Originally posted by IUP CRIMSON HAWKS
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The real question you have to ask is what is the purpose of revenue sports? Why do they even exist in the first place? There's multiple reasons. But without football, men's basketball, and depending on the school and the geography hockey, baseball, women's volleyball/basketball, there's no chance other sports even exist. So the money the football team brings in pays for women's water polo, or men's fencing, etc. Alabama is one of the most profitable athletic departments. They also offer almost the fewest number of sports that anybody in America offers in terms of their athletics. They have football, pump money into that, and then have the bare minimum number of sports/scholarships that they are required to have to remain in compliance with Title 9.
College sports is a massive business. MASSIVE. But there's so much more to this discussion than simply saying "it's time to pay these guys what they are worth." 1% of collegiate athletes advance to play their sport at the professional level. Nobody requires anybody to go to college. Basketball players have the ability to go to Europe or they can even play in the G League. But hardly any of them actually do that. Why? Perhaps the college model isn't all that bad when they really look at it.
I have very strong fiscal views. I'm a big free market guy. I'm believe in capitalism. All of that stuff. But this is one of those things where I contradict my own views and beliefs. There's numerous roadblocks to this idea of paying athletes. First off, what do you pay them and who pays them? Are we recruiting based on how much of a salary a player is offered now? The NCAA has very rigid mandates on the maximum number of hours teams can hold activities in and out of season. Teams who violate that are punished; coaches are typically fired. That's why Rich Rod got canned in Michigan. You're essentially advocating for massive salaries for players who are already receiving a degree (worth in many cases $100,000+) that is mostly paid for all while they are not required to "work" more than 20 hours in a week. Again, I get the "get what you're worth" approach, but that's absurd to me.
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