Should student athletes be paid?

[🏀]

With college coaching reaching 3 millions dollars/year with UK's offer to Billy. CBS making a killing off of the tournament should there be compensation?

Keep in mind athelets ready get: The best on-campus housing, the first choice at classes, free food, free gatordae, free shoes, free warddrobes (it's amazing the amount of clothes they get that never see the Spirit Shop), free phones, use of the MU Hummers, etc...

[NavinRJohnson]

In the revenue sports, unquestionably, yes!

[maxpower773]

They already are getting paid with what marqptm mentioned....not to mention a free education.  I think everything they get is good enough compensation.

[NavinRJohnson]

They already are getting paid with what marqptm mentioned....not to mention a free education.  I think everything they get is good enough compensation.

and the coach gets all of that, plus the 6-7 figure salary which doesn't even approach what the University rakes in on the backs, time, effort, and pressure the players face. I don't see any way someone can reasonable argue they should not get a piece of the action.

[SoCalwarrior]

If they are forbidden from holding a part time job per NCAA rules, then they should at least get some sort of stipend so they can go out on a date or fly home for Thanksgiving.

[rocky_warrior]

free phones, use of the MU Hummers, etc...

Really?  Is this a fact?  Just asking...

[StillAWarrior]

They already are getting paid with what marqptm mentioned....not to mention a free education.  I think everything they get is good enough compensation.

and the coach gets all of that, plus the 6-7 figure salary which doesn't even approach what the University rakes in on the backs, time, effort, and pressure the players face. I don't see any way someone can reasonable argue they should not get a piece of the action.

Question:  Should the basketball players at Marquette earn as much as the basketball players at Kentucky?  How about South Dakota State?  Should schools that lose money on basketball have to pay their players?

[SoCalwarrior]

They already are getting paid with what marqptm mentioned....not to mention a free education.  I think everything they get is good enough compensation.

and the coach gets all of that, plus the 6-7 figure salary which doesn't even approach what the University rakes in on the backs, time, effort, and pressure the players face. I don't see any way someone can reasonable argue they should not get a piece of the action.

Question:  Should the basketball players at Marquette earn as much as the basketball players at Kentucky?  How about South Dakota State?  Should schools that lose money on basketball have to pay their players?

That's a good point.  And that's why I say a stipend should be rolled into a scholarship.

[NavinRJohnson]

The answer is that it should probably be relative to other factors. I don't claim to know a specific formula, but I also don't believe it would be that difficult to figure one out. This will of course make the rich richer - UK likely to pay more than MU for example, but that's life. I don't have a problem with that. Not much different than the way things are today anyway.

As far as schools that lose money having to pay the players, no I suppose they don't have to. Never said that they have to. But, should they be allowed to? I sure think so.  Last I checked these schools and their basketball teams were businesses. Those who can't afford to pay players will be left with the level of recruit you can attract with a scholarship only. Is that going to change where various players are going today. Not likely.

For the record I am not talking about millions of dollars here, but something more than nothing for those schools and coaches that are making money hand over fist seems appropriate. Of course there would need to be regulations and oversight, but to flatly outlaw it is just wrong.

[StillAWarrior]

Question:  Should the basketball players at Marquette earn as much as the basketball players at Kentucky?  How about South Dakota State?  Should schools that lose money on basketball have to pay their players?

That's a good point.  And that's why I say a stipend should be rolled into a scholarship.

That's always been one of the big sticking points that I've had with paying college athletes.  I don't know how many thousand athletes are currently playing D1 sports, but very, very few are generating any income for their universities.  So, who to pay?  An obvious thought is to limit it to revenue sports, but even that is tricky because not all schools make any money on the so-called revenue sports.  Anyone know the what percentage of the 300+ D1 basketball schools turn a profit?  I have no idea.  And obviously some make far more than others; some are well subsidized by football; others are subsidized by taxpayers.  How are those things equalized?  Would we allow Kentucky to pay its kids $100,000 per season?  If so, how many schools could ever compete with them for recruits?  I have a hard time understanding how this would work.  I think it would require another division (D1-Pro) that would be fairly small.  I'm not sure I'd like to see that happen to college sports.

