… this is what I’m talking about.
If it were easy to be a college football player, everybody would be a college football player. But that’s not the case, as the stats demonstrate.
If you were in the top 6.5% of your profession, what would be fair compensation for that?
Get The Picture 
Also, most of those are partial scholarships.
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About 700K annually.
BTW, I must be getting old — I shutter at all these kids who let their phones get down to 13% or whatever battery remaining. As soon as mine goes under 50%, I quickly grab my charger for fear that my phone will die at any moment.
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Depends.
Ni-Cd or Li-ion cell phone battery?
If you have a nicad battery and your charging it at 50% it could soon forget about the other 50% and only charge to 50% of capacity. With a lithium battery don’t let it get to zero and don’t charge it all day or frequently. Cell phone batteries usually only last 3 to 5 years or so many cycles per manufacturer- damn those irreplaceable batteries.
Oh and Happy Father’s Day tomorrow guys! I’m tuning up the grill right now. 🙂
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A free education with your choice of major at one of the top universities in America.
ps – I am all for a stipend.
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It’s their choice but they may be picking something that is strongly “suggested.”
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I am with you chuckdawg, I think it is well compensated for “on the job training” and have no clue why so many are acting as if this “isn’t fair” (well, I guess I do have a clue given the number of people who want it all, and want it now.) A 4-5 year fully paid scholarship, with a stipend, tax free is damned lucrative. You can apply any number of factors to come up with as the actual value because there are so many things to be considered, not the least of which is in, or out, of state tuition. I would say around $75,000 per year, tax free, is a reasonable number but could argue higher.
I saw the other day that a business major with degree starts at an average of $52K nationally. And student loan amounts for many undergraduates can be a couple of hundred thousand, and up. Will not argue the specifics because there is such variance but will again state, these aren’t poor, pitiful young adults. If it is such a burden, I would also say I believe in letting them do better by seeking a different avenue. Consistently I have advocated them finding a development league, going to Canadian football, or European football (if there is such a thing), or challenging the NFL for blocking them. Doesn’t matter to me if they don’t want to be in college at all, it is their choice of how they spend their time waiting for the big NFL bonanza to open up to them. Work at a gym and take private lessons, there are many professions that require young people to find their own way to a comfortable life.
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there are many professions that require young people to find their own way to a comfortable life.
So true and this includes both medicine and law.
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Let’s carry this farther: where is the level of competition below which players should not be paid? Plenty of high schools could raise money from boosters to pay players something, and I daresay there are a few Pop Warner leagues where some well-heeled parents would pay 11 year-old Timmy’s dad a little bit to “get that great player Timmy on OUR team.” Right now, that line is between pro football and college football. Many say that’s the wrong place.
So, where should the line be? Indeed, should there be a line at all?
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Am I the only one really surprised by the low number in women’s basketball?
Also note that a lot of really good soccer players play club and not high school because either their school/region is just terrible or they don’t want to get hurt playing against idiots (or both–or FOR an idiot as a coach).
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I’m urging my grandson to play women’s ice hockey…it will be tough in middle Georgia, but I like the scholly #s.
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Oh here we go again, our resident Social Justice Crusader is on another one of his patented pay for play rants. Give it a rest already!!!
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It’s amazing to read that a more market-based mechanism is equated with “social justice.” Do student-athletes deserve more than the scholarship? Yes. What form does that take? I think trade on name and likeness and the ability to get a job is a good start.
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ee… Back to our original discussion from yesterday. You pointed out that the market corrects itself automatically… but let’s take it to the nth degree (by the way, I am ok with going with higher stipends) Let’s talk Football market forces. The NFL has a salary cap… this ceiling (and floor for the min salary) artificially affects the market. IF we went to a pay for play, how long before the market would create a ceiling and floor…. and let’s not forget that NCAA caps the number of years of eligibility at 4… if it is a profession…. couldn’t I play football at UGA for the next 15 years?
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I’m assuming there would be some type of framework like the collective bargaining agreements you see today. If not, there would be a contract between school and student-athlete that is a 5-year guarantee. An S-A would have representation that he is prohibited from having now by NCAA regulations. Pretty much every rule in the NCAA rule book tilts against the student-athlete in the name of amateurism. The problem is the NCAA and its members want the control of the student-athlete as if he/she were an employee but don’t want to pay and protect them as an employee. If the NCAA wants them to be amateurs, go to the Olympic model. Let Todd Gurley sign all of the autographs he would like. Let Trent Richardson appear in a commercial for that men’s shop in Tuscaloosa. Let Cam Newton make public appearances with the Yella Wood guy in exchange for his daddy’s church steeple. Let a student-athlete earn some money with a job or an internship. … Or go to a Division III model if it’s that important.
