I'd say college athletes have been taken advantage of financially for many years. The current situation I agree has swung in the extreme the opposite direction with little regulation and gives free reign for the programs with the most money. I'd say the reasonable solution exists somewhere between the past where athletes had no sanctioned way for sharing in the profits of the system their efforts enable and today's unregulated wild west.
Free market = good. Or at least I thought? Let them make what they’re worth. If they’re getting paid too much money, people will cut back.
Or are y’all also okay with your workplace conspiring with others in the industry to tamp down your wages?
Just bring it all above-board and out in the open so it can be an equal playing field. Right now you have the Big2 conferences doing whatever the hell they want while everyone else has to worry about selective enforcement that’s been plaguing the NCAA for 40 years.
Last edited by NDSU92; 02-27-2024 at 05:24 PM.
No, it is not regulated.
For example, an NFL team has only x amount of dollars and they have to fit every player's salary at or under that number. In college, programs are only limited by what their donors are willing to cough up. So there is no regulation preventing any max dollars spent. There is nothing that would prevent college players from out-earning their professional peers. This is already happening in women's BB
There are regulations. Therefore it is regulated.
There is not a regulation on maximum $ as far as I know. That doesn't mean it’s unregulated.
The importance of this comes in if/when the NCAA puts caps on it. If the regulations all continue to be unenforced like they are now, that will only be a cap for the smaller schools.
There's some truth to this for sure.
The P2 (SEC/B10) are driving towards unlimited spending in every sport, and will likely break off as a pro/semi-pro division in time.
If they need to leave NCAA to make that happen, I think they will. If NCAA just continues to cave to their wishes, it increases the competitive gap between them and everyone else. Schools like UD, Ball St, and SHSU are not really competitively in the same division as UGA and OSU today, even though they pretend to be.
I don't know if it is taking advantage, but what do you call someone providing services for $40K (scholarship money) when the employer is making $millions off their services and there is a small group of individuals who could provide the same quality of talent that lets them earn $millions, but only after they have been in college for 3 years?
It's OK to not be OK.
That argument holds for the top power conferences, but not the vast majority of NCAA schools.
Therein lies the problem. Alabama, OSU, Michigan, etc do in fact generate many millions in profit.
However, nobody in the G5 or below is making real profit in sports, its all subsidized with student fees and taxpayer funding. Even a large number of P4 schools break even or lose money when you factor in the subsidies and scholarships for women's sports. The dirty semi-open secret is money from Men's sports pays for Women's sports to exist. And it's mandated by Title IX.
So in fact, at the vast majority of NCAA schools, the real question is why should student athletes be paid anything at the expense of taxpayers and other students?