That said, I'm all for some sort of a modest stipend.  Do they get that already?  In a recent article I read about the NBA stipend, I thought I saw a quote from Novak that referred to money that they got on a regular basis.

[Final Four or Bust]

They do get paid, in the form of a free education.  It might not seem like much to some, but when you've been paying huge student loans for 10 years it is a big deal.  Yes, the schools make a lot of money -- but there isn't an obligation to spread the wealth around, nor should there be.

[SoCalwarrior]

Pros get paid.  Amateurs do not.  I think that's how it should stay.  But if you're not going to allow a kid to work for some extra dough, then you should at least provide a stipend.  Maybe they already do.

Take a guy like Wade when he was at Marquette.  He comes to MU with no money.  There is legally no way for him to earn or accept money.  But because of him, MU is raking it in.  Kids are wearing his jersey he couldn't own if it wasn't given to him.  And now he wants to take his wife out to dinner for their anniversary, but doesn't have the means.  It definitely puts a kid in an awkward position.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Problem is that you can't do it for "just big time sports"...the lawsuits from the gals on the soccer team and the boys on the golf team will fly so fast it would cripple everything.

It's all or nothing.  All means Marquette no longer has college sports and neither do 85% of other institutions.  Nothing means we keep going the way we are.

[spartan3186]

Ok so I wrote a paper on just this topic when I was a freshman. Here is a reacap
           - Student athletes can get up to $80,000 of reimbursement A YEAR this includes tuition, room and board, clothing etc
          - According to NCAA rules athletes CAN NOT hold a campus job, while campus jobs do not pay really well it can help pay basic expenses (cell phone, food etc) Not all athletes ca
n get buy with out some extra income
           - TV companies make huge amounts of money from TV contracts. For example Notre Dame makes $38 million a year to broadcast their games on NBC.

          - Application can increase tremendously after one succesful year- For example St. Joes application increased 140% after Jameer Nelson's final four year

[Final Four or Bust]

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but don't atheltes receive a stipend of sorts already (whether it be in the form of a housing allowance or something)?  I know at some schools players tend to live off campus where they get the difference between the allowance and the actual costs.  

[SoCalwarrior]

Problem is that you can't do it for "just big time sports"...the lawsuits from the gals on the soccer team and the boys on the golf team will fly so fast it would cripple everything.

It's all or nothing.  All means Marquette no longer has college sports and neither do 85% of other institutions.  Nothing means we keep going the way we are.

How is that different from what goes on now in regards to perks other than cash.  Why aren't there lawsuits from girl's soccer in regards to the clothing that football or basketball players get.  How about room and board?  When I was at MU, the basketball players had their own dorm, while many of the other scholarship sports had to room with the rest of us.  Compare the perks between MU's basketball team and the rifle team.  It's already unbalanced.

[🏀]

There may be stipends already, as on Wednesday, MU payday, I often see players in the campus US Bank.

I'm 100% they get phones.

As for the Hummers, it could be proved with a couple publicy posted pictures.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Problem is that you can't do it for "just big time sports"...the lawsuits from the gals on the soccer team and the boys on the golf team will fly so fast it would cripple everything.

It's all or nothing.  All means Marquette no longer has college sports and neither do 85% of other institutions.  Nothing means we keep going the way we are.

How is that different from what goes on now in regards to perks other than cash.  Why aren't there lawsuits from girl's soccer in regards to the clothing that football or basketball players get.  How about room and board?  When I was at MU, the basketball players had their own dorm, while many of the other scholarship sports had to room with the rest of us.  Compare the perks between MU's basketball team and the rifle team.  It's already unbalanced.

Unbalanced yes, but those players and such are still receiving residences, tuition, etc if they are under scholarship.  Let's make sure we're talking about apples to apples.  Many times the lower rung sports can split scholarships, etc.

I do not see how you could pay the men's basketball team without paying the women's basketball team.  It would be a field day for the Title IX attorneys.

