NCAA athletes getting paid for playing

[MattM37]

Yes or no?

[bowhunter75richard]

No !!! They already get paid with free education, meals, but most of all in the fact that they have a place to ‘showboat’ their abilities to the agents of the respective sports they are playing. If it were not for colleges, just how would these athletes be able to be seen by agents for draft purposes ? They have the greatest stadiums and arenas to perform in at no cost to themselves, that has to be worth thousands upon thousands to these athletes, and I have never heard any consideration of that fact! All we hear about is they are being taken advantage of, and that is due to their lack of intelligence to figure out what they are actually benefiting from. Too bad the free education they are receiving is going to waste !!!

[99explorer]

Currently, about half of the NFL players have college degrees, which is a much better ratio than other major sports leagues.

[CD2]

Too many are not really students. Corruption back into high school.
Many degrees not earned.

Pro and collegiate sports have been dead to me a long while. Knew of the dishonesty way back.

[99explorer]

To be eligible for the NFL draft, a player must be three years removed from high school.
He does not have to graduate from college with a degree.

[bowhunter75richard]

To be eligible for the NFL draft, a player must be three years removed from high school.
He does not have to graduate from college with a degree.

I must admit, I am at a total loss with that post. The question asked had nothing in context with a player/student graduating with a degree or not, it was totally asking if they should be paid for playing a sport while in college ! Their degree or lack of it has no relevance here, is completely of no significance. And I stand by my answer of NO pay !!!

[fitch270]

Paid no, but if they have the talent and/or ability to market themselves then they should be able to do endorsement deals. (Remember The Boz?) It might actually lessen some of the shady stuff that goes on already.

[Gary Devine]

I say no money. Trump University would have the best players in the NCAA. 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰🤣
The poor red neck colleges in Alabama would be in last place. 😩😫
LMAO

[bowhunter75richard]

Paid no, but if they have the talent and/or ability to market themselves then they should be able to do endorsement deals. (Remember The Boz?) It might actually lessen some of the shady stuff that goes on already.

I will agree with fitch in regards to the endorsement issue, as long as a player is able to bring such a deal about by himself. And if he should manage such a situation and be paid while in school, he should then be required to pay the school for his free education received. If it were not for the school giving him a ‘stage’ on which to display his abilities, and at no cost to him, he would have almost no other means to make such endorsements. It is the provided ‘stage’ to perform that is the crux of the entire issue, and thot is a free ‘stage’, make no mistake !

[99explorer]

Absolutely no money.
I believe that the top college head coaches get million dollar salaries because of their ability to recruit the best high school prospects. They just have to convince the player's mama that her baby will be well cared for.

[CD2]

A degree is of relevance.....since they are at a COLLEGE. The reqs for getting in are not that hard....yet many have to have their HS stuff fixed....or have special tutors, people take tests for them......and many schools still fix grades and hide criminal behavior of their supposed student athletes.

Let that Ball guy and others set up sporting leagues that dont care about education.

IMHO in college one must be a student athlete....emphasis on student. But has been alumni only care about winning.

Its all a joke. Friggin grown men rooting for a bunch of thugs.

[CD2]

Sure some college athletes are legit.

Not enough of em though.

[Pmacc60]

I don’t think you can have young players with exceptional talents make their own deals . If they , say have a deal set up with Nike and the college has a deal with Reebok then there will be a conflict of interest . It’s a slippery slope, I think that major college sports are using these kids and not having a care about their getting an education. I don’t have the answers but I feel if you sign a kid to play for your University then they should guarantee that that kid gets a degree if he or she so desires one. That would improve the caliber kid these coaches are recruiting and make these institutions show accountability . Also if a program makes money for the school then maybe a stipend should be given to the students for living expenses. A very fine linebacker at a local university was kicked out of school when his football eligibility was up, I knew one of his assistant coaches who was sickened by the way the kid was treated and his living condition. He left the school as a coach that year. There is much to debate on this subject and I don’t thinks it will ever wash!

[MattM37]

My feeling is no way should they get paid. And there needs to be a major, inside-and-out cleaning of the cesspool that college and pro sports have become.

I guess I'm biased by what sports I like and what ones I don't, but: Iwent to a Division One hockey school, small and not all that glamorous outside hockey-fan circles. Junior and senior year, I worked on campus as a writing tutor (it sure beat my freshman year in the dining-hall dishroom!). I got to know quite a few hockey players, some of them already signed with NHL teams. Most were very bright guys who took their education seriously. Some were still majoring in "easier" subjects -- but that just made sense, since they were headed for a career in hockey one way or another. I remember a handful of players who certainly seemed like the "dumb jock," who actually worked their tails off on every assignment.

That said, however: There were several professors on campus who had a policy of giving a minimum passing grade to hockey players as long as they brought their papers in for a tutorial and at least made the changes the tutor suggested. I saw my share of those students, too. That always bugged me -- but then I realized that over the course of their careers, the profs had seen a lot more hockey players than I had, and overall the policy probably worked best for everyone.

I don't know. There was probably stuff we had no idea about behind the scenes, especially considering some of the family names on the backs of certain hockey-sweaters, but it all seemed on the up and up. A lot of those NHL-bound players were just honest farm kids from small towns in the NE and Canada.

[99explorer]

I don't think this question should be decided on any concept of equity between the parties involved, but rather on what is best for the game.