Via CBS Sports
"Should college athletics look drastically different in five years, today may prove to be the catalyst.
The College Athletes Players Association (CAPA), which has been led by Northwestern's Kain Colter, won its case at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Wednesday, which means that Northwestern football players are seen as employees rather than student-athletes, and that they can form a union."
I really don't know what to make of this. Part of me wants to say that a free college education, room and board, and all the other perks that come with being a football player at a school in a major conference should be more than enough. Graduating from college debt free, especially a private school like Northwestern, is a huge benefit. Coming from someone with a nagging student-loan that just won't go away (I will be accepting donations at the reunion*) I would have loved to be in that position. On the other hand you have the athletic director at Ohio State receiving an $18,000 bonus for a wrestler winning the national title in his weight class. That doesn't seem right either.
Football drives the bus as they say in regards to college athletics. I just hope the day doesn't come when non-revenue sports, like track and field, get eliminated due to rising cost caused by the football and basketball players "salaries". The track and cross country programs have a hard enough time staying afloat at some schools.
*not really
Thursday, March 27, 2014
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As someone who had 6-figures worth of student loans following graduation from podiatry school, I am not quite sympathetic to the poor scholarship football players at Northwestern. The largest proportion of my loans were at 16% interest thanks to Presidents Carter and Reagan (Carter got them to that rate and Reagan took away any tax deductibility for them just before I started paying them off). A big part of what we do here at "the blog with it all" is try to inform people about the fragility of our sport in the volatile college environment. Full-fledged Unions will end college athletics (with athletics being the world's term for what we call "track and field").
ReplyDeleteAnd @Matt I'll chip in for a few bucks for your efforts at the reunion for adult beverages if you are in my foursome!
ReplyDeleteI hope this ruling turns out to be the death knell for the NCAA (same circle of hell as USATF). The power schools have been making money off the backs of players for 60 years. Although the scholarships (1 year renewables) are worth $250K, how many of these athletes actually graduate and have the ability to earn a living? Both football and basketball need to start allocating their billion dollar hauls to the players on the field an court who generate all of the revenue.
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