Quote:
Originally Posted by packs
I've heard the student athletes should get paid argument a lot lately. How do you guys feel about the fact that these student athletes, regardless of their future NFL earning abilities, attend schools that cost as much as $40,000 a year for no cost? If your average student is spending $160,000 over 4 years at these schools and you're paying nothing, isn't that enough of a gift?
Not all of these players are NFL prospects, but they receive the benefit of a cost free education. In my opinion if these guys want to start getting paid, they can start paying tuition and their scholarships should go to someone else.
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So to extend that line of thinking, if a college student gets a full academic scholarship they shouldn't be allowed a part time job because they're getting the college for free? Or a student with a full scholarship based on need can't have a job to pay for books meals etc?
The big schools make money from the football program, so the upper divisions really are minor leagues of sorts.
Or more inline with our collecting interests - West Point used to make a set of cards of the football team every year. Usually small, like 9 cards, maybe a few more. Any proceeds went to charity. They had to stop when the NCAA ruled that they couldn't use the players images without paying them, and that the players couldn't be paid. So for a rule that really only has meaning for a handful of players in big programs everyone lost - 9 guys who would never even have a shot at being drafted couldn't have a card, the fans couldn't get them, and the charity was shut out. (Maybe not the charity, I think the donation is still done, but the added publicity was lost)
An odd situation since everyone there is essentially on scholarship, and sort of technically employed, with a mostly guaranteed job after graduation.
Btw - those are pretty tough sets. I don't recall exactly, but they were stadium only, and perhaps one per ticket.
Steve B