Friday, September 10, 2010

NCAA Player Compensation

A friend of mine, Jon, sent me an email last night about a blog I should write concerning player compensation. While I am on the fence about paying NCAA athletes, the idea is definitely something I have thought about. Jon's family immigrated from England, so he is a soccer fan by birth, but has a new found love for college football over the past few years since he has "seen the light". The email Jon sent is posted below:

You should write a blog on how the NCAA should allow a small position stipend that's the same for all colleges nation wide. Something like:

QBs:

1 on the depth chart - 5K a year
2 on the depth chart - 3K a year
3 on the depth chart - 1K a year

RBs:

1 on the depth chart - 4K a year
2 on the depth chart - 2K a year
3 on the depth chart - 1K a year

Whatever. Something along those lines. The numbers would be designed via a committee, and maybe you don't make distinctions between depth chart position. Maybe QBs all get 5k a year or something. Heck, maybe every player gets a few K a year.

Surely they can come up with some system that is better than the current one. AJ Green is gonna be a multi-millionaire in two years, but he feels he has to sell his freaking jersey now to get some extra cash? Meanwhile, UGA pulls in millions a year because of the players on that team. It's ridiculous.


I think he has a decent point here. How about Tyrone Prothro several years back? Do you think he was primed to make millions before his career ended in one sad play? What are your thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. As somewhat of a college athlete, I can pretty much guarantee you that some of these players receive a monthly stipend. At good ole KSU, the numbers varied, but each player on scholarship received a monthly stipend ranging from $50 - $300. It's not a whole lot, but it will pay for groceries, or in my case about 10 twelve packs of Natty Light. It should be about double that at SEC schools. I am fairly confident that they also are on meal plans to eat in the cafeteria. If you give a player $5000 per year, do you really think they are going to use that money wisely? I was getting a fraction of a fraction of that, and I wasn't using it wisely. Set up a trust that puts a percentage of jersey sales in a player's account that they cannot touch until a certain age. Even then, players that have injuries that ruin the millions they should have made, they are not left out in the cold.

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  2. Why can't we just go back to the day when an unmarked envelope with a stack 100s is left under the dinner plate at XXX hall before the game or after the game?

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  3. I wouldn't guarantee that the money would be used wisely, but if the money was given to them, used unwisely, and then a player ends up having to make ends meet by selling team memorabilia, well... then I don't feel bad for them.

    I wasn't aware that these kids are (probably) already receiving a monthly stipend in some amount. That changes my view of the situation a bit. That being said, if you're a true student athlete (i.e. the tutor isn't taking your tests for you), then it's gotta be tough having free time to do anything outside of school and sports, and even when you do have time, having money to do anything fun.

    It's easy not to feel too bad for AJ Green because, regardless of this, the odds are in his favor that he's going to be doing pretty well financially in a year or two, but the same can't be said for all of the athletes on that team. Most of them aren't going on to NFL careers, yet they still have to put in the same amount of work that the future NFL players do, yet without the same prospects. Meanwhile, the universities are banking tens of millions of dollars off of school athletic programs.

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  4. Anon 4:51,

    To you I say, AMEN brother! Those were the days!

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  5. IT'S LONG - BUT WORTH THE READ!!!!

    Ok - if we're going to have this discussion then we need to talk about the "thing" that's not talked about. The elite players DO GET PAID - who are we kidding. No matter if it's "finding" an envelope with 100 dollar bills in it or certain "gifts" that are given for use. Case in point - since he's graduated, and getting paid to play professionally now - - - a certain UGA player (receiver) a few years back, who was poor as dirt, from a small Ga. town, rolls up at a club my wife and I were visiting in Athens after a game one night - "Rolls Up" in a BRAND NEW CADILLAC ESCALADE pimped out,...I'm talking TV screens, killer sound system, 22" wheels - there's no way he had a job or family money that would justify such a ride, It's no huge secret,....AND I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT!

    A player that brings the university, NCAA, and sponsors for all the televised games they play in as the WHOLE WORLD tunes in on tv to watch them play - makes a LARGE FORTUNE for all involved except for themselves???? Is anyone else missing the picture?

    If Sam Bradford had lost his football career and not just a season with his injury two years ago,.. would anyone have stepped up to compensate him for the multiple millions of dollars he's earning now as a pro'? During is college days at Oklahoma - he made the Unversity multiple millions of dollars in ticket sales, memoribilia, and TV dollars to televise games. He made the BCS and NCAA millions of dollars in his bowl game appearances. And he made the sponsors of those games, millions of dollars with their advertisements aired during those games - but he's supposed to get,...NOTHING?????? WTF???????

    Does there need to be a structre to it,...YES. Does it need to be in the form of a Stipend,........YES. Does it need to be performance based??? - NO! - - to keep the purity of the College Football game,..you can't make it about "THE MONEY" - these kids have to keep the drive and love of sport,..and the hopes and dreams of someday,..maybe someday,..playing on Sundays! In a teir format only by position on the depth chart (as listed above) no position should be paid more than the other regardless of fame and accolades. A starting defensive nose guard should make the same thing that a 1st round draft QB should make. This would force each player to strive to be the best at whatever his position is - otherwise forcing receivers to want to try out for QB or DB's wanting to be RB's - I think this would also curb some of the "committie" systems that have become popular in modern schemes - the RB scheme at UGA as an example - Knowshon Moreano should have gotten a touch every time he was ready at UGA - the kid would just get "lathered up" as Munson would put it -and he'd get pulled for "fresher legs" - un-neccessary - Knowshon was better when he was half tired - the "jitters" went away, he may not have been as quick to the hole or had the same burst - but his vision was better, he could find a rhythem that made him unstoppable - if he hadn't had to split carries with other backs in the committie he would have at LEAST been mentioned in the Heisman race - there's no doubt in that.

    Your Comments and rebuttle are welcomed!

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