NCAA investigating Cam Newton

But do they get paid at a rate commensurate with the revenue they generate?

As has been mentioned, scholarship athletes do get paid. They get paid squat like the research assistants but they get paid.

 

True, but that's not right, either. Also, many research grants are funded by private industry which benefits from the research. This would be a far more ethical means of financing college football. The NFL benefits from that sport financially to an enormous extent. It should offer subsidies to schools and individual players. Set up an escrow account for a Newton and have him attend Auburn on a Roger Goodell Fellowship.

 

One of little discussed aspects of overall funding athletes get in college is the Pell Grant. Those who qualify can pull down up to $5000 a year. Pretty nice change for a college student.

 

I believe that there are restrictions on what jobs an athlete can work while in school. As

That tuition may be worth $200,000 to you, an actual student, but do you really think that Cam Newton cares whether its $20,000 or $200,000? You say its his fault for not taking advantage of it. That's not reality. Remember how John Cooper and his staff wanted Robert Smith to dumb down his studies? And Smith was a bright guy. What about the lower 95%? What are the chances they take advantage of the education? How about the demands that are made on their time (practices, lifting, studying, etc.) year round? Is it reasonable to really think that they are going to get their degrees? 4 years may be reasonable for the incoming freshmen, what about the incoming freshmen football player who scored in the bottom 50% of the SAT?

 

The Pell Grant is only to defer the costs of attendance which are defined as:

If you're attending at least half time, your cost of attendance is the sum of


•your actual tuition and fees (or the school's average tuition and fees)
•the cost of room and board (or living expenses for students who do not contract with the school for room and board)
•the cost of books, supplies, transportation, loan fees, and miscellaneous expenses (including a reasonable amount for the documented cost of a personal computer)
•an allowance for dependent care
•costs related to a disability
•reasonable costs for eligible study-abroad programs.

Scholarship already provides room and board so I guess the $5G goes towards computer and transportation? Good luck with that audit. I don't think its as easy as $5G on top of your scholarship.

 

They don't get reimbursement from the books. I know of one school that had an athlete get punished because he pocketed the money that he got when he sold the books back. REgular kids who buy their own books can sell them for money, but it's coniidered an extra benefit for the athletes since they get the books for free.

Free wings and beer from the local bar? NCAA violation. Ridiculous, but true.

Cushy jobs from boosters? In the past, the NCAA banned athletes from holding any sort of job to prevent any shenanigans. Then they relented, with a limit of (I think) $2K that the athletes can make and it has to be a legitimate job. Not only would that be restraint of trade, but many athletes don't have the time to hold a job.

Free tutors and academic resources: Well, I would hope so, considering the athletes are missing class time. Football, perhaps not so much if they play an all-Saturday schedule. Maybe they miss five or six Fridays worth of classes. But take a team traveling for a Thursday night game. They travel Wednesday, missing class. They sit in the hotel all day Thursday, play the game at night, then travel home in the wee hours of Friday. I'm sure the athletes are just wide away in their Friday classes after arriving home at 4 a.m.

And that's not to mention basketball players, who seem to be on the road every other week during the school week, and, along with their conference tournaments, will miss at least two weeks of class if they make the NCAAs. In other words, if the school doesn't want to have tutors and resources for athletes, they should play an all-weekend schedule, or only travel to road games by bus a couple hours away (like the rest of the low revenue/D-III sports do).

Hero worship from the co-eds? That's the girls' problem, not the guys, if their self-esteem is so low that they admire a guy because of what he can do with a ball.

 

Anyone who thinks people who receive Pell Grants are living on Easy Street is sadly mistaken.

 

They are often confused with Charley Pell grants.

 

There was only one assistant on OSU's staff that gave Smith shit about his major. He was a young position coach.

His name? Urban Meyer.

 

Sigh ... this conversation depresses me because it is a conversation that's been going on big-time for decades. One side argues that scholarship athletes get more than enough, the other that they get far less than they are worth. In many ways, both sides are right.

For the vast majority of scholarship football players, the benefits they receive through their scholarship is roughly commisurate to the value they convey. For many of these, in fact, it's not only an OK deal but a very good deal.

For a modest number of especially gifted athletes, it's a crappy deal. They convey millions of dollars worth of value for which they receive no recompense. Yes, they receive a scholarship package that has a monetary value in the tens of thousands (at times). Yet their gifts are worth far more than that, and they are forced to sell these gifts at well-below-market rates.

I will argue that Auburn likely is not seeing some major profit rush as a result of Newton. Doesn't Auburn always sell out? Hasn't the TV deal to which Auburn is a party been in place for years? Yes, there is probably some financial upside for Auburn (and others) having seasons such as this, but it likely isn't in the multi-millions. Newton's marginal value to Auburn athletics is likely modest (his marginal value to Auburn's coaches, however, is huge). However, the cartel of which Auburn is a member reaps untold millions in profits by systematically underpaying for precisely the talent people want to see.

I enjoy the spectacle of college football, but I am under no illusions; professional sports at least spare me the "base alloy of hypocrisy."

 

It's illegitimate "building of the brand", the way the game's currently being played.

 

Hey! We loved Coach Pell here in Jacksonville (Ala.)!!