Why are college athletes not unionized?

[Senser81]

I really can't stand you. You have already made enemies with a few people on the site. You just don't know when to stop and it has made you the most annoying thing since Jax. You just remind me of someone that has a shit life and comes on here to try to make it seem like you have some type of purpose to find legitimacy in everyone's post.

Thats nice. I enjoy people who like to throw around terms such as 'cocksucker' and 'dumb fuck', then when they are hit with return fire they go crying to mommy. Sorry if I annoy you, but I can't help it when you say stupid things over and over again (see the Vick thread) or if you can't interpret simple comments correctly (see this thread). My recommendation would be if you don't really know what you are talking about or you don't really understand what you are reading, then lay off the profanity when you type your responses. Cumtwat.

BTW, what other people's 'hit list' have I made? Or are you pulling a Point Blank and refusing to name names.

 

[FirstTimer]

Hokie and Point Blank = Woodward and Bernstein............... VSN=Watergate

 

[steeljake]

What if Derrick Williams had torn his ACL in the Rose Bowl against USC?

then he can still get the education that was promised for him playing on the team.

 

[Youk]

then he can still get the education that was promised for him playing on the team.

Exactly. These players are getting free room, board, meals, and extra incentives already given to athletes, including tutors and other help.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/nov/28/local/chi-jock-tutoringnov28

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Sometimes a grad student's research job at the University is entirely dependent on grant money. So, in essence, the grant is paying the wage for the grad student. Grant money usually has 'strings attached', meaning its money that can only be spent a certain way for certain things. I see your point, but I think that situation is different than the football team getting $2.5 million to play in the Alamo Bowl.

I agree that the situation is different, but, like the grad student with on scholarship in part because of the grant money available, the athletic program is able to give out scholarships and provide the facilities they do to these athletes, in part (can't forget things like alumni donations, etc) because of the money raised by those programs.

I guess, the issue for some here, indirectly, is that the money raised from winning in athletics trickles down to the entire student body, alumni, staff, etc when I guess, in their opinion, a percentage should be going into those student-athletes that made it happen?

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

With a degree in what, communications? What classes did he take? How much did he really learn?

The point is that some people have said that "they get their big paychecks in the NFL anyway," but that simply isn't true. You can't say "They'll get theirs eventually," and then if they don't, say "well they got an education."

If I work ten hours, but I don't get paid until the eleventh hour and just before I sprain my ankle and can't finish working, and all they do is feed me lunch, you can't say "well at least he got lunch." The fact that the athletes are being given some compensation does not mean that they are being given adequate or fair compensation.

Like I said, back during the Gilded Age, if you provided a service for somebody and all they did was give you housing, and pay you in currency only good at the factory store, that was called a Factory Town. They were outlawed for a reason, because you can't work a guy for twelve hours a day, send him to a shack with a coupon to buy bread, and say "We fed him, we sheltered him, and the work made him stronger." It's an argument people stopped having in the 1930's or so.

People also need to stop the nonsense that athletes are just students. A University does not make millions of dollars a year by recruiting English majors. A University doesn't get the money for a new stadium by giving all their Bio majors a free ride, and forbidding them to make money through any other method involving Biology. Colleges target and use athletes to very specific purposes. They are brought onto the campus as athletes, not students, to make money for the sports program, not to win esteem for the school's educational programs. Any other view of the relationship between major sports universities and their athletes requires a willful ignorance of... a lot of things.

So, the University should pay him because he decided to take a worthless (guilty as charged) degree?

I guess the countdown clock should start right now for me, waiting on that big fat check from the University.

Gotcha.

 

[Senser81]

I guess, the issue for some here, indirectly, is that the money raised from winning in athletics trickles down to the entire student body, alumni, staff, etc when I guess, in their opinion, a percentage should be going into those student-athletes that made it happen?

Yeah, thats about it. I would like to add that its strange to me that John Calipari can earn $3.5 mil/year coaching the Kentucky basketball team, yet a player like Jodie Meeks gets a 'scholarship to an SEC school not named Vanderbilt', which is like getting minimum wage.

 

[Senser81]

So, the University should pay him because he decided to take a worthless (guilty as charged) degree?

