Should college atheletes get paid? Options

[impala454]

This subject came up at work and we fiercely debated it for a while. We all kinda came to the general conclusion that paying atheletes a salary is a bad idea.

The general argument ended up being whether or not the players deserved anything extra. My thoughts were that it seems pretty crappy to me that a star player can go out and literally make millions of dollars for the school and not be compensated any more than some 4th string tackling dummy who never sees a down in a real game. Do you cut them a check? No... but can you increase their monthly stipend or give them some extra perks? I dunno maybe. Some were saying having a free education & all the services/training the athletics coaching/facilities provides is payment enough. Or that the chance of making millions in the NFL is good enough. Well in a lot of star player's cases, I'd be willing to bet that their contribution to the team made far more money for the school than the cost of an education.

Also on the reverse side of that, do we really need to give a full ride to some guy who goes and plays golf? Or jumps hurdles?

Anyhow I thought it was a pretty interesting topic and figured it'd fire up the college sports forum here

[jonathan83]

i'm sure most of these guys would be totally irresponsible with getting a paycheck and just go over the top (cockier, etc.) and that's not what college sports should be about. it should be about school spirit and all that jazz.

things would totally go downhill if they got paid. but i like the idea of maybe getting a check ONCE you graduate. that way they have something to look forward to IF they graduate.