Should college athletes get paid?

[ASU Kep]

Some running back named Reggie Bush, who I've never, ever heard of before and who didn't even play for the NCAA's highest football championship, and attended school in California (though not @ UC-Davis or Cal Poly), seems to think so:

(Happy now ralph?):D

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2419723&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos2

[ASU Kep]

I have a feeling this one might be a landslide, but thought I'd do it anyway. Feel free to explain why they should of shouldn't.

[lucchesicourt]

The reason college students should not get paid to play sports is fairly simple, IMO. If they are getting paid ,then they would be professionals and NOT student athletes. And, if we are hiring professionals to play football, then they should NOT be required to take classes. It would be like, I know you have a job, but we also require you to do another one at the same time. Athletics is suppose to be a choice and NOT a job at the universities. Getting paid, makes it a job, hence, you need to follow all the rules of any other employer.

[MrTitleist]

Is getting their college paid for not enough of a payment for them? I personally would love to get paid to go to college for being good at sports. It's a rough life not having any student loans to pay back...

[ButlerGSU]

They are getting paid. I work my @ss off for the little graduate assistantship I get now. While I am certain they too work very hard they also get free housing, free food, free tuition and people to help them study. Their education will pay them one day and for the time being they are kings of campus. Does not sound like too bad a deal to me.

[colgate13]

Yea, I take option three. They are getting paid.

[*****]

Reggie Bush thinks so...Who is Reggie Bush and why should we care what he thinks?

[Husky Alum]

This was my thesis when I was at NU.

I don't think they should be paid - per se.

However, because their scholarships prohibit them from working and earning any form of income, and their "jobs" require them to have an almost year-round commitment in terms of conditioning, I've always been in favor or a stipend so they can go on a date with their girlfriend and buy her dinner.

I don't think it's a ton of money. When I wrote my thesis in the early 1990s, I believe the number I used was like $25 a week. So maybe today it's $40 a week.

[Ronbo]

We have players that work at Best Buy and other places during the off season. I don't think they are restricted from having a part time job.

[BEAR]

I think they should get paid....and every nonathelete student that attends a university should have their college paid for too..and they should also have the same university protection atheletes do when they get in trouble with the law...and they should also get the same 12 plates of food that football players eat too..and they should also have other students take their tests for them too....well nevermind...:eek:

Here's something I heard from a local radio show: Atheletes should at least donate the equal amount of one scholarship per year after they turn pro(of course, if they turn pro) because look at what the university has done for them. Is that fair? I mean the atheletes did perform their "work" for the university by playing for the scholarship. I think that if a "pro" wants to donate the money each year that should be up to the individual and not be a requirement. xcoffeex Many people here think they should donate as a requirement. WHat do you think?

[Maverick]

Minor detail that all too often gets overlooked in this matter is that if they are "paid" then the legal relationship between the school and student-athlete changes to an employer/employee relationship with a completely different set of case law being applied. The scholarship/grant-in-aid used now is what allows the NCAA to operate, lose that and the NCAA is dead never to return again.

On another point, student-athletes on full rides are controlled in terms of employment due to some "overpaid, underworked" cases in college athletics. This is true for vacation and summer employment. How many cases of such "summer job" deals have you as fans heard (at least about other schools, never would your team do that!) about such things?

About the "stipend", this may sound callous but responsibility does an institution have to insure that a student or student-athlete has XX amount of dollars per week to spend? If this is specifically included in the financial aid package of all students at such a rate then maybe a case can begin to be made, but if it isn't the NCAA could easily call it an extra benefit. BTW it could only be done for full scholarship kids as those on partials would have to count it as additional athletic aid.

Having worked in college athletics I know how often these same issues have come up. Athletic administrators don't disagree with the ideas but with the devil in the details they also see how quickly it could get out of hand. A lot of seemingly simple ideas and solutions are incredibly complex when you start trying to make applicable in all the different types of schools that make up college athletics.

[colgate13]

Scholarship athletes can work. There are just some restrictions involved.

[MarkCCU]

I agree, they already get "paid". at least the good ones do

[HiHiYikas]

Why is it that student body presidents get paid (seems like I read a few years back that U-Washington's SGA pres was making like 16K a year), but not the athletes?

I'm not a fan of paying college athletes, but this is an interesting question to me.

[midwestgold]

First off,the rules must have changed.Because when i was on scholarship I was not allowed to hold a job til the last semester of my senior year having played my 4 years.The service academies,at least,this is what they described to us this past year,pay the athletes.When you are on a service academy athletic "scholarship" you are being paid by the govt.But,of course,whether you are playing sports or not,the education is being picked up by the govt.Good deal except you have 5 years after to serve.

[I-AA Fan]

1. They get paid much more than many of us think, and I am talking about the illegal stuff.

2. They are being showcased to the highest paying football opportunities in the country, yet the pro owners do not pay the Universities a dime ...at least legally, so why should they players get paid? I would like to see minor league baseball teams keep players without paying them. Is not college football basically the same as the minors?

3. Offer non-academic venues to the NFL before it is too late and college football becomes the same thing as college basketball ...another street sport, where it is easier to understand the foreign players, than the American players. Push for NFL farm systems ...make the owners pay for it.

College baseball is great, even though the teams go after many players out of prep school, there are still top players at the collegiate level. Football can be the same way.