Wow, you paid your almost entire four year NU tuition with a part time job? Were you selling drugs? Maybe stripping?
They don't have to play phatcat. Those full time jobs at Home Depot, Target, etc. are there for the taking to make the lives of all NCAA college football players infinitely better than they are for those playing college football. Funny though, you never hear of a kid turning down a schollie for the incredible opportunity offered by Lowes. You talk like coaches are roaming the aisles of these places and forcing kids onto the football fieldagainst their will.
But here was my point. These kids have been playing football for almost a decade before getting to college, for free. They paid largely for their own equipment, medical care, specialized training, etc. Hell, IMG charges them 75,000 per year tuition to be a part of that program. You think IMG isn't making money off of them? But kids and families jump at the chance to pay and be a part of that.
Then they get to college and all that stuff is free. They get medical, free equipment, room, board, the most specialized and dedicated training of their lives. Hell, the free protein powder and supplements alone costs more than they'd make in a part time job. (Sarcasm).
Not to mention the 'blah blah blah' tuition that smart families sacrifice and save their entire lives to afford. That's all free.
But because coaches and networks are making what they are (despite most college football programs still operating in the red), the cry is that players deserve more. They must be paid, even though they are getting more back than they have ever done in their entire lives playing football, and most schools operate at a loss to provide that to them.
Why suddenly are they considered victims in many corners when they get to college, when they are getting so much compared to the return they got playing football for the previous 10 years? It's only because by comparison, it isn't enough compared to what the coaches and schools get (again, even though those schools are largely losing money already in providing all that they do).
If these proponents get their way, I think the end result won't be a glorified socialist system of "workers" rights, but the end of the institution they rallied against. Many many many schools simply won't play in that environment, essentially 'hiring' football players AND providing them free education and everything else they do, and will close up their programs. The result won't be what these proponents want in terms of financial equity, but a loss of opportunities to play football and earn a college education for many kids who wouldn't have those opportunities otherwise.
EA Sports' NCAA football simulation will have served as the simulation of the institution as a whole, and just like with that game, nobody will win and the institution will simply cease to exist.
chicagocatfan24 said it best, "Everyone should get paid or no one should get paid." That is what will happen. No one will get paid (at least not what the protesters and 'player rights' advocates think they should), and these groups will only be able to take pride in the fact that the evil NCAA Football institution is gone.
