The plot thickens in the FBIs probe into the NCAA...

[imbatman]

Deferred payments based on graduation. That's actually not a bad idea. We will give you a scholarship and if you graduate we will give you x amount of money. Still wont stop the dirty stuff but nothing will unless it's just a free for all thing.
My opinion is they are getting paid. These schools cost ridiculous amounts of money and they get to go for free. Instead of complaining they should use that time to get a real education

One thing that I never see have a value out to it... What would a normal college student pay for tutors, nutritionists, strength coaches, Physical therapist, Athletic grade meals (the athletes don't eat with the regular students and the choices are far better. I have eaten in the Student dinning "hell" and the athletes food services... not a comparison at all.) That is just off the top of my head.

[OH_Ranger]

There is one option.... The Arena league is 18yo and up and Kurt Warner sure showed it is a path to the pros if you are committed to football. League minimum is 31K/season and avg is 50K-60K. Not bad for 13 weeks of play plus playoffs if you make it (for which you get paid more). Extrapolate that to a yearly salary and that salary would be over 100K if they worked a full year (their full sched with training camp is 21 weeks).

The NFL should buy the Arena league and make that the place for players that really do not want to go to college except that is the only path to the NFL. The pass happy NFL looks more like the Arena league every year.

Kurt Warner went to Northern Iowa and graduated. Went to arena after not making it in the NFL.

[BoilermakerRT178]

I myself don't care.

Colleges pay students for work all the time. The pay students in chemical biology, physics, nursing and other medical fields of learning to be lab assistants. They pay for students who are in management programs to be managers in the food areas and bookstores, The pay for students in agriculture to work in the agriculture department and greenhouses. The pay for IT/IS students to work in the computer lab or in the IT department of the college.

Athletes bring MILLIONS of dollars into a University. Why shouldn't they be paid in my opinion. Especially since there is requirements now for them to play in college sports for a time period before they can go pro.

Everyone might as well face it. Good players get paid somehow to attend a college. It has been that way for years and will continue to be that way.

I think NCAA should focus more on efforts to prevent cheating, education preferential treatment (that is fixing grades), steroid use and for the students with the pro skills with some financial management and how to deal with the impending wealth and life changes that are to come.

colleges pay GRADUATE students in chemistry, biology, etc. and that’s only SOME graduate students. This nominal pay is provided as in a way they are competing for talent that is employable in the marketplace.

Interestingly, if this work leads to an invention, the school gets all of the proceeds from the license of this technology. None of it goes to the student...or professor for that matter. The student and professor has still benefited enormously, however, from this relationship.

The school provides:
labs including lab animals
lab research support teams
research dollars
brand recognition for collaboration and presentations
patent filing legal support
experienced professors

so as you can see, the student benefits from so many things that extend beyond just base pay. It would be impossible for them to develop as a scientist without the foundational elements the academic institution provides.

It it is not a perfect parallel but the similarities can not be denied...

The school provides
facilities including physical trainers, dieticians
a team of talented individuals to play against and improve
coaches
Top of the line shoes
brand recognition of the schools
a fan base
etc.

In every case, the player uses the institution to boost their professional value. Yes and that includes Zion. (His choosing of duke as his school of choice was not random...and possibly btw involved illegal payments to his family...all alleged of course). This would be impossible without the school. This of course changes once players can enter the NBA right after high school.

So should players be paid? I would say they are benefiting greatly from the existing relationship while ...oh yeah...getting an education for free.

And for those who say the education has no value to these individuals, that is the player’s (unfortunate) choice if they assign no value to getting a degree....that is VERY different to the value that the degree has in real life and or the value they SHOULD assign to it.

On a related note: the ncaa is a joke. There are so many conflicts of interests it’s ridiculous. What a sham. Perhaps a subject of a different rant.