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http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2014/01/16/3168261/ncaa-start-paying-athletes/
People are up in arms about athletes possibly getting paid or unionizing. Why? I mean, really in what other industry would they not be? Twenty years ago, the typical college football player played ten games a year. Now they play sixteen (if they make it to the championship). Revenue streams have increased by hundreds of millions of dollars. Head coaches make more than many CEOs.
Let's imagine a hypothetical industry in America asked 60% more work of its employees, while at the same time seeing profits and managerial salaries go up by multiples of ten. Oh, and those employees were not allowed to work anywhere else. No second jobs. Nothing. How do you think this would fly?
"Well gosh, college costs more now, so they have gotten an increase in benefits." Hmmmm....who sets the price of college? It would be like the same industry in my second paragraph supplying housing for its workers and mandating they live there. And raising the value of that housing, far more than the value of the housing, in order to justify keeping the workers' other benefits stagnant.
And really, in spite of the increase in college costs, the value of college has diminished. It's easier than ever to go to college. It no longer grants an air of exclusivity. Dexter Manley had no business being in any kind of college. But because of football he could always claim he was a college graduate. With the explosion of colleges and student aid, hundreds of Dexter Manleys per year are getting degrees.
"But they have such nice facilities and gyms" (usually made by people who haven't been near a gym in years). But these are gyms that they have to go to. in order to keep retain their scholarship. It's like the hypothetical company above making the factory as nice and comfortable as possible. If your employer offered you a raise or offered to redesign the office complex, which do you think you'd prefer?
"But they have access to the best doctors in the world now." Which they need, because they get injured all the time at work.
"It will ruin the integrity of game." How? I've never understood this argument. It's a game. What constitutes a game with integrity? Aren't referees responsible for the integrity? Or the coaches (when they're not leaving teams in the middle of the night, sleeping with interns, lying to players, etc....)?
Anyway, I need to get back to work.
People are up in arms about athletes possibly getting paid or unionizing. Why? I mean, really in what other industry would they not be? Twenty years ago, the typical college football player played ten games a year. Now they play sixteen (if they make it to the championship). Revenue streams have increased by hundreds of millions of dollars. Head coaches make more than many CEOs.
Let's imagine a hypothetical industry in America asked 60% more work of its employees, while at the same time seeing profits and managerial salaries go up by multiples of ten. Oh, and those employees were not allowed to work anywhere else. No second jobs. Nothing. How do you think this would fly?
"Well gosh, college costs more now, so they have gotten an increase in benefits." Hmmmm....who sets the price of college? It would be like the same industry in my second paragraph supplying housing for its workers and mandating they live there. And raising the value of that housing, far more than the value of the housing, in order to justify keeping the workers' other benefits stagnant.
And really, in spite of the increase in college costs, the value of college has diminished. It's easier than ever to go to college. It no longer grants an air of exclusivity. Dexter Manley had no business being in any kind of college. But because of football he could always claim he was a college graduate. With the explosion of colleges and student aid, hundreds of Dexter Manleys per year are getting degrees.
"But they have such nice facilities and gyms" (usually made by people who haven't been near a gym in years). But these are gyms that they have to go to. in order to keep retain their scholarship. It's like the hypothetical company above making the factory as nice and comfortable as possible. If your employer offered you a raise or offered to redesign the office complex, which do you think you'd prefer?
"But they have access to the best doctors in the world now." Which they need, because they get injured all the time at work.
"It will ruin the integrity of game." How? I've never understood this argument. It's a game. What constitutes a game with integrity? Aren't referees responsible for the integrity? Or the coaches (when they're not leaving teams in the middle of the night, sleeping with interns, lying to players, etc....)?
Anyway, I need to get back to work.
