Pay For Play a Bad Idea
5 comments so far
January 19, 2007 by
Rod Gilmore of ESPN is one of many we hear calling for college football players to be paid.
In a country that horribly undervalues education, this kind of statement should be no surprise, yet I'm taken aback by it every time.
Adult college graduates earn an average of $23,000 PER YEAR more than non-graduates. Multiply that times 50 years of adulthood and you're talking about a cool million that a college degree puts in your pocket. Consider how that money grows if invested over time (or the cost in interest of borrowing that money) and you can easily be talking about three or four times that amount. That's before we factor in the cost of college which can run tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands including room and board and is given to these athletes free of charge.
Is all that worth four or five years of practices? I'd say so. You're talking about something on the order of a quarter million of lifetime value per year of practice. Aside from joining the army (where you put your life on the line), where else are you going to get a deal like that? Nowhere.
The last thing we need to do is raise the financial stakes in college athletics. The higher they get, the more schools will think about dropping football altogether and that means fewer kids who might otherwise not go to college get shut out. Is that what we really want? Is that really better than the status quo?
Rather than recognize what a huge benefit college is, the Gilmore's of the world think the kids are being mistreated. Let this be my open letter to colleges around the country. If either of my kids becomes an athlete that you want to offer a full ride to, please "exploit" them in this manner.
» Enjoy this article?
Send it to your friend or get Husker news by email!
Related Stories: Off the Field
Post a comment
Katie Jan 19 07
I couldn't agree more Steve.
Not to mention for a percentage of players college football provides a "stage" for them to go to the NFL and make obscene amounts of money.
I attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and can tell you they get a lot more then just tuition and room and board. The tutors and facilities they have access to is unbelievable. They are gods on campus!
If any of them are feeling "slighted" I can let them take over my $500.00 a month student loan payments for a while!
Staci Jan 19 07
I completely agree with both of you!
They may not be getting an actual paycheck, but most of them are getting a free education. Not to mention the perks that Katie talked about and a free wardwrobe from Adidas! They eat every meal at the Hewitt and that is not your typical dorm food. That's quality stuff!
Plus, they have girls crawling all over them, so they are definitely not hurting in that department! :)
The ones that do go on to the NFL wil obviously make millions. So, does it really matter that they aren't getting paid for 3-4 years?
gregory Jan 20 07
As the esteemed ladies have mentioned, the value theses players recieve is both immediate and life long. I'd compare this to individual sports like gymnastics and tennis. The financial and time commitment from their parents is huge. As far as playing through pain, female {and male} gynasts- do that. I think there are more than a few who walk with a limp, themselves.
Really, the media creates a lot of "over the top" hype, which gets into these kids heads. Fortunatly, there is only so much {so far} that schools can "sell out" for TV money.
alex Jan 21 07
i agree with everything that has been written, but would add one previously unstated benefit: coaching/player development. a college football scholarship not only affords a student the token B.A. in communications or sociology but also 4-5 years of high level strength training, position training, scrimmaging, game experience, etc. all told, there is a significant gain in 'human capital' (at least with respect to football). considering that no one is ready for the NFL out of high school, this gain in capital is of significant value and should not be ignored.
* * *
please permit the following off-topic question...
is there any truth to rumors of DAVID ROSS switching to oregon state? scout and rivals both cite the same story from the portland tribune, yet, neither site has actually removed him from their list of NU recruits. similarly, neither has added ross to the list of OSU recruits.
Steve Jan 21 07
I'm afraid I've got no inside info on Ross, however I would say that what we heard early on about his soft commit (holding out for Michigan) made me think he might be one of the first guys to change his mind if someone made an appealing offer. But both Rivals and Scout are pretty quick to update their sites. If we don't see anything by Tuesday, I'd take that to mean that he's still planning on coming to Nebraska.
You might have also heard about the numbers crunch. Every recruit they add means an existing scholarship that has to be dropped. Maybe they figure they can get enough kids to quit/transfer in the spring or summer. So it isn't the worst thing in the world for one or two guys to drop out if you don't think the Huskers have any wasted scholarships among their 85 (cough, Beau Davis, cough)