Basket ball news is a little slow these days but a somewhat related topic is a recent national labor board ruling that college athletes from Northwestern U. can be considered employees of the school because they receive athletic scholarships to play a sport. Not sure I agree with the ruling and I am sure it is heading to the courts for a final decision. This is what happens when big $$$ gets involved with college sports. Its a business and the revenue producers want a share of the benefits that derive from their labor. If the courts eventually agree, it would open a pandoras box of issues like the student athlete may be subject to income taxes, FICA and other taxes on the value of the scholarship he earned as an employee of a school.
Post by ctghostman on Mar 31, 2014 20:21:05 GMT -5
The NW players should be careful with what they ask for. 5-10 players a year at any BCS school probably get screwed over. The rest get a big advantage (or at least the opportunity for a big advantage) from their scholarships.
I wonder if BCS football schools could just "drop" football and create their own league. Are TV deals down with NCAA or with individual conferences? I would assume thats the big factor.
I have no problem with this. I hope a system is worked out where players at big money schools in big money sports get a larger share of the pie. They deserve it.
I think lifetime medical coverage for chronic injuries incurred while playing BCS college sports, especially football, is right.
But, I have been a firm believer that a full four year ride is your compensation. A middle class kid could be borrowing 150k, depending on financial aid, that they have to work for to pay off when they graduate. The athlete has already received that compensation in tuition, room and board.
Not sure how far this goes. What is the implication for other varsity sports? Swimming, golf, lax, women's field hockey?
I think lifetime medical coverage for chronic injuries incurred while playing BCS college sports, especially football, is right.
But, I have been a firm believer that a full four year ride is your compensation. A middle class kid could be borrowing 150k, depending on financial aid, that they have to work for to pay off when they graduate. The athlete has already received that compensation in tuition, room and board.
Not sure how far this goes. What is the implication for other varsity sports? Swimming, golf, lax, women's field hockey?
Paulie, I agree with most of what you say here. Certainly the value of a full four year ride is very important and can make a big difference in a young person's life if of course that person does what he (she) should to take advantage. And your point about medical coverage is a good one. But recently I have heard a couple of things mentioned that seem to make sense in creating a little more fairness to the student athlete without dramatically changing the whole system such as might happen if this new proposal were ever to be completely approved. The first point revolves around the big BCS schools who make a lot of money through the help of athletes who become famous through their performances. The suggestion has been thrown out there that maybe these relatively few athletes who have enough notoriety on the national stage should be able to recieve some compensation for autographs or sales of jerseys with their names, etc., rather than the school getting all the money. The other thing that should happen IMO out of fairness, and to me has always been hard to understand, is the loosening of some of the repulsive NCAA rules when it comes to helping out an athlete in a time of need when (say) a family member is sick and he needs money to get home for a couple of days. How do you judge who needs help and who doesn't, who might be faking, etc.? I don't clain to have answers for that. But I do think there have been many instances in the past where ridiculous restrictions have gotten programs in trouble for helping kids in need. This is a very tough problem to solve however and indeed there are not any clear answers. But I do know one thing. If collegiate athletics becomes unionized, the entire landscape as we now know it will be dramatically changed for sure!
Nash, there is nothing repulsive about a rule thta says a school cannot pay for a student athelete to return home when a family member is sick. It is a matter of fairness and extra benefits. Why should a student athelete get preferential treatment and extra benefits over a non student athelete? Are you suggeting a school pays for all students to go home in an emergency? Is an exception to the no extra benefits rule going to be granted? Here we go again down the same path like with the transfer rule! (ie MOMO Jones needs to visit his sick grandma, Iona fork over some $$$$).
i think Nash is referring to a student who is poor playing for a school hundreds or thousands of miles from home and needing to get back in a true crisis. His family can't provide the plane fare of several hundred dollars. If he were there on an academic scholarship there might be a fund for just such cases or some professors or advisers might raise some cash, if he's an athlete a coach or booster who tries to help is violating the rules.
When a Momo Jones (or any other athlete) comes across the country to go to college, can a school help him out at all in doing so? Some of these kids get public assistance so $500-1,000 to get there and back is a lot.
Post by reindeerfan on Apr 1, 2014 22:30:22 GMT -5
If the players are employees, does that mean you can't walk on anymore? If a kid wants to walk on does he need to get paid? I think a free education is adequate compensation for most of these kids. If they are good enough to get paid they can go pro they don't need to play at he college level.
i think Nash is referring to a student who is poor playing for a school hundreds or thousands of miles from home and needing to get back in a true crisis. His family can't provide the plane fare of several hundred dollars. If he were there on an academic scholarship there might be a fund for just such cases or some professors or advisers might raise some cash, if he's an athlete a coach or booster who tries to help is violating the rules.
That's kind of what I was trying to say 79. Good explanation. Look, there are exceptions in life and sometimes a bit of common sense should be the rule of the day. Exceptions should be rare and only with absolute proof of need. That should not mean a program and school is cheating and the NCAA should be flexible enough to be able to determine the difference.
i think Nash is referring to a student who is poor playing for a school hundreds or thousands of miles from home and needing to get back in a true crisis. His family can't provide the plane fare of several hundred dollars. If he were there on an academic scholarship there might be a fund for just such cases or some professors or advisers might raise some cash, if he's an athlete a coach or booster who tries to help is violating the rules.
That's kind of what I was trying to say 79. Good explanation. Look, there are exceptions in life and sometimes a bit of common sense should be the rule of the day. Exceptions should be rare and only with absolute proof of need. That should not mean a program and school is cheating and the NCAA should be flexible enough to be able to determine the difference.
The only problem is these things tend to always have "exceptions" that go beyond the scope of the original intent of the rule. It starts with someone finding a loophole, then it just spirals. How much care and attention was Momo giving his grandmother? Does anyone know what Momo is doing today? Well, hopefully his grandma is still alive and someone is caring for her.
From Wikipedia: Lamont "MoMo" Jones (born June 26, 1990) is an American basketball player, currently with Kumamoto Volters in Japan.
A great example is of how to try to control this spiral is Walmart. Their employees cannot except a gift of any kind. Nothing. A vendor can't bring a cup of coffee to buyer unless they reimburse the vendor for it. The reason: coffee becomes a sandwich, becomes dinner, becomes a ball game, becomes a weekend junket and leads to decisions by the buyer that are not in the best interest of the company. That's what happens when big money is involved in anything. The "humans" will always find a way to screw it up.
