Should NCAA Athletes get Paid?

[Sergeant Zip]

The NCAA is not a government institution.

Although most universities are public institutions or colleges are supposedly not for profits. The athletic departments are supposed to be run as part of academia. It is also unusual how payments for luxury seating and naming rights are charitable gifts. Maybe universities should operate athletic departments (or atleast football and basketball) as unrelated businesses. Look at Texas getting $300 million for a television network. I find it ironic how much the coaches can get paid, some as much or better than NFL coaches, and student-athletes can only earn their education which has a ceiling (which I guess parallels a salary cap).

[GP1]

It is also unusual how payments for luxury seating and naming rights are charitable gifts.

I'm not 100% certain this is 100% true. If you get something for your gift, it may not be a tax deduction. I gift must be given free of any benefit received in return for it to be a tax deduction.

[Dr Z]

GP1, weren't you on a team in college? I wasn't and had a job. I hardly had time to sleep, how would you go to class, study, practice, lift AND hold any kind of part time job? I remember a football player that was in my program at UA, he ended up changing his major to something that didn't require as much outside of class work because he just didn't have the time to devote. He was talented, he claimed he just didn't have time to do the required outside of class work due to his football schedule.

There is a good documentary they are running on ESPN now that covers some of the discussion here, Catch it, if you can. It's done very well.

[Dave in Green]

I have no problem with college football players being given the option of taking jobs as long as there's a way to fairly and consistently enforce that they are legitimate jobs and not a free pass to take cash from boosters for not doing any work. That would simply be legitimizing the worst kind of cheating that goes on today.

The cheating doesn't start with college-age students, either. It starts by slipping cash and other favors to promising high school players, kids who are underage and still under the responsibility of their parents.

Advocating a system that hasn't been thoroughly and thoughtfully examined for shortcomings and loopholes is not very productive.

Simply legalizing a bad thing does not automatically make it a good thing.

[GP1]

GP1, weren't you on a team in college? I wasn't and had a job. I hardly had time to sleep, how would you go to class, study, practice, lift AND hold any kind of part time job? I remember a football player that was in my program at UA, he ended up changing his major to something that didn't require as much outside of class work because he just didn't have the time to devote. He was talented, he claimed he just didn't have time to do the required outside of class work due to his football schedule.

It is challenging, but that is something the player needs to decide for himself and should be able to make that decision on his own. A player should be required to complete all school related work in order to remain on the team. How he does that is his business. If he thinks he can juggle sports, school and a job, he should be free to do so. If he fails at keeping his school work in order, he will have to make a decision as to what is causing the problem and how to fix it. Maybe public appearances in the spring when football isn't as pressing may be the answer. There are many ways to skin a cat.

[GP1]

I have no problem with college football players being given the option of taking jobs as long as there's a way to fairly and consistently enforce that they are legitimate jobs and not a free pass to take cash from boosters for not doing any work.

OK then, what constitutes a "legitimate job"? Is a public appearance at a local car dealership a job? Lots of personalities do it all the time. Is appearing in an advertisement a job? People get paid for that all the time. It doesn't take much time to go do a photo shot for an ad.

Is putting on a football clinic at a local high school a job? People sign up and pay a fee to attend. A service is provide for the fee. Is that a job?

A job doesn't always have to be a person showing up at a business, punching a clock and doing a task for X number of hours. There are a lot of unconventional ways to make money.