Change the Game?

March Madness is over. The Champions are crowned. As the noise of the crowds die down for another year, I can once again hear the old debate again. The voices of activists and dreamers everywhere. Their arguement is just as simple as the vacuum world it would work in. "Pay the players!" they scream. I laugh tritely and listen to them ramble on.

The NCAA just signed a $6 billion dollar television contract, coaches make a million or more dollars a year for what they do, and nobody knows how much money the universities are making from apparel, recruiting students,etc. These young men are being worked over by a system where everybody makes money off of the things that they do. Full ride schlarships are all well and good but its nothing compared to the moeny the universities are making. They should be given a salary and then they can pay their own tuition. That would give them the opportunity to move their families out of the hood. They could afford to do other things. They deserve it for all the money the schools make off of them.

Ha ha ha. Thats funny.

I'll consider the arguement. College sports do mean big money for the university. The schools love it because a high profile sports program increase the notoriety of the school. Its not always the acadmeics that draw students to a school. Imagine the spike in enrollment after winning the tournament. Its the ultimate marketing tool. Take my alma mater East Carolina University for example. They built a new seating decks in the stadium, brand new sport medicine center, and a brand new workout facility. This was in the years that I was there. They put Petey the Pirate on everthing from frisbees to car tags, finger nail files to thongs (condoms coming soon). It all advertises the school and boosts enrollment. So yes there are huge amounts of time, effort, and money put into these programs.

To say that these players aren't paid is ridiculous. Add up the perks and free stuff they recieve. Tuition paid for, books, room & board, tutoring, clothes (not just univeristy clothes). Coaches help students get cars, apartments, and they still recieve monetary stipends. They are catered to from the day they step on campus until they leave. This goes on at ECU. Imagine the schools that actually win games!

The thing about college sports is it's an extension of the college or university. Its no different from high school sports. Its a school function. Endorsed by the university, funded by the university, for the university. If you go about paying the athletes you change the whole system from a university function to a job. They would be on the state payroll with the tenured professors and janitors. Tax payer money (most colleges are public instituions, you know) would pay them.

You make it a job and you take away every connection to the university aspect. They wouldn't necessarily have to have college students playing would they? Who would really "hire" a high school graduate with undeveloped talent to play on a team that's all about making money? It would be like a draft for every NBA/NFL/MLB reject out there. If all the students playing now were really any good they would pull a Lebron and ditch college all together. What student would still be a student if they are getting paid for real? What university would publicly spend money to fund a business venture which is essential a league in competition with the NBA or NFL? Would people go for that?

What effects would this have on the academics of these school? The money made from the powerhouse programs are not just handed out amongst a hand full of rich people sitting in an office running a slavery operation. The money funds the school itself. Dorms, dining services, professors, administrators, science labs, all this comes from that money. What happens when they start paying hired basketball employees to market the school and can no longer afford to pay the freshman psychology professor? What happens when its a choice between a new dorm and a 2 guard? Both the university and the team will suffer.

The complexities of the university system can't be summed up in the bottom line figure. College sports is not a system designed to financially benefit players. It benefits the whole university. Its the nature of the beast. You can't change it. No matter how unfair or unjust it may look.