Jesus Christ. I am an EMT and just about spit my beer up reading this. ANYONE halfway trained in emergency medicine would have put him on a spinal board and transported him with sirens to a hospital asap. Sitting upright in a fucking van?!?

The falsest of false equivalencies. Every one of these athletes can *choose* to play semi-pro or pro ball instead of going to college, wait the necessary time to apply to big leagues then go. No indentured servitude to college required. Sure you could call college a gilded cage but it’s voluntary and they get free…

I don’t disagree with your premise here, but I do think it’s laughable to think that sleazy middlemen won’t be coming for these kids anyway. Look at what happens to most pros, ppl try (and succeed) to screw them out of their money. That’s why I like the index fund idea the most.

The schools (colleges and high schools) justify big time sports by using the Greek mantra of “sound body and sound mind.” I agree, regular exercise is needed but they didn’t mean fielding competitive sports teams. Schools would probably be better off requiring some type of exercise rather than fielding giant sports…

The “soccer model” is more of a fast track to professionalism. Similarly to the “baseball model”.

If the NCAA paid some smart folks some of that billion dollars they make someone could come up with an improvement over the current situation.

Isn’t that what we’re saying though?

Nobody is being forced into anything, they’re choosing to enter the system of their own free will. There are alternate avenues available for young athletes looking to cash in on their talents before the “major leagues” are willing to allow them in (because the NCAA has no real say in when they can go pro, that’s a…

I was listening to a re-run of Planet Money’s episode on the NCAA and they interviewed a Michigan alumum who said college athletes shouldn’t get paid because they get a “free education”.

the idea that the “value” of the education the player receives depends on what the school charges for it doesn’t even need to be humoured.

Why does the NCAA prevent third-parties, like Adidas and other sponsors from paying the athletes? I know the answer is that the NCAA wants that money but what is their fake answer?

I’ve never understood why outside companies can’t do exactly what Adidas did for Louisville. If the university has a deal with Nike, then fucking let Nike pay the athletes something, it benefits Nike to have star players wearing their stuff and may help Nike sign that player if they turn pro. If the colleges can’t or…

You’re glossing over some things though. There wasn’t title IX back in the day either. Schools are required to match scholarships, so those non revenue sports can’t have the low costs they used to.

The argument, ultimately, is that there shouldn’t be “revenue sports” that act as free minor leagues/development leagues for NBA and NFL billionaires.

A public university also receives tax dollars from the state in which it is located, so since families of out-of-state students have not been paying into that state’s tax system for their whole lives, then the cost of educating the out-of-state student is higher.

So the NCAA sells the March Madness rights for 1B, where exactly does that 1B go? I’ve always been under the impression that team travel, food, ect.....are all paid by the Universities Athletic Department.

I don’t think it’s the non-revenue generating sports at big schools that would be affected as much as it is the Division 2/Division 3 national championships. Those are put on by the NCAA largely because the NCAA gets $1B a year from March Madness.

I will say this every time. High school athletes voluntarily pick a school to go play for for free. While there they get access to education. For some reason baseball athletes even choose to play for free over getting paid to play in single A.

If the purpose of college is to gain an education for your future career, shouldn’t there be a Basketball major? If they really want to keep the amateur status, it seems like this should be a thing, where they take classes on basketball things. Like 3-man-weave 101, dunk contest 201 and crap like that. Also,…

The system is not being sullied, here. It’s working exactly as intended, and luck has nothing to do with it.