I guess the countdown clock should start right now for me, waiting on that big fat check from the University.

Gotcha.

Coulda been worse...Williams could have majored in "Gay/Lesbian Studies"...like Hokie obviously did.

 

[Youk]

With a degree in what, communications? What classes did he take? How much did he really learn?

That's not the schools responsibility. If the student is a dumbass, then the student is a dumbass. As if communications won't get you somewhere in life. If the athlete is taking that major, then they're probably better off than they would have been without the scholarship.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Coulda been worse...Williams could have majored in "Gay/Lesbian Studies"...like Hokie obviously did.

Perfectly missed opportunity...the correct answer was "Marketing"...

 

[steeljake]

at what point do we say that it is not what you think you are entitled to but istead what you earn that you deserve? the fact that this thread was started by gay bleeding heart wanna-be entitled liberal is no shock to me.

 

[bucky]

BTW, what other people's 'hit list' have I made? Or are you pulling a Point Blank and refusing to name names.

Hey Buddy.....Better question.....Who's hit list aren't you on? That's all part of the charm that is senser!!!!

 

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

Than find something else to do. Community college and working at Walmart is still an option , so is slingin rock and gang banging.
OR
Attend a university with your education room and board paid for.

Dont like it ,leave noone is forcing them into labor or cutting off there options.

My only change would be to make sure they have full medical benefits while they attend.

If these kids arent smart enough to take advantage of the educational opportunities than frankly its further proof they were probably not college bound to begin with.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I can understand football, all you have is arena or canadian football really...but basketball players and athletes in other sports can always go pro...basketball...go the Brandon Jennings way if you want...

Hockey? Go overseas and play with the Euros. Futbol, the same way. baseball, go pro. Go indy league.

 

[Prodigal Son]

I think fans should create a union. We are the one's that are leading to the major portion of the profit received. We should get paid to go to games since we're the one's helping the teams make money.

Then divide by zero.

 

[JeremyHight]

College Athletes should get a cut of the profits!

... the sad truth is, though, that most Athletic Departments LOSE money. Yes, men's basketball or football can bring in money, but then you talk about women's gymnastics or men's swimming and you are talking about major money pits for the university.

Texas and Ohio State both lost money on athletics the year they won the football national championships.

Until all athletics start gaining money for the university, you cannot argue for more pay for college athletes.

 

[NAHSTE]

College Athletes should get a cut of the profits!

... the sad truth is, though, that most Athletic Departments LOSE money. Yes, men's basketball or football can bring in money, but then you talk about women's gymnastics or men's swimming and you are talking about major money pits for the university.

Texas and Ohio State both lost money on athletics the year they won the football national championships.

Until all athletics start gaining money for the university, you cannot argue for more pay for college athletes.

That's crazy because exactly one year before Ohio State won I read a report that said they were the most profitable AD in the NCAA. Georgia, Texas and Michigan were in the top 5 also IIRC.

I realize a lot of ADs lose money but I thought Ohio State was one of the more better off.

 

[Sven Draconian]

That would actually violate Title IX if I remember correctly. The male athletes would have unfair benefits over the female athletes if the University allowed only certain sports to get paid.

Equality=Fail.

 

[JeremyHight]

The players could unionize in order to retain just the rights to their identities and ability to market them. Then they could earn money from jersey sales, video games, sponsorships, &c. I can understand arguing that a university has no more obligation to its players than providing an education, but does a university have the right to forbid the player from using his own image to make money? And only so that the university can take that money, instead? How is that fair in the least bit?

It isn't the player's jersey, it is the universities. And even then, it is very arguable that it is because of the player. For instance, do you think Laurinitis jerseys would be sold nearly as much if he was on UTEP or Akron? Most people buy these jerseys for the university, not for the specific player.

 

[Saluki]

It's not an accident that the best players sell the most jerseys. Fans often have the option of buying generic jerseys, but many still opt for names. It's only part of a larger plan of giving the players the right to market their identity which, regardless of the reason for jersey sales, athletes should have. It extends beyond simple jersey sales.

No they don't. NCAA can't sell a current students jersey with their name on it.