Northwestern football players seek to join union

They will if they start seeing football players in the North starting to shake things up.

 

And Division I athletes really benefit from professors and support staff that are very accommodating. It's easy to tell which professors are the favorites of the athletic department academic advisers just by the sheer number of jocks in their classes. And there aren't just a couple of TAs in the academic advising department; there's a dozen or so at my university.

 

Or if their hometown papers had written more features on them

 

The Division I tutor/academic assistance program is intended to keep the stars eligible. That's the job. For example, Ohio State doesn't care if 15 non-starting football players flunk out each year. They'll get 15 more to fill their positions.

Oberlin College needs its student-athletes to stay eligible - and keep paying that 35k a year - to play in their little basketball games in front of 100 paying customers.

 

Good for Kain Colter and the others who are organizing this.

I'm for anything that puts the wealth generated by D-I football's popularity into a few more hands. Because ESPN, the BCS conferences and top-level coaches certainly are making out like bandits.

Even at an expensive private school like Northwestern, the scholarships the football players receive as "payment" don't come close to the revenue they generate.

 

The payment they receive doesn't cover all their costs either.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/andy_staples/03/08/presidents-scholarships/index.html#ixzz2rl2PHKCG

The consternation this move to unionize is causing has been fascinating to watch. Some people are acting like it will destroy college athletics completely.

 

Most D III players are getting some form of Assistance.

Usually work study that makes them literal employees of the school but ignore that for the moment.

As the Taylor Branch article pointed out some months back, the concept of student athlete was created so schools could avoid paying workers comp.

The schools have rigged the game so much that a big adjustment is about to happen.

The schools could have avoided some of this by having actual four year scholarships and paying for medical care for player injuries and providing emergency assistance to players.

But, nope. So they're going to get slapped. Hard.

 

Especially when there's going to a shitload of money coming in from the college football playoff on top of what's already being generated.

 

Not to get too political here, but if the NCAA and the schools would have done a few changes to curb the worst abuses of the system, like Republicans with health care, the athletes would probably have been content to let the system continue.

The NCAA has had to be dragged kicking and screaming into even the smallest reforms, such as their emergency fund for kids to fly home for funerals. Had they just lightened up on things such as transfer rules, allowed small gifts and loans, perhaps up to $100, and cut the bullshit on water hoses, they'd be seen in a much better light than they are now.

 

It certainly will.

And if anyone thinks the attention will be sympathetic or supportive, I suspect they will be bitterly disappointed.

 

Yeah, because it'll be "We paid our hard-earned money for you to entertain us, and they should be grateful they can play for a scholarship, so shut up and play!"

It'll be better if it's a superstar athlete leading the team in the walkout, because then the crowd might be a little more conflicted.

 

Amen.
If these kids aren't satisfied with what's offered to them, there are others lined up who would jump at the chance to spend 4-5 years in that lifestyle.
One (me) hopes that we don't evolve to a point where stipends or salaries are given to college athletes.