Proposal for Paying Players

[dparker]

I doubt this proposal is on anyone's actual radar but it's something to discuss during a slow time.

http://rajivsethi.blogspot.com/2016/...ight-loss.html

Since most kids won't play in the NFL I like the idea of linking their pay to graduation and especially like linking it to the school system they come from. I think this correctly lines up everyone incentives. The player benefits by getting a degree and the schools are properly incentivized to prepare them for more than athletics.

[scottycameron]

I doubt this proposal is on anyone's actual radar but it's something to discuss during a slow time.

http://rajivsethi.blogspot.com/2016/...ight-loss.html

Since most kids won't play in the NFL I like the idea of linking their pay to graduation and especially like linking it to the school system they come from. I think this correctly lines up everyone incentives. The player benefits by getting a degree and the schools are properly incentivized to prepare them for more than athletics.

How are they going to buy tattoos with that crap?

[AlmostPositive]

If you're paying them you should be able to fire them if they don't meet expectations.

[Schultzy]

I don't want my taxpayer $ going to pay college athletes. The inventory of players to fill scholarships is huge already, and it will do nothing to curb impermissible benefits.

If it's so bad playing college sports they wouldn't be fighting so hard for the scholarships but I do think they should be able to work wherever they want in the offseason.

[Martianlander]

If you're paying them you should be able to fire them if they don't meet expectations.

+1. I believe it has also been noted before, if you pay them and they become employees (or technically extra labor), you have to give them a 1099 form, and they have to pay taxes, which opens up a whole new can of worms.

[Liverpooldawg]

They already are well paid. Ask anyone who has a kid in college not on scholarship how well they are payed.

[Reason2succeed]

If you're paying them you should be able to fire them if they don't meet expectations.

Haven't you heard? The coach can cut a player whenever they want to and their scholarship goes with it. What else do you want?

I am all for paying athletes but I don't really agree in deferring their income. I don't quite understand why people feel so strongly about bringing incentives out of the underworld to above board. We all know that many D-1 football players receive impermissible benefits but for some reason we are okay with a system where everyone is breaking the rules. Paying players within the rules allows players to operate in honesty which is an ethic that the SEC claims to represent.

The problem with the system we have now is highlighted in the Will Redmond situation. Thank God he made it to the NFL because if he hadn't then he would have been the sole loser in a situation which theoretically benefited MSU more than him. He could have gone to any other school and likely received the same thing. The reason we assume he got the alleged deal is to get him to come to State. However, State loses very little in his punishment (the loss of one player when we have many others) on the other hand he misses valuable playing time that he can never recoup which could have cost him a shot at his ultimate goal, the NFL.

In response to players getting our tax dollars, my property tax dollars pay for NRG Stadium in Houston whether I like it or not. Surely the multi-billion dollar NFL and their multimillionaire owners could pay for their own stadiums...but they don't. We do. Does that stop you from watching the NFL?***

[Reason2succeed]

Oh yeah, and just to rub salt in the wound the NFL is tax exempt and doesn't pay the federal income tax you pay personally. How this makes sense, I don't know.

[Political Hack]

Haven't you heard? The coach can cut a player whenever they want to and their scholarship goes with it. What else do you want?

I am all for paying athletes but I don't really agree in deferring their income. I don't quite understand why people feel so strongly about bringing incentives out of the underworld to above board. We all know that many D-1 football players receive impermissible benefits but for some reason we are okay with a system where everyone is breaking the rules. Paying players within the rules allows players to operate in honesty which is an ethic that the SEC claims to represent.

The problem with the system we have now is highlighted in the Will Redmond situation. Thank God he made it to the NFL because if he hadn't then he would have been the sole loser in a situation which theoretically benefited MSU more than him. He could have gone to any other school and likely received the same thing. The reason we assume he got the alleged deal is to get him to come to State. However, State loses very little in his punishment (the loss of one player when we have many others) on the other hand he misses valuable playing time that he can never recoup which could have cost him a shot at his ultimate goal, the NFL.

In response to players getting our tax dollars, my property tax dollars pay for NRG Stadium in Houston whether I like it or not. Surely the multi-billion dollar NFL and their multimillionaire owners could pay for their own stadiums...but they don't. We do. Does that stop you from watching the NFL?***

Read the allegations. Will was firmly committed WAY BEFORE there were any allegations of a car being bought/discounted/undervalued or whatever buzz word they thought would stick. Long story short, he wasn't bought. In fact he walked away from much much more than most will ever realize to go to school where he wanted to go.

[dparker]

I don't think this proposal is anything about using tax dollars. The way that I read it is that instead of investing athletic dividends into things that don't matter (exotic building materials, etc.) use that money for players. And to get around the paying of amateur issue, only pay them (besides stipend/scholorship) after they graduate and are no longer amateur athletes. Pulling directly from their conclusion

This would provide both resources and incentives to improve academic preparation as well as athletic development at schools. Those talented few who make it to the highest competitive levels in college sports would clearly benefit, since their compensation would be in cash rather than exotic building materials. But the benefits would extend to entire communities, and link academic and athletic performance in a manner both healthy and enduring. It's admittedly a more paternalistic approach than pure cash payments, but surely less paternalistic than the status quo.

