[Mick]

I realized that most D1 schools have athlete-students versus student-athletes for the money sports.  I also know that the dividing line between athletes-training-for-the-NFL-or-NBA versus University employees is gossamer thin, as those "non-employees" are responsible for millions of dollars in revenue that pay for 7-figure coaches and all NCAA employees and the rest of the University athletic program.  I can't say whether their compensation (free tuition, training, room and board, medical care and acceptance to a University that they most likely couldn't get into without football, if we're being honest) is essentially consideration for their services.  So one question is: are athlete-students already adequately compensated for their services?

Let's consider the lives of minor league athletes who ply their trade before sparse crowds and make sparse income.  A first-year Class A baseball player makes about $850/month in season, then $1,050 per month in his first full year.  AA players make about $1,500 per month.  AAA players make a minimum of $2,150 per month up to $12k to $25k per month for the most coveted free agents.  Average is about $3,833.

In basketball, it is worse.  The team-wide salary cap for the D league team is $173,000, actually down from $178,000.  Players play in three tiers, $25,500; $19,000 and $13,000 annually with $40 per day meal money.  There is some evidence that more highly compensated players can break the top tier and make up to $28,000.

In football, arena league players make about $830 a month.  Some teams subsidize housing.  When the AFL went bankrupt in 2009, the average player made $80,000.  Semi-pro leagues make next to nothing.  I do recall that their attendance is minimal, really next to nothing.

Which brings us to the question of the athletic experience from the fan's point of view and the value inherent in our experience as fans.  Like most of you, I knew a number of athletes on my campus, a few of whom were involved professionally in their sport after graduation.  With few exceptions, they were terrific people, and I was proud to be their fellow student and similarly proud to be a fellow alum.  I always marvel at their success in non-athletic life after college.  I feel a friendship, and a kinship to those people, and it was a thrill to watch them play and enjoy their skills.  We had the most common of common bonds.  I feel just as proud of Steve Nash as I do David Drummond or Ed Panelli or John Sobrato or Pat Gelsinger, etc.

But I don't feel any particular friendship or kinship to employees of the University.  I was close to a few dozen of them (in one capacity or another), but they had their role, and I had mine, and after graduation I never thought about them again (with the exception of 1/2 dozen favored professors and a few truly execrable ones) or felt any kinship or relationship.  I turned over the check, they turned over the services, we went our separate ways; and that goes for people for whom I was genuinely fond.  I posted a few weeks back about the sickening food (lower grade than penal system food) at my alma mater.  My junior year, I went to work at the faculty club, not so much for the barely-above-minimum-wage, but for the wonderful food they served.  The chef was once an alternate on the American Olympic cooking team, and he turned out some spectacular food.  Believe me, I took every shift I could get there (in part for the tips, I admit).

I was closer to that chef than any other employee at the University.  I don't recall his last name.  His first name was Carl or Karl.  And he was a great guy, lending me money when I was a little short once.  But I don't remember him, and I don't think I've mentioned him more than twice in the last thirty years.  Whereas I remember acutely about 1/3 of my fellow students, athletes and otherwise.

So I'm not certain what a college athletic employee should be making.  I am certain that it substantially changes the experience for me.  Employees aren't the same as students.  If this lawsuit succeeds, I would hope that Stanford would reject the model.  Because an employee isn't the same relationship as a friend or even a friendly acquaintance.  And their experience is different from mine, so I don't "feel" them as I would a fellow student.  So I wouldn't feel about them and wouldn't support them in the same way that I do today.  Or put another way, if Stanford were to pay their football players (on top of all their other consideration), I would attend as many Cardinal games, and watch as many Cardinal games on TV as I do the Santa Cruz Warriors.  Which is to say zero.

[Mick]

I realized that most D1 schools have athlete-students versus student-athletes for the money sports.  I also know that the dividing line between athletes-training-for-the-NFL-or-NBA versus University employees is gossamer thin, as those "non-employees" are responsible for millions of dollars in revenue that pay for 7-figure coaches and all NCAA employees and the rest of the University athletic program.  I can't say whether their compensation (free tuition, training, room and board, medical care and acceptance to a University that they most likely couldn't get into without football, if we're being honest) is essentially consideration for their services.  So one question is: are athlete-students already adequately compensated for their services?

Let's consider the lives of minor league athletes who ply their trade before sparse crowds and make sparse income.  A first-year Class A baseball player makes about $850/month in season, then $1,050 per month in his first full year.  AA players make about $1,500 per month.  AAA players make a minimum of $2,150 per month up to $12k to $25k per month for the most coveted free agents.  Average is about $3,833.

In basketball, it is worse.  The team-wide salary cap for the D league team is $173,000, actually down from $178,000.  Players play in three tiers, $25,500; $19,000 and $13,000 annually with $40 per day meal money.  There is some evidence that more highly compensated players can break the top tier and make up to $28,000.

In football, arena league players make about $830 a month.  Some teams subsidize housing.  When the AFL went bankrupt in 2009, the average player made $80,000.  Semi-pro leagues make next to nothing.  I do recall that their attendance is minimal, really next to nothing.

Which brings us to the question of the athletic experience from the fan's point of view and the value inherent in our experience as fans.  Like most of you, I knew a number of athletes on my campus, a few of whom were involved professionally in their sport after graduation.  With few exceptions, they were terrific people, and I was proud to be their fellow student and similarly proud to be a fellow alum.  I always marvel at their success in non-athletic life after college.  I feel a friendship, and a kinship to those people, and it was a thrill to watch them play and enjoy their skills.  We had the most common of common bonds.  I feel just as proud of Steve Nash as I do David Drummond or Ed Panelli or John Sobrato or Pat Gelsinger, etc.

But I don't feel any particular friendship or kinship to employees of the University.  I was close to a few dozen of them (in one capacity or another), but they had their role, and I had mine, and after graduation I never thought about them again (with the exception of 1/2 dozen favored professors and a few truly execrable ones) or felt any kinship or relationship.  I turned over the check, they turned over the services, we went our separate ways; and that goes for people for whom I was genuinely fond.  I posted a few weeks back about the sickening food (lower grade than penal system food) at my alma mater.  My junior year, I went to work at the faculty club, not so much for the barely-above-minimum-wage, but for the wonderful food they served.  The chef was once an alternate on the American Olympic cooking team, and he turned out some spectacular food.  Believe me, I took every shift I could get there (in part for the tips, I admit).

I was closer to that chef than any other employee at the University.  I don't recall his last name.  His first name was Carl or Karl.  And he was a great guy, lending me money when I was a little short once.  But I don't remember him, and I don't think I've mentioned him more than twice in the last thirty years.  Whereas I remember acutely about 1/3 of my fellow students, athletes and otherwise.

So I'm not certain what a college athletic employee should be making.  I am certain that it substantially changes the experience for me.  Employees aren't the same as students.  If this lawsuit succeeds, I would hope that Stanford would reject the model.  Because an employee isn't the same relationship as a friend or even a friendly acquaintance.  And their experience is different from mine, so I don't "feel" them as I would a fellow student.  So I wouldn't feel about them and wouldn't support them in the same way that I do today.  Or put another way, if Stanford were to pay their football players (on top of all their other consideration), I would attend as many Cardinal games, and watch as many Cardinal games on TV as I do the Santa Cruz Warriors.  Which is to say zero.