@mdm @mekkaokereke oh, colleges should absolutely be paying their athletes.
@bedirthan Is that in addition to paying their tuition? @mdm @mekkaokereke
No. Athletic scholarships should be ended, and athletes should be paid fair market value instead.
Sports leagues are supposed to pay ~50% of revenues to players. That's the standard amount for NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, European soccer leagues, etc.
If you sum up every NCAA scholarship, it comes to closer to 2% of revenue.🤡
Where's that missing 48%?
We need to stop acting like sports scholarships are a favor to athletes. They're not.
Your choices:
A) Full ride scholarship to Georgia Tech, worth $35K a year! But, I refuse to pay you.
B) No scholarship! Pay your own damn tuition! But I will pay you $850K a year to play football for me!
There is no student both smart enough to get into Georgia Tech, but simultaneously not smart enough to take deal B) over deal A).
@mekkaokereke I have a former student who is now a PhD cancer researcher. In college, he was a cheerleader. Do they get paid to? No. Should they? They put in as much time practicing as the kids passing the ball. @bedirthan @mdm
@mekkaokereke So you’re suggesting that athletes be university employees, who are then allowed to take 1-2 classes per semester? @bedirthan @mdm
I'm suggesting that athletes be university employees, just like any other university employees.
There should be the same restrictions (or more accurately, lack thereof) placed on athletes as on any other member of the student body.
@mekkaokereke Once more? I’m confused now. @bedirthan @mdm
@mekkaokereke @AlliFlowers @bedirthan @mdm
Athletics connected to universities should be only be done on a community or club basis. (I know, it's not going to happen, and I'm at a D3 school...). If ESPN et al. need minor-league level football to fill their schedules, they can organize and pay for pre-NFL leagues. Athletes in those leagues should be paid. If they choose to spend some of their earnings on getting a university education, that would be excellent.
@AlliFlowers @bedirthan @mdm
Getting paid is not about how much time you put in, and you know that. The existence of jobs on campus, is not in contradiction to clubs on campus.
But yes, if your cheerleader is an employee of the university, they should get paid a fair market wage. Let me know when that cheerleading league makes more money than (checks notes) English premier soccer, La Liga, and Bundesliga, combined.
On that day, I will be advocating for cheerleaders to get 50% revenue too.