You know, you read this thoughtful series over at Team Speed Kills about whether college athletes should receive some form of compensation which doesn’t threaten the NCAA’s amateurism standards, see this eminently reasonable point…
The thing is, A.J. Green might have needed the money. And with a better system in place, A.J. Green — who is not known as the kind of guy who goes around breaking rules — might have been able to avoid the incident. That is a case for tweaking the system, not a wholesale revision of what college football has always been…
and start to nod your head in agreement.
That is, until you discover that Mark Emmert doesn’t give a damn what you think about it. Because he inhabits a different planet than you do.
… He doesn’t believe that infractions such as taking money from a prospective agent or selling sports memorabilia stem from athletes being broke, as is widely the perception.
Right. It’s not like kids who come from lower class families (or even worse circumstances) and are now expected as a matter of routine to give up their summers for “voluntary” training and summer school could possibly need money any more than the schools which make up Emmert’s constituency do.
Get The Picture 
I think it’s less a discussion on tweaking their position and more a realization that this would be hard to control. Start giving the football players or basketball players more money, then you have to give all the student-athletes more money. With Title IX, I think its a very good possibility that most of the less financially strong Div 1 institutions would start having to shed some sports to allow for the financial increases.
In certain situations players of AJ and others of similar talent do get financially screwed. The vast majority of student athletes don’t. They get free tuition, expenses etc. I’d rather they do away with minimum eligibility requirements to turn pro. The real injustice is when some of these students suffer devastating injuries participating/practicing for their sport and end up being financially ruined because they have to pay for their treatment themselves. That bothers me a lot more than whether or not they get a little bit of extra money in their stipend.
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No you don’t. That’s not how Title IX works.
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They are not our employees, they don’t work for us,” he said. “They are our students, so we don’t pay them.”
“They don’t work for us”? Really?
Just because you don’t pay them to work doesn’t mean they’re not working their asses off. This clown must’ve attended the Rumsfeld Seminar for Sound Bite Obliviousness.
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That’s a really good seminar series. Next week Emmert will go to Munice to attend the Rumsfeld Seminar on “How to Write a Memo to an Underling” so he can better make all the knowns unknown.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/02/what-its-like-to-work-for-donald-rumsfeld/71521/
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Well Muffy, A.J. must have sold that jersey to get new sterling for the yacht.
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In Emmerett’s defense, A.J. did admit that the money was “needed” for a Spring break trip.
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The goldbricker! Doesn’t he realize that vacations are only for the well off?
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I was at the SC game this year and parked next to a couple of SC fans that _claimed_ to know AJ’s family. They said his family appeared to be financially sound, so they couldn’t understand why he sold the jersey. I wasn’t buying it. Unless you are the CPA for the family, don’t come tell me when someone does or does not need money. Even then you are circumspect.
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I really don’t care whether he needed the money. It was his jersey.
When I was in college, my parents (and student loans) largely supported me. I had more money than several of my friends. And if I had a widget that I could have pawned for a grand, I still would have done it.
Nobody’s got so much money that an extra grand isn’t worth a trip to the post office to ship it off.
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The Miami trip he never took???
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I think the short term compromise would be to begin establishing trust funds for athletes that pay each and every scholarship athlete on campus. Each scholarship athlete would receive an annual stipend/donation into the trust from the athletic associations of what is most likely a nominal amount ($1k). Athletes in net profit sports like football would be eligible to receive an annual escalator based on a % of merchandise sales. Athletes would receive the proceeds of the trust fund @ 25 or when they complete their 4 year degree (whichever comes first.) The trust fund is not transferable when you leave campus for any reason. It will accrue interest until you are 25. Principal is invested in short term bond funds so there can be some growth. An athlete can request immediate proceeds from the trust fund in the case of a dire financial emergency or to purchase a catastropic injury insurance policy.
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What issues is this “idea” addressing? Why are we giving students $4k that they can access until they are no longer students? The problem is walking around money while in school…
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If they need emergency $$, they can ask for some out of the trust. The biggest issue for the NCAA is that they cannot afford to pay a market rate to scholarship athletes. It is not designed to address the issue “walking” around money and I did not present it as one.
Remember AJ did not sell his jersey for walking around money. He sold to finance his Spring Break trip. Just as most of the Ohio State players used the money for tattoos. You cannot sell me on the fact that either one of those is a “walking” around expense.
Its a short term compromise that will temporarily address an issue that the NCAA and their members are eventually going to need to address due to public opinion. As the coaches salaries rise, as the $$ paid for tickets and merchandise rise, as the $$ given out in bowl games and tv contracts rise, it gets harder for the NCAA to stick to the argument that the players are receiving adequate compensation for the risks.
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So would Spring Break or tats be “emergency” worthy to take funds out of these accounts?
if not then how does it address the problem? I just dont see even any connection between the issue at hand (player wants some money) and your solution (player has access to some money but several years later, you know, after he needs it).
And again..the whole % of merch isn’t worth the hassle. there might be a dozen or so players around the country that would earn more than $100/year from merch sales. Do we really need a process for handling $100 in yearly revenue?
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If the NCAA wants to taken seriously on this subject then they need to stop making money off things like selling athletes jerseys and selling their likeness and name to gaming companies. When the NCAA becomes a 501(c) then they might get some traction. Until then, they’re just a bunch of hypocrites guarding their cash cow. A college education is valuable. Very valuable. It is absolutely nothing compared to the millions the NCAA rakes in by selling the very people who “don’t work” for them.
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Can there be an alternative organization to the NCAA???? Or is NCAA still relevant????? Can SEC survive without the NCAA financially???? JUST ASKING.
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Who else would pay the top 14 of them $6,000,000.00 per year which is included as part of the overall $50,000,000.00 per year paid as NCAA salaries? Think of the good these people do to to earn their homes and vacation homes, wives and girlfriends, cars and motorcyles. And without that payroll, who will support their children?
willynilly September 10, 2010 at 09:53 am:
“These executives make 6M plus to ensure that the athletes who provide the money for their salaries don’t get one penny.”
http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/124358/
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AJ Green isn’t know as the kind of guy that goes around breaking rules? Don’t tell John Kincaid of 680 the fan that… that pompous windbag has been harping every day that AJ is going to have a lot of questions about his character to answer for at the combine.
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Yea but when he cashes his first paycheck he will be able to buy that pompous ahole.
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Let me start by saying that I support the position that D1 football and basketball players DESERVE to get some $. Money, lots of it, is being generated by their work product, and they should get a bigger piece of the pie than just tuition and perks.
However, what they need is a very different story. I would encourage you to speak with some folks that have played D1 football. Ask them how many tattoos, PS3s and new outfits show up come Pell Grant time.
Most people ask only for a stipend of a few thousand a semester for these kids, so that they can “keep up” with their well-to-do classmates. The reality is that they’re already getting that amount – it simply comes from the government rather than the AD.
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At a minimum the schools should have to carry disability insurance on the players, all the players not just the stars. Think of the resent Rutgers player that is paralysed, think of Ole Miss player Chuck Mullens who’s life was shortened by his injuries. To risk your life for the greater glory of old UGA is just stupid, I never want to see one of our guys end up like that.
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It seems to me that it would be only fair to give the workers that produce the product in a multi-billion dollar industry a portion of the profits.
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