Comments on: The NCAA (Cash Cows, of course): But should the herd share in the profits?

By: DV

DV — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 14:22:48 +0000

The September 16, 2013 issue of Sports Ilistrated discusses payments received by Olahoma State University student athletes. The article conlcudes by saying “One or two standouts bought a new car or expensive jerwlery, team memebers say, but the vast majority of the players used the extra cash to purchase erveryday items – food, clothing, tickets to a movies. The point is these students don’t need cash, cars, and jewlery they need food (24 hours a day) clothing, tutoring and access to counseling as they transition to adulthood. It seems to me the NCAA could provide this though regulated Atheltic Support Centers on their 1,100 member capuses.

By: kevin

kevin — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 18:07:58 +0000

this is a joke, u talk about twisting words u should be a politician. u have twisted every piece of ur story. the only kids bringing in $120k is in big schools, tilte ix drops it down. $50 for a total athletes school costs? why not in the $100,000’s it costs to keep the programs goings. u & ur jealous athlete buddies learn to read and give it back to someone who will appropriate the free education. TYPICAL INGRATE.

By: John

John — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:31:26 +0000

So the better use of the money is not the athletes in the NCAA but the grade schools and high schools in the respective states that these NCAA schools are in. Imagine for a moment that all the grade schools and high schools get a financial boost from the colleges in each state. After all, a lot of the universities are fed by the high schools and grade schools in the same state. (yes people attend out of state schools but if every university participates it all evens out) It seems to me that you need to protect, preserve and cultivate the very source of your life blood! The extra money would enable the schools to feed the universities better students. It raises the academic aptitude level, increases the amount of college bound students and the long term trickle down or up in this case is good for the country as we presently see our reading, math, science etc scores falling nationwide. Just an idea but I think it makes sense.

By: John

John — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:07:48 +0000

HUGE error:

You claim: “CBS and TBS paying ten-point-six billion dollars a year for the basketball tournament alone…”

Surely you could see the problem here. You even get it right later on, quoting the chairman when he talks about the $700 million they’ll make from the new contract.

It’s ten-point-six billion dollars for FOURTEEN YEARS…about $700 million/year. Still a crapload of money…but not anywhere near $148.4 billion.

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:33:35 +0000

Mark- you are selling half a story when you make it sound like that money just goes into a football or basketball vault with no other place to go, that is why I brought up title IX. You can’t pay the boys, without paying the girls.

By: RP Sports

RP Sports — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:36:18 +0000

It’s a complicated issue. I’ve always looked at football and basketball at the “major” schools subsidizing all the other intercollegiate sports their university may offer. And with title IX, you have a lot of womens sports that must be offered as well. Are there any womens teams that bring in $??(maybe UCONN Basketball) Sure all the money that’s being made is on the backs of the football and basketball players, but it seems to me the NCAA and the member institutions would rather see the revenues generated by the athletes being plowed toward the swimming,tennis,soccer,gymnastics, and water polo teams rather than the athletes themselves. Which would be fine if the athletes were able to get a job like any other college student, but considering the fuss put up by the NCAA to OSU when Terelle Pryor sold his jersey for tatoos, it looks like the corrupt system is gonna stay corrupt. I’m sure it’ll change eventually (no corrupt system lasts forever) but it may take a long time.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 04:26:01 +0000

If I’m going to speak to Title IX, then I must also speak to the Javits amendment. Right?

I assume that nobody here is actually complaining about Title IX. In my extremely non-humble opinion, women are entitled to the exact same consideration as men, period, full stop.

Equality means just that, and I’m only ashamed that we actually NEED something like the Mink Act to LEGISLATE something that should simply be common sense.

When it comes to the distances women’s teams travel, that’s not a Title IX argument, that’s just bad logistics and an abject lack of common sense, something the academic world seems to have a pretty good handle on universally.

In any case, what it comes down to, as Jason pointed out, is that even the top guys understand that scholarships just don’t cover the cost of education for the average student-athlete.

I did make great pains to exclude those star athletes; thanks for noticing, Jason. When it comes to this scholarship issue, I’ve got no sympathy for those who go on to pro careers.

By: Harrison

Harrison — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 03:08:45 +0000

It’s unfair to student-athletes when the NCAA and member schools earn incredible profits on their backs without monetary compensation. It would also be unfair to other students if schools were to pay student-athletes just for playing a game. The solution is to go back to the origins of sport in the university: eliminate national championships, ban player names on uniforms, make all university sporting events free to attend, and ban all television contracts. If the sports weren’t so incredibly blown out of proportion in perceived importance as they are now by the media and the NCAA itself, then the profits will dry up and we’ll be back to what college sport was intended to be – an extracurricular activity meant to build character and teach life lessons to students who choose to participate, so that they will be better prepared for the real world that 90% of them will enter after they graduate. Of course, the universities and the NCAA love money too much for this to happen.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 01:51:52 +0000

“players do get paid. Scholarships. They are there to go to school. Some who are great, only stay 1 year so the NBA and NFL can snatch them up.”

Clearly Joseph, you didn’t read what the entire article said. As in “Holy cow, the guy who DOES see the numbers realizes that scholarships don’t begin to even cover the expenses of going to school.”

By: Joseph

Joseph — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:18:14 +0000

players do get paid. Scholarships. They are there to go to school. Some who are great, only stay 1 year so the NBA and NFL can snatch them up.

Title IX is a joke. Womens sports (and I’m not sexist) are draining the money. It’s going to get worse when the Big East teams will have to fly across country for games.

Womens sports need to be more regionalized (if thats a word). No reason to drive/fly 8+ hours when you have equal competition 2 hours away.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:55:27 +0000

You can’t post an article like this without explaining Title IX.