JSeahawks":z4yw8lwu said:
The change I would like to see is that they should be able to make money off their own names if they're big enough to do so. Otherwise I believe their free education and per diem is pay enough. I know you're not going to change my mind, and I'm 99.9% sure I'm not going to change yours so I won't even try.
This. So much this.
If you pay college football players, then you have to pay the female college softball players. And the college golfers.
I have a good job based on my college education, but it cost me, financially and emotionally, working through college while raising a teenage daughter by myself and studying computer science, mathematics and electrical engineering. I ended up with high blood pressure and panic attacks.
Meanwhile, all of the men and women that played any kind of sport, even the ones that lost the school money, had free room and board and education. And some of them actually played specifically for that reason, to get an education.
If the schools make money, so be it, as long as they put it back in the schools. And they need to cut back on administration and faculty as there are way too many of those people racking up a huge paycheck and benefits while just making busy work.
Take that money, and lower tuition for the working kids trying to make it through school. Turn it in to scholarships and work-study programs. But don't pay the students to play a game.
Like Ricky Williams said, "If you pay student athletes, it devalues the student education and the diploma. In other words people would look at their degrees as worthless because the students were there getting paid, not to get an education. In those cases, the students don't care, they do just enough to get by. It's almost like someone bought the degree for them.
And that hurts the student-athlete that is sincere about their education. The ones that are doing it for their family, or because it's something that they've always dreamed of.
But that's just my humble opinion.