By now many of you may be paying attention to this whole mess down at Auburn with Heisman Trophy Candidate Cam Newton. The rumors that surround his alleged cheating while at Florida and the rumors of Cam's need for "pay for play."
Now as a former Division I athlete myself, all-be-it in a non major sport, getting paid to play college sports has been brought to my attention in the past. I remember talking in length about this issue in my Sport Marketing class and being 100% against the idea. I think my thoughts still lean heavily toward not paying college athletes, but a wrench was tossed into my thinking last week when listening to Chicago Sports Radio.
I guess some schools out there are printing players names on the back of jerseys. No, this is not an illegal thing for the schools to do, but this is where my thoughts have changed a bit. Now, I totally believe that college sports is totally different than pro's in the fact that you will have your supporters regardless. If Cam Newton wasn't QB at Auburn, Auburn may not be quite as good, but the team itself is still a really good team. I think Oregon is a perfect example of how good a TEAM is. Yes, they have a great Running back in James, but he gets overshadowed by the play of the TEAM as a whole. That is who the fans come to watch, the TEAM.
I think that there needs to be a rule or even a law put into effect so NCAA and colleges can not print names on jerseys. Numbers are ok, but to print an individual's name on, that's when I think there should be some kickback to the players, maybe not while they are in school, but after they graduate.
NCAA sports is an amateur union. If players want to make money, then go to the minor leagues of their given sport. As a runner you don't often see jumps up to the pro ranks, but there have been come cases of this in recent years. Alan Webb left Michigan to train under his high school coach and run for Nike, Dathan Ritzenhien left Colorado, and most recently an Illinois high schooler, Evan Jager, left Wisconsin a few years back to follow his coach Jerry Schumacher.
I don't understand how athletes can't see all the benefits they are getting from their colleges. I think athletes think they are the only ones that make people come watch games. Yes, they are the ones ultimately coming, but you have all these people behind the scenes that work to get people in the seats, that work to get the athletes to the level they need to be at (coaches). Athletes (many of them) are getting education paid for (estimated 4 year cost: $100,000), free housing (estimated 4 year cost $24,000...$600/month), free food (estimated 4 year cost: $10,000...$250 a month), then you add in book fees, transportation, etc etc....you can't tell me athletes are looked after and I don't know one program that doesn't give little perks, legal ones too, to athletes.
Would love to hear what you have to think, but let's keep the NCAA and it's amateur status, but maybe put some legal regulations on them!
Peace out
Shawn
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College athletes get paid by either scholarship or by food/equipment (including clothing). Obviously, the "money making" sports; football and basketball offer their athletes full rides, so these athletes are getting 30-40 thousand a year. But even athletes in smaller sports without scholarships are still on the receiving end of plenty of benefits (equipment, free tickets to sporting events and food). The idea of giving athletes even more causes stress to school budgets, which is an unnecessary burden. The benefits reaped by athletes is plenty, there is no need to spoil them anymore.
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