The bottom line is the ceiling today has been created through what appears to be a violation of federal antitrust law by a price-fixing cartel. Any ceiling or floor in the future would be created by a CBA or through market mechanisms. Is this an easy problem to solve? No. Is that a reason not to solve it? Also no.
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I forgot to mention this. If amateurism is so important to the NCAA, lobby for an antitrust exemption, so they can make their own rules.
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I don’t disagree with anything you have pointed out and I appreciate the the lengthy discussion. I especially like your last questions. I agree there needs to be more done for the S-A — and whole heartedly agree it is a complex problem to solve. The solutions are on a scale. How far along do we slide before we begin to diminish the product that is being produced? I think that is what makes the problem complex.
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With regard to your points about the market, keep in mind that the NFL has a (limited) antitrust exemption, something the schools don’t have and that the salary cap is the result of a freely negotiated contract with the players union, again, something that doesn’t exist on the college level.
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Agree they should be paid. I scoff at the comparison Ive seen to slavery. I dont think Ive seen that comparison made here but I have heard that argument made. Thats foolish and cheapens the horrors of actual slavery.
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They are paid, the crusaders are just lobbying hard for a huge ownership stake/stock options for the teenagers coming out of HS.
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Overzealous Socialists like yoursef just decree from on high that they’re getting paid “enough.” Put in some more wage caps for everyone else while you’re at it, Obummer.
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Jeepers calling Mac a socialist seems like such a reach.
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I was a naive dreamer AHD, then I grew up, and saw what really moved things forward. Compassion is wasted when you try to spread needed (and limited) resources to everyone equally and denies the deserving. That is what government programs do, and they have been abused because there are no standards to meet. How many trillions of dollars, and billions of meals and medicines have been thrown down the toilet and entrusted to dictators and corrupt organizations?
And then there is the problem of what do socialists do when they run out of other people’s money? By then, personal initiative will have gone away, but being naive was inspiring as a college student. It changes when you enter the adult/real world and see that utopia is just fool’s gold after all. You cannot ever be against wanting to help others, but you can try to insure that responsible parties insure the aid is maximized, not wasted….and that is not going to be the gubmint in many cases.
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His views on college football are clearly based on his socialist dream.
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Give them a check that is “payable upon graduation after completing four years of college football at this institution”…or something like that, with clauses that pay-up the day a kid is released from his agreement if he just isn’t working out as a player (not just if he quits or chooses to transfer). Let them use the note as collateral for loans, for anything. Then when you cut a kid, you have to pay up (pro-rated) with a one year’s minimum payment guaranteed (So you don’t cut a kid in the Spring or Summer of his first year because he’s a bust as a player).
I gave this no thought and made it up as I typed it, so it won’t hurt my feelings if someone says the idea sucks..
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Its certainly a new idea.
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I’m not sure being in the top 6.5% of high school football players is really worth that much. A fully paid for bachelors degree including housing, meals, books and tutors seems to be more than adequate compensation to me. As someone who recently paid for a daughter to get a degree at Georgia, I can assure you a full scholarship is worth quite a bit. I’d venture anyone else having to pay for a year of college with after tax dollars probably has to make in the neighborhood of $50,000 before tax to pay all the expenses. Add the fact the players are getting trained and marketed to the NFL for free as well and I think they are doing fine.
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ECON 101 – If the players were not worth more than just the value of a scholarship, the NCAA would not need to make rules stopping people from giving the money.
People are trying to give them money! And the NCAA has created and perpetuated the sham of amateurism to stop this from happening! AND YOU BUY IN EVEN THOUGH GIVING OR NOT GIVING MONEY DOES NOT AFFECT YOU IN ANY WAY! Effing ponderous.
Amateurism proponents come off like a bunch of old school marms sitting in judgement despite the fact that they were not good enough to be in the SA’s position. “Well, that’s good enough.” Do you think the same thing about what a CEO makes? He should give back the extra $20 million because really he only needs $10.
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Fify
CEO =NFL pay check.
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I know one thing….i’m getting my daughters some ice hockey lessons!
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