Should Division 1-A student-athletes be paid for their services to their school, beyond the already high amounts of money they get for scholarships?
Most of this discussion recently in public forums has revolved around athletes in football and basketball. I hope that such a notion never happens.
There are thousands of college athletes in all the divisions of NCAA as well as junior and community colleges. It would be a gross injustice to pay D-1A student-athletes and not pay anyone else in the realms of college sports. Where would the responsibility fall for paying all of these student-athletes.
You'll notice I've used the term student-athletes and not just athletes. It is important to recognize these men and women as such, because no matter what they think or what anyone else thinks they are students first. They may be brought to that school for their respective athletic ability, but they are expected to go to class and make the grade.
These student-athletes are given high quality educations at high quality universities. I have heard the argument made that these institutions use these student-athletes likenesses and names for financial gain and all, but these student-athletes do receive a sort of gain (most being full-ride scholarships).
In my opinion, if they want to start paying D-1A student-athletes, they'll need to be prepared to pay even the lowliest D-3 or JC student-athlete some sort of money.
I am not ignorant to the fact that it is harder for these student-athletes to get jobs to be able to live, but I cannot fathom how they'll justify payment to football players and basketball players without having to pay the rowing team. Not to mention, some teams have more than 100 players on the roster. Does everyone get a piece of the pie or is it just student-athletes like RG3?
The problem with many of these student-athletes is the number of people they have in their ears telling them how mistreated they are or how they're being taken advantage of. The majority of the complainers are the players who will eventually get their pay day for professional sports.
The only solution I see aside from leaving things the way they are, would be to have these student-athletes sign contracts locking them to a school for a length of time. I saw the schools only offer 4 year contracts, to get the full "use" of the student-athlete. It would help to ensure graduation rates go up.
I do not see a valid way to make paying these student-athletes work, so I figure there will not be any changes. At the most, we might see schools along with the NCAA move to a cost of living stipend or something, but outside of that it is extremely complicated and no one will be happy.
Am I the only person in the world who wishes people would play for the simple love of the game????
