Replies: 15
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Standout [309]
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Stipends
Sep 22, 2013, 9:16 AM
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I've heard more about stipends for players (i.e., paying players) this season than previous seasons and it appears the idea is gaining momentum. More and more football players, coaches and TV types keep harping on the issue....I'm looking at you Desmond Howard. Unfortunately, most of those proponents live in a somewhat isolated world and don't really understand where this can lead. As someone with over 20 years of business experience in both big and small corporations, this is a development that could end college football as we know it.
Understanding that this is America filled with enterprising attorney's, here is how stipends would could unfold over time:
1. Stipends are approved and the sports media rejoices. 2. Stipends, of course, have to be provided to all student athletes. 2. Athletic department budgets start to get a little squeezed and ticket prices are raised. 3. Arguments are made by football platters that the stipends are not enough. Eventually a player at a high profile program will retain counsel and push for more money and win. 4. Athletic departments start to lay off staff to cover the higher stipends. Conferences now turn their attention to the networks to increase their contracted payouts to help defray costs. Networks get squeezed financially and start stagnating or reducing sports media pay (they are no longer rejoicing). 5. Another argument will be made that stipends are really just compensation and a court agrees. 6. Seeing that stipends are now wages, the Department of Labor gets involved and minimum wage laws are invoked. New NCAA rules have to be instituted regarding voluntary workouts since colleges may have to pay wages for all team events. Are fan appreciation days subject to overtime regulations? 7. Now that college sports are not at the amateur level, does the NFL sue because they are a competing professional league? Perhaps the NFL just changes its rules and starts taking players right from high school to start working on their practice squads. 8. Since almost all colleges receive money from the federal government for some level of research, athletic departments become subject to federal contractor rules for employment. Keep in mind that "recruiting" now is really an employment application process now. 9. The EEOC will have to get involved to ensure that college football teams have a racial makeup that reflects the community or face stiff fines for discriminatory practices. Players who previously were afforded an opportunity to earn a degree will now not have that opportunity. 10. Will some colleges go union so players can collectively bargain? 11. By now, many smaller programs like Duke, Rice and Florida A&M have dropped football all together. 12. College athletes now get to enjoy the wonders of the Internal Revenue Code. States will require income tax returns (and taxes paid) by athletes for games played in their state since part of their wages were earned in that state (California will lead the way on this). 13. College athletics devolves into just another American business enterprise which risks bankruptcy as the quality of the product on the field suffers. Contracts from the networks decrease in value and some colleges default on debt incurred from stadium expansions in the past.
This is not intended to be overly negative, but could very well unfold as this is the story played out every day in the excessively regulated business world in America.
Be careful what you ask for.
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Starter [399]
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the system has been broken for years
Sep 22, 2013, 9:51 AM
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too much money is being made for the players not to participate. colleges, coaches, administrators, TV networks and many others are getting rich off of the players. It is not the players obligation to provide scholarships for non-revenue sports. the schools that cannot afford to pay will form another division and college football will evolve just like pro sports did with free agency.
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Orange Blooded [3560]
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You are forgetting about this little thing called Title IX
Sep 22, 2013, 10:20 AM
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Under Title IX if you want to give scholarships (or stipends) to your football team then yes it is "an obligation to provide scholarship to non-revenue sports" or at least enough to meet the requirements under the law. Guess what Title IX isn't going away any time soon. If school want to give stipends to football players it will have to give the same amount to every athlete.
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Orange Blooded [2115]
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Re: the system has been broken for years
Sep 22, 2013, 10:28 AM
[ in reply to the system has been broken for years ] |
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The kids already get millions of dollars in benefits every year. A team of trainers and doctors to evaluate every tweak or sore muscle, training from some of the best coaches in the country, a nutritionist to help them gain loose or maintain proper weight, a personal trainer to get their bodies ready for the next level, the use of some facilities that would make a five star hotel jealous, millions of dollars of exposure, oh and a college education.
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CU Guru [1482]
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Re: Stipends
Sep 22, 2013, 10:04 AM
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You don't have to go to college to go pro.
You don't want incredible, invaluable exposure, living expenses, tuition, books, travel, etc. paid?
Good kid. Work out on your own dime and get in that combine. Good luck.
PS: Most schools are losing money on football, btw.
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Heisman Winner [108392]
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3 years removed from high school is all the pros ask.
Sep 22, 2013, 10:11 AM
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i'll applaud their choice whatever they do & root for all that CHOOSE to put on a clemson uniform & run down the hill.
if "bryce brown" doesn't come to clemson, i didn't & won't miss him.
all the best & good luck to any that choose differently.
