Thats right. So says the NCAA...
The NCAA's answer to why players can't get paid… "Because they are amateurs."
The NCAA's answer to why players are amateurs… "Because they are not paid."
Heres my million dollar idea for the day. Take it and run. Start an alternative "minor" league. Entice the SEC & ACC players by paying them and telling them they don't need to go to class!
Rich
A couple things:
i am tired of this conversation, good luck.
So is the NCAA, which is why they wish it would go away. Fortunately for student athletes there are pretty smart and committed athletes at my alma mater (NU '91).
Generally agree with YG and Old School. But, also think universities have made their own bed to a large degree by hollowing out the academic side of the student-athlete equation over the years. So it becomes difficult for Conference Chairs and University Presidents to defend the status quo based on an academics defense when such a large number of "student-athletes" never graduate... and in reality never intended to. As I mentioned previously, basketball is really a farce with all the one and done players who barely attend a class and are on to the NBA draft before the school has to take any real action on them academically... which is by design of course. And football is no different, just larger total numbers of athletes which makes it look better on paper than hoops.
As a side note, the NCAA doesn't really figure into the discussion. It's just a governing body that has been largely marginalized at this point. The NCAA isn't driving any changes, it's trying to react and survive. The furious and sometimes aparently senseless conference realignment is all about what's coming down the pike, and some of that will likely happen outside of the NCAA. Capitalism ie markets ie media are driving the changes and will dictate the eventual shape of things. The NCAA will likely pick up the pieces of whatever is left of college sports at that time. I see it as a giant cell that is going to divide. A lot of money is going to go one direction, and my hope is that a truer college athletic environment might be left behind... along with enough of the current pie to continue to make it feasible. But then, I'm an optimist!
Yeah, they should try a draft. The major league sports in this country are lucky that still works, if the NCAA were to go that route they'd blow the whole thing up for all of them far faster than any union organizing is ever likely to.
