured "on the job," the management of their injury/recovery going to send shock waves through the balance sheets. And what will it do/mean for the athletes other sports? I ran on my college XC team, and we didn't generate any revenue for the school. In fact we were an outright expense, all the way, 100%.

And while I don't know how to fix the mess, it's good that people are talking about it, which is the first step toward a solution.