[maxpower773]

There may be stipends already, as on Wednesday, MU payday, I often see players in the campus US Bank.

I'm 100% they get phones.

As for the Hummers, it could be proved with a couple publicy posted pictures.

I know they have phones for sure too. The Hummers...that I'm not sure on. I've never seen any of them in one.

[MUDPT]

It was estimated somewhere that college athletes put in over 1000 hours per year in their sport.  That was used as an argument to pay athletes.  I would use that as an argument against.  At Marquette, 1000 hours for $30,000 in education is $30/ hour.  That's more than I get now, and I have a doctorate from MU.  Besides that, you think Dwyane Wade ever had to put together a resume when he was drafted in the NBA?  Nope, Marquette, the college that allowed him in as a partial qualifier, went to the Elite Eight and Dwyane got millions and millions of free marketing of himself to potential employers.  You never saw an employer come to one of my clinicals to see how I worked with patients.  It all works out in the end.

I would be all for them being able to hold campus jobs, unfortunately some universities take a lot of liberties with those things and it would never work.

[4everwarriors]

should have worked more on dribbling to your left and your jump shot when you were younger.

[NavinRJohnson]

I can appreciate the legal argument, as that would definitely get sticky (Although, if you tie the total athlete "salary" and scholarship money pool to the money actually raised by that particular sport, I think you could easily get around it. In fact, if you only paid the men's basketball team at MU for instance - they would probably end up way on the short end from a percentage basis, as compared to say the women's soccer team.

I cannot however buy off in any way on the jealousy argument many here are making - and yes jealous is all it is, coupled of course with your desire for MU to have a good team. These guys do get free education and you didn't. Tough! These guys also result in thousands of season tickets being sold, numerous national television appearances, articles in the paper on a daily basis, NCAA tournament appearances - Mega $$$$$ for Marquette University. You don't/didn't do any of that. Coach Crean gets paid very well for those same things and is free to walk away for more any time he wants, and can be working for his new employer the next day. Not only do the players not get a piece of the action, they also have restrictions placed on their ability to move.

As far as who to pay and how much, as most have argued, there is a value to the free education. There is no denying that, and the fact is, most women's soccer players as well as the average basketball player at SDSU are going to be happy just to have the scholarship anyway, so there is no reason they would have to pay players. Simple fact is, some athlete-students deserve more.

[🏀]

Personally, I think they deserve something. And the amount of extras they recieve on top of their tuiton is enough.

[mu_hilltopper]

I was watching a News Hour segment on the graduation rates of the NCAA field .. made me think of this thread.

While graduation rates are the stat that's pointed at for educational "success" .. I'd like a study on what former players are doing after they receive their "diploma".  So many of them go on to a few years playing Euroball or some such.  I'd like to know how many D1 players who graduate end up in a career that requires (or is at least helped by) a college degree.

Sure, there are non-athletes that get degrees then don't use them .. but I'll bet dollars to donuts that there's a chasm of difference between the two groups and what they do with their degrees.

My point being .. it sure seems like the education the D1 schools give these guys is, more often than not, just a cover for having the sport played at their school.   With the amount of money increasing an insanely each year, coaches getting paid $1-2-3-4m/year .. and while grad rates are increasing slightly, I believe the true education level of these kids is generally dropping, as the majority who don't go on to pro sports tend to not use their degrees later.  It paints a picture that the whole student-athlete idea is becomming farcical.

Calling college basketball and football awash with money is an understatement.  In a decade, it'll be triple, and the pressure to win/compete will only go up from here, putting pressure on getting talent in and not caring so much about the game that is education. 

So .. with that in mind, I'm not sure I care if guys are paid.  Their value to the industry is high now, and going much, much higher.

[MikeyT42]

i think arguements can be made both ways for paying college athletes. But what about the D2 and D3 athletes that have to pay for their travel gear, pay for their shoes, that don't recieve meal money or meals before home or away games?

Plus they don't have the time to hold a job. But yet they are still raking in money for their university.