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CU Medallion [50635]
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the stipend and the scholarship will both become taxable***
Sep 22, 2013, 10:16 AM
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Standout [309]
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Re: the stipend and the scholarship will both become taxable***
Sep 22, 2013, 11:04 AM
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Interesting if that happens. Players would shy away from high priced schools like Stanford & Wake Forest and shift to lower cost schools like Texas. I wonder how the NCAA would handle that?
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Orange Blooded [4098]
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Re: Stipends
Sep 22, 2013, 10:44 AM
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what a great post! it is completely right in everything it says..however it does not go far enough.. recruiting will become just who will pay the most(like the SEc now)..since the teams are now PROS state support will go away.. players will no longer go to class(like the SEC now)and never get any kind of degree. some kind of draft system will have to be developed with salary caps for what round the players are selected in (like the NFL) also, other sports will sue to get the same thing as football does anyone see anyway that colleges can have sports teams?? I don`t!!
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Orange Blooded [2796]
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Re: Stipends
Sep 22, 2013, 12:52 PM
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The people that are for this type of pay for play advancement are being very short sighted. I understand the concept that many of these players make schools a ton of money, but these schools also offer a ton of support monetarily, and in the form resources that would most certainly be on the cutting block once the athletic dept budgets start to get squeezed. As a fan of college football, this would be a disaster and ruin the game. And make no mistake, a union will find its way into the fray... Too many possible dues paying members not to.
Thanks for this post, because much of what you say is very likely.
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Rock Defender [54]
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+1. I almost forgot I was on tigernet reading such a well written post.***
Sep 22, 2013, 1:18 PM
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Legend [15764]
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Interesting breakdown except #7. I'm not sure how the NFL
Sep 22, 2013, 2:40 PM
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could sue a competing professional league.
If the NCAA had any backbone, they would raise the fees that schools had to pay, perhaps even incorporating a percentage of revenue to make the multi-multi-million dollar programs support the program more, and use the extra funds to significantly increase its resources for monitoring the conduct of the various programs. I would even go so far as to have a on-site NCAA compliance officer at each campus. Add complete and immediate transparency of any findings or investigations. Let any program or conference who does not want to be subjected to this out of the NCAA. Many might argue that this would spell the end of the NCAA. I disagree, but even if it did, as it stands now the NCAA is useless anyway. At least this would make it official.
The day college athletes get paid for their services is probably the day I go from being an avid Clemson and college football fan to a guy who checks in on them a few times a year.
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Standout [309]
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Re: Interesting breakdown except #7. I'm not sure how the NFL
Sep 22, 2013, 4:06 PM
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Seeing how the NFL sued a single private citizen last year because that individual was selling a few t-shirts for the Super Bowl called the Harbaugh Bowl. I'm reasonably confident the suit would concern unfair trade practices where 2 professional leagues could operate but only the NFL would have to pay income taxes on profits. Practically all colleges and universities are by default non-profit entities which means an unlevel playing field, so to speak.
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Legend [15764]
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Ah. I got ya. Makes sense.******
Sep 22, 2013, 4:22 PM
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110%er [8130]
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I'm TOTALLY against stipends.
Sep 22, 2013, 2:51 PM
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I hear those saying that $ has been getting into college football and basketball players for years. If so, that does not make it right. Let's clean it up.
If college athletes want $, then they can turn pro and play in Canada or Europe (b'ball).
"Normal" college students work summer jobs and jobs throughout the year to pay tuition, room and food. Scholarship athletes receive all of that, plus they get it year round and their food is likely better than cafeteria food.
Student athletes get something that is PRICELESS. They get to hear the entire student body, alumni and fans cheer for them. Priceless!!!! I would have loved to have had that deal. Plus alumni seem to take care of many of the athletes after graduation.
Let's put "student" back into "student-athlete" and leave the professionals to pro sports.
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Trainer [42]
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Re: Stipends
Sep 22, 2013, 7:14 PM
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Not to insult you or your argument, but your post is a textbook example of a slippery slope argument.
It appears many people overlook several key elements of the argument for stipends. I'll post just a few.
1. College football has seen an exponential rise in both revenues that the NCAA and schools realize and the donations schools receive wholly or in part due to their respective football programs. There is not a lack of funds in college football. Maybe if you're FCS or lower tier FBS schools, but these schools aren't responsible for the insane TV deals. Schools can afford the stipends.
2. Being a student-athlete in football preempts many of the players from being able to hold a part time job, especially during the season. This may surprise you, but many of the football players come from households at or below the poverty line.
3. What exactly is amateur about a billion dollar plus industry, anyways? How are student athletes not signing an unconscionable contract?
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