Originally Posted by Frank Deford

Yes, now is a good time to lament anew that, my gracious, isn't it interesting that the only people not making money are the people actually playing the games.

It is perfectly unconscionable that big-time college football and basketball players go unpaid. They are employees, and deserve to be paid based on the National Labor Relations Act.

First, a little history is in order. When college football become a popular sensation more than a hundred years ago, the concept of amateurism was in full sway. Okay. All Olympic athletes, for example, had to live by what was always called "the amateur ideal." But all that has changed. The most popular Olympic sports have all gone pro. Today, in all the world, amongst big-ticket spectator sports, virtually the only athletes who are not paid are our college football and basketball players -- whose numbers, ironically, include so many poor African-Americans.

That this should be so in the United States, bastion of both freedom and capitalism, makes it even worse. That this should remain the case when college sports charge Broadway ticket prices and pay their coaches literally millions of dollars, makes it even more shameful.

Moreover, colleges always emphasize that football and basketball make so much money that they pay for the entire athletic program. To me, this only adds to the cynicism. Not only do poor black kids get no remuneration for their work, they are expected to carry all these other coaches and players and teams on their backs with their unpaid labor. Basically, a scholarship boils down to a device to keep the players on the premises where they can perform their services for free. Okay, they get a lot of perks. They live well. They're the equivalent of what we used to call "kept women."

Besides, why is it only athletes who must perform for the so-called love of the game?

Originally Posted by EAL

I'm not saying atheletes that don't generate revenue should get paid. I think atheletes should share in the revenue their skills on the field generate. As for the scholorships, I don't know, but I doubt a pro football player would play in exchange for free rent on a 1 room apartment, all the cafeteria food they can eat, and the price of a university education.

Originally Posted by lostinacause

A good education is expensive. At a decent American school you are looking at paying at least $30,000 a year for tuition alone. Add living expenses, especially in an expensive city, and it is a decent package.