[dabigv13]

I don't understand your beef.  So, because you had to have a job in college like many people, the exploitation of these young men (even to the point of forbidding them from profiting from their own name) is no big deal?

The NCAA isn't perfect, but athletes are not compelled to join it. They are not sweatshop workers as the piece comically compared them to. They are welcome to get a job and make money, or they can enjoy their free education and the perks that come with being a star athlete as an 18-22 year old. They would not be able to profit from their name if they weren't college football or basketball stars. They can choose to wait until the pros to make money off their name, or they can go overseas and make money off their name then.

To me, this issue is framed all wrong. This should not be about paying students to play sports. Many many many students play sports for the enjoyment of it, or for a scholarship, or more likely both. And very few of them have any expectation or chance of making their sport an extremely lucrative career. The real issue should be about improving the education of student athletes.

Then again I imagine if you polled the majority of college football players or basketball players, they would much rather bring in a few grand than have better educational opportunities. Should we acquiesce to this? And isn't that even more exploitative, paying athletes a pittance while continuing to fail them in their education?

[dabigv13]

I don't understand your beef.  So, because you had to have a job in college like many people, the exploitation of these young men (even to the point of forbidding them from profiting from their own name) is no big deal?

The NCAA isn't perfect, but athletes are not compelled to join it. They are not sweatshop workers as the piece comically compared them to. They are welcome to get a job and make money, or they can enjoy their free education and the perks that come with being a star athlete as an 18-22 year old. They would not be able to profit from their name if they weren't college football or basketball stars. They can choose to wait until the pros to make money off their name, or they can go overseas and make money off their name then.

To me, this issue is framed all wrong. This should not be about paying students to play sports. Many many many students play sports for the enjoyment of it, or for a scholarship, or more likely both. And very few of them have any expectation or chance of making their sport an extremely lucrative career. The real issue should be about improving the education of student athletes.

Then again I imagine if you polled the majority of college football players or basketball players, they would much rather bring in a few grand than have better educational opportunities. Should we acquiesce to this? And isn't that even more exploitative, paying athletes a pittance while continuing to fail them in their education?