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New NIL commission coming?

I am struggling to understand how being an athlete is part of their role as a student, but working in the cafeteria is not. On what grounds is this distinction made?
Because the cafeteria jobs do not depend on the worker being a student. Most likely the majority of those jobs are held by people who are not students. Typically, students can fulfill some of those jobs as well to pick up some extra money. Or they could just as well get a job at the local McDonalds. It's all the same. Students are not recruited or awarded scholarships to work in the cafeteria. It is an entirely optional activity for them.

Athletic scholarships are a completely different thing. They are an agreement between the school and the athlete that says if you come here as a student, and participate in a specific school sports team, we will waive your tuition fee, and in some cases even provide you with a reasonable living expense. And that effectively eliminates any need for the student athlete to have to spend time at a job in order to cover his expenses.

New NIL commission coming?

This is only true if you continue to irrationally (in my view) cling to an arbitrary and outdated notion of “amateurism,” a concept the NCAA invented in the 1950s that has almost no bearing on the sports or professional worlds of today.

Then yes, you are right, if amateurism as defined by a government-created NGO in the first decade of the 1900s is the North Star of this discussion then you are totally correct and the rest of us should simply sit down.
It's pretty straightforward. A professional organization, such as an NFL football team, who is in the business to make money hires professional athletes. By the very use of the term, it is quite clear that this is part of an enterprise that is a business.

However, college football teams are not formed and do not exist to make money for the school. That is not their purpose. They serve to provide the student body with a representative in the inter-collegiate athletic world.

The fact that they may bring in significant revenue to the school, primarily by TV and Internet coverage, does not change their relationship to the school. It's a very nice bonus. Extra money always is. But it does not change the fact that they are amateur athletes competing in an amateur world.

New NIL commission coming?

A university can employee a student for tasks not associated with his role as student. Some examples are cafeteria help, library tasks, etc. These are roles that anyone can fill, student or non-student, because they are independent of any student activity.

However, in his role as a student, particularly as a varsity athlete, the university cannot change that role from student to employee. You can be one or the other, but you can't be both at the same time.
I am struggling to understand how being an athlete is part of their role as a student, but working in the cafeteria is not. On what grounds is this distinction made?
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New NIL commission coming?

And if that 18-year-old wants to get a job with a pro or semi-pro football team that will hire him and pay him millions of dollars a year I have absolutely no problem with it. I wish him well.

But becoming a university student is an entirely different thing and a different world. His first obligation is to the university in return for the scholarship that he is given. Taking advantage of that to separately receive millions of dollars simply by lending his name to some commercial product is in my view morally corrupt. He has done nothing to earn that money.

You continue to mistakenly equate pro athletes to college scholarship athletes. They are not in the same category, so your argument that they should be treated and compensated the same is virtually meaningless.
This is only true if you continue to irrationally (in my view) cling to an arbitrary and outdated notion of “amateurism,” a concept the NCAA invented in the 1950s that has almost no bearing on the sports or professional worlds of today.

Then yes, you are right, if amateurism as defined by a government-created NGO in the first decade of the 1900s is the North Star of this discussion then you are totally correct and the rest of us should simply sit down.

New NIL commission coming?

You are going too easy on the university. It is the entity which is initiating the relationship with the player. The player is responding to an opportunity made available by the university.

The issue is the university is providing this opportunity which is converting the student into an employee. The university can make the decision, as UChicago did in leaving the Big Ten, that the opportunity being provided does not align with its vision for its students.

The focus of this discussion should be on the university, not the student.
A university can employee a student for tasks not associated with his role as student. Some examples are cafeteria help, library tasks, etc. These are roles that anyone can fill, student or non-student, because they are independent of any student activity.

However, in his role as a student, particularly as a varsity athlete, the university cannot change that role from student to employee. You can be one or the other, but you can't be both at the same time.

New NIL commission coming?

I have previously stated on these pages that I competed at WRA in the Southern Comfort Great Shooters Neft Hoop competition.

I was also a member of the 1988 Res Hall championship intramural football team and threw the only TD pass given up by the Kellogg team the entire season which turned what might have otherwise been a mere playoff loss by several touchdowns to those evil bastards into a wild celebration that rages to this day when my deep pass arced over the outstretched fingers of a seven-footer who had been chasing me around the backfield all day but somehow on this final play was trying to keep up with our fleet reciever who gathered the ball into his arms and got us on the board at the buzzer in a fashion that was repeated years later by Sam Simmons in Minnesota except our score was even more unlikely and stupendous and rendered entirely meaningless the fact we lost the game by five or six touchdowns.

So, yeah, I was a college athlete.
Then you should have got a bag!

New NIL commission coming?

And if that 18-year-old wants to get a job with a pro or semi-pro football team that will hire him and pay him millions of dollars a year I have absolutely no problem with it. I wish him well.

But becoming a university student is an entirely different thing and a different world. His first obligation is to the university in return for the scholarship that he is given. Taking advantage of that to separately receive millions of dollars simply by lending his name to some commercial product is in my view morally corrupt. He has done nothing to earn that money.
You are going too easy on the university. It is the entity which is initiating the relationship with the player. The player is responding to an opportunity made available by the university.

The issue is the university is providing this opportunity which is converting the student into an employee. The university can make the decision, as UChicago did in leaving the Big Ten, that the opportunity being provided does not align with its vision for its students.

The focus of this discussion should be on the university, not the student.

New NIL commission coming?

I didn’t realize that a poster here had to have previously been a college athlete in order to be able to express an opinion on the subject at hand. If that is the case, then the following people need to state whether or not they were college athletes before creating any further posts in this thread:

WestCoastWildcat, mickbula, CapppyNU, Purple Pile Driver, Vassar69, phatcat, AdamOnFirst, TheC, Sheffielder, prez77, FeralFelidae, CMcCat, corbi296, FLCaa07, FightNorthwestern, AtlantaCat, CatManTrue, EagerFan, and NoChores.

I was not.
I have previously stated on these pages that I competed at WRA in the Southern Comfort Great Shooters Neft Hoop competition.

I was also a member of the 1988 Res Hall championship intramural football team and threw the only TD pass given up by the Kellogg team the entire season which turned what might have otherwise been a mere playoff loss by several touchdowns to those evil bastards into a wild celebration that rages to this day when my deep pass arced over the outstretched fingers of a seven-footer who had been chasing me around the backfield all day but somehow on this final play was trying to keep up with our fleet reciever who gathered the ball into his arms and got us on the board at the buzzer in a fashion that was repeated years later by Sam Simmons in Minnesota except our score was even more unlikely and stupendous and rendered entirely meaningless the fact we lost the game by five or six touchdowns.

So, yeah, I was a college athlete.

NUSB - NCAA Regional 🥎

Sadly, the 'Cats lost to Clemson today 1-0 in nine innings. Another fabulous game by Boyd in a losing effort.
That was their chance to get to the super sectional, but still a great effort by this team this season despite having only one reliabke pitcher. Kate has her work cut out for her next year bolstering the mound corps.
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