Food for thought

The Sunday Times Magazine has an article by Joe Nocera that calls for the professionalization of College football and Basketball.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/lets-start-paying-college-athletes.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

Some of the numbers are pretty astonishing.

Discuss.

He was on NPR this morning talking about the article. I guess I'm old school, I think the process should go the other way. Fewer scholarships for football and basketball and a salary cap for coaches. Of course that is not going to happen, there is wayyyyyy too much money involved.

I have to agree with A_Fan on this. College sports needs to contract itself rather than grow. Here are some things I found interesting in that article:

“The huge TV contracts and excessive commercialization have corrupted intercollegiate athletics,” says Brit Kirwan, the chancellor at the University of Maryland system. “To some extent they have compromised the integrity of the universities.”

I completely agree, but I do not agree with this writer's plan to make it professional sports with a college logo on it. It seems like we have forgotten that school sports are an extracurricular activity. Colleges are no longer a place to learn, but more of a launch pad for athletes. It should not be that way. That is not what college is for.

Who will pay for lifetime health insurance and master's scholarships? You can't just "trim the excess" to find that money. Also, his plan would have some serious Title IX implications.

As James Duderstadt, the former president of the University of Michigan, told me: “Most sports can be justified as part of what a university does. But big-time football and men’s basketball are clearly commercial entertainment and have been pulled away from the fundamental purpose of a university.”

Again, the fundamental purpose is to educate in a classroom not the weight room.

Paying the players will cause the vast majority of the scandals to go away. In economic terms, the players’ incentives will be realigned.

There is no proof of this that I have seen... Can someone show me some proof? It is a huge assumption.

consider that nonathletes get stipends all the time from universities

Because they have jobs... Or its a scholarship, which is what the athletes also get. Also, athletes can get jobs. It's not unheard of. It's just difficult time-wise.

What it will most likely do is force smaller schools to rethink their commitment to big-time athletics. Schools that truly couldn’t afford to pay their players would be forced to de-emphasize football and men’s basketball — and, perhaps, regain their identity as institutions of higher learning.

UP could kiss D-I goodbye. No football and soccer is our major sport. We would not compete. Most schools should de-emphasize sports a little.

College athletes are routinely tossed aside, too — after they have used up their athletic eligibility. Even those who officially “graduate” often do so without getting a real education. It is the unspoken scandal that permeates college sports...

This could be solved in many ways. Maybe shorten practice time allowed for teams, decrease travel time, do things that make it so that they can be in the classroom more. Or, maybe athletes who want to go professional need to find a minor league to play in. Football needs a better minor league to be set up, but basketball has plenty in the D-League and Europe.

As I said earlier, school sports are an extracurricular activity. Meaning, athletes choose to compete on top of the schooling they need to get. Colleges should also consider not letting in athletes who couldn't make it in the university normally. I remember reading a story about football players at Florida State who couldn't read. Why were they even accepted into college? Because coaches twisted grades and numbers to have them in. They do that to win and make money. College sports is NOT about the money -- it is about amateurism. Just because people lose sight of that does not mean it is not true any more. Since when is a free college education not enough anymore?

Lastly, I apologize for any typos or disorganization. And, I am serious when I say this, if a college professional system is put in place, I will stop watching college sports. It wouldn't be fun anymore.

I'll throw a little more gas on the flame. Nocera has a companion Op-Ed piece today also.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/opinion/nocera-the-college-sports-cartel.html?scp=10&sq=Joe%20nocera&st=cse


First, he explains what a cartel is ( like OPEC) and why they are illegal in the US. Then he says:

Yet, in Indianapolis a few weeks from now, a home-grown cartel will hold its annual meeting, where it, too, will be working to collude and fix prices. This cartel is the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The N.C.A.A. would have you believe that it is the great protector of amateur athletics, preventing college athletes from being tainted by the river of money pouring over college sports.

In fact, the N.C.A.A.’s real role is to oversee the collusion of university athletic departments, whose goal is to maximize revenue and suppress the wages of its captive labor force, a k a the players. Rarely, however, will the cartel nature of the N.C.A.A. be so nakedly on display as at this year’s convention.

The cartel-within-a-cartel, the BCS, starts with its games tomorrow.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Ducks and it's cool to be in the Rose Bowl, but what a complete racket. It's influence has spread to the rest of the NCAA as well because of the rules on committee membership.

I get kind of tired of this debate myself. It kind of belittles the value of a college education if we only think of college athletes as people being exploited to bring in money to a university. With the cost of tuition going up with no end in sight, the value of a full ride athletic scholarship continues to increase as well. The reason that smart guys like Andrew Luck come back to play another year is because they know that college memories and the diploma are pretty priceless...

onetouchfutbol wrote: The reason that smart guys like Andrew Luck come back to play another year is because they know that college memories and the diploma are pretty priceless...

And if you are a blue chip player you can get career insurance so you are still set for life if you get hurt. Premiums only come after college