[Schultzy]

So there is enough money going into "exotic building materials" to pay student athletes...no. It will be sold this way but it will soon morph into taxpayer $.

People are already deciding the deal is good enough and are lining up to participate.

[Schultzy]

I am all for paying athletes but I don't really agree in deferring their income. I don't quite understand why people feel so strongly about bringing incentives out of the underworld to above board. We all know that many D-1 football players receive impermissible benefits but for some reason we are okay with a system where everyone is breaking the rules. Paying players within the rules allows players to operate in honesty which is an ethic that the SEC claims to represent.

*

You cannot pay enough in stipends to make programs stop paying impermissible benefits.

[Reason2succeed]

Read the allegations. Will was firmly committed WAY BEFORE there were any allegations of a car being bought/discounted/undervalued or whatever buzz word they thought would stick. Long story short, he wasn't bought. In fact he walked away from much much more than most will ever realize to go to school where he wanted to go.

I wasn't arguing that. I agree.

[Homedawg]

You cannot pay enough in stipends to make programs stop paying impermissible benefits.

This^ anyone who thinks otherwise, believes the rebels put together all of those classes out of hard work, and relationship building, and is a complete utter moron. That's all.

[Reason2succeed]

So there is enough money going into "exotic building materials" to pay student athletes...no. It will be sold this way but it will soon morph into taxpayer $.

People are already deciding the deal is good enough and are lining up to participate.

They are lining up to participate because it is the only way to the NFL. The NCAA's rules and the NFL's rules have created a funnel (which I am appreciative of because I value education) that forces players to go to college.

If there was a minor league system like there is in baseball then NCAA football would be screwed. As many players as the minor league would accept would sign with them out of high school.

[NYDawg]

As usual, the incentive structures line up perfectly in ivory tower economics because there are some huge assumptions about how people will act. In the real world, people target benchmarks and find the easiest path to achieving them...falsifying entrance exams, funneling athletes into majors where graduation is virtually assured, etc. In short, EXACTLY what we already see, only with a direct financial incentive for school systems to go along with it. And if anyone actually thinks any money that went back to the players' schools would go into improving the quality of their academic programs, I've got some swamp land for sale on the cheap.

[RocketDawg]

I don't like the idea of paying athletes. For one thing, they already get paid ... the get full tuition, room and board, and I assume probably free books. Even at MSU that's worth probably $20K a year. At a place like Vanderbilt it's worth maybe $60K ... might even be more. And (some of you may not like this) about 90% of them major in something totally useless just so they'll be called student athletes. And even then, they seem to have a hard time going to class ... just not interested. Crap, some of them wouldn't even be accepted into a college if not for their physical abilities ... certainly not because of educational accomplishments. College is a time of sacrifice for all of us.

I majored in aerospace engineering when I was there. That curriculum is hard as hell. I had to pay full tuition, pay for a dorm room, and pay for food. Nothing was given to me even though I worked my butt off, and even did some projects where the University made some money. It's just a time of sacrifice, as I said. I took either 19 or 20 semester hours each semester, and many were 1-hour labs that in reality required about 12 hours per week. I was a co-op student, but the school didn't pay me for that.

Primarily what the University provided for me, with a lot of hard work and long payless hours on my part, was a degree for which I was able to get a well-paying job. For that I am grateful. The five years I spent at MSU were some of the most enjoyable of my life ... but I wouldn't want to go through that again. Well ... I did go to grad school at another school, but that's different altogether. Athletes should likewise be grateful, and a select few of those should be VERY grateful because it enabled them to become millionaires overnight upon completing their athletic eligibility, or even before.

They don't need a paycheck while playing a sport for the University. They get plenty already ... much more than other students. Sure, they (especially members of the Big 3 sports) bring in money to the school ... but they volunteered to do so ... nobody twisted their collective arms.

Rant over.

[Schultzy]

They are lining up to participate because it is the only way to the NFL. The NCAA's rules and the NFL's rules have created a funnel (which I am appreciative of because I value education) that forces players to go to college.

If there was a minor league system like there is in baseball then NCAA football would be screwed. As many players as the minor league would accept would sign with them out of high school.

If a minor league system were feasible for football it would already exist.

And if a developmental league were to ever exist the college game would still be popular because of the emotional ties people have to their universities.

[Reason2succeed]

What amazes me is how people who are free market capitalist in every other arena of life suddenly see the value in communism when it comes to what high school football players can do with their talent.

Brian Bosworth agreed with me. "On more than one occasion Bosworth referred to the NCAA as the "National Communists Against Athletes." He wore a T-shirt bearing that slogan during the 1987 Orange Bowl game following the 1986 season."-wiki

[Reason2succeed]

If a minor league system were feasible for football it would already exist.

And if a developmental league were to ever exist the college game would still be popular because of the emotional ties people have to their universities.

The NFL has repeatedly blocked the development of other leagues by making rules or outright buying them out. There are still developmental leagues that are trying to develop but they have a hard time competing with college which have a 100 year head start and more importantly DON'T HAVE TO PAY PLAYERS.