Wednesday was signing day for college football, a spectacle that sees high-profile recruits hold press conferences and mini fashion shows where they pick a hat with the logo of their chosen school.
Beneath the hats are what the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) calls “amateur athletes." But while the NCAA does not allow incoming recruits to accept a salary for competition, they effectively receive one once on campus.
That salary comes in the form of full or partial scholarships for most athletes. So, it’s all good, right? Wrong. Athletes that put in effort to represent their schools are not compensated equally for their work.
George Washington University’s tuition for all students for 2013-14 was $47,290. Texas-Pan American’s in-state tuition for that same year was $3,805.Both universities are in the NCAA’s top division. Did the Colonials practice or play any more than Broncs?
The notion that a scholarship can be adequate payment for the work that athletes put in is ridiculous. Players in nonrevenue sports often do not receive a full scholarship. Football and men’s basketball players don’t see a penny of massive television contracts.
Coaches, networks, athletic directors and even NCAA administrators are all making lots of money off of players while they get shafted.
What about those players who go pro? Do they not get rewarded for their talent? The NCAA itself brags that most of their athletes do not go pro as part of their public relations campaign to advocate against their athletes being paid.
All of this is not to say that college athletics are bad. I love college sports as much as the next student.
I just think players should be treated as what they are — employees of the university working to advance the goals of the school. They should receive a salary rather than a scholarship, money that can be used for books, food, housing, tuition or whatever they choose. The major schools are already moving to expand what schools can pay for but it’s not enough.
Now that USC President Harris Pastides is the new chairman of the Board of Directors for the NCAA, hopefully he will bring some common sense to the organization. If that doesn’t happen soon, the system may collapse like this year’s recruiting class.