All Dollars NO Sense

Note: This article was written last summer after an interview with the University of Maryland's PF Dave Neal, but in light of the recent accusations concerning Memphis and Derrick Rose, I decided to publish this article.

Imagine working for a company which provided a great deal of travel, television exposure, a free college education, unlimited clothing, free food, and all the books you need. In return, you help the company generate up to 20 million dollars in revenue. Only there's a catch. The employees are not paid and are not to receive any free items from anyone else excluding family members. This is the reality for the young men and women playing a Division I college sport on an athletic scholarship.
Consider the massive free exposure the athletes generate for their schools through television, radio, and newspapers. Not to mention the bonuses the universities, coaches, and the athletic directions receive when the teams qualify for postseason play, makes one wonder, do the athletes deserve more than "just" their athletic scholarships?
North Carolina offers a basketbal player a scholarship, the school is making a $38,882 investment in the player if he or she is not from the state of North Carolina. In return, UNC generated $15.2 million in revenue from the men's basketball team alone. Sound fair? Also, college basketball, football, and baseball players appear on video games, have their jerseys sold in the campus bookstores and are shown numerous times on television (with a uniform baring the university's name of course) just as professional athletes are only without the paychecks to show for it.
The NBA's "one and done" rule, which forces prep school athletes to be one year removed from their high school graduating class before entering the NBA draft. This rule has required the best high school basketball players like Southern California's OJ Mayo, Memphis' Derrick Rose, Kansas State's Mike Beasley, and Arizona's Jerryd Bayless all to attend college for one year (with no intention of staying for another, let alone all four) before entering the NBA draft, basically turning Division I college basketball into the NBA's minor league system. This rule does not at all hinder the NBA and only helps it by giving the league an extra year to scout the players, see the players against better competition, and allows them to see players more often on television. This is opposed to the former system which consisted of watching elite high school players on a limited basis against inferior competition. While this rule does help the NBA, it hurts the college players because it opens the risk for injury without the opportunity for pay and hurts NCAA basketball as programs invest in players who leave after just one year.
For instance, Maryland, Duke, and Kentucky, all considered college basketball powerhouses, have not lived up to their lofty standards in recent years due to their inability to recruit the one and done freshmen while sticking with their once sound strategy of building for the long term. Only now there is no long term due to the fact that athletes who would not have attended college due to the lure of NBA millions now attend colleges for that minimum of one year. However, if stipends were given to the players depending on the amount of revenue generated by the school's program, college basketball would truly represent what it has become, a semi-pro league. Better yet, how about eliminate athletic scholarships all together and give each player what the price of the education is?
Lastly, the athletes also have a strenuous work schedule during the season. For example, Maryland's men's basketball team practices from 3-6pm daily during the season, while having a game scheule that at times may include as many as three games a week, leaving little time for study. The player's commitment also includes travel time, most notably late flights, some of which don't get the athletes back to campus until 3AM, only to have to be in class just five hours later. The time consumption of high Division I basketball turns what is often called a game into a job, a job they are not paid for.
Asked if he felt college athletes should be paid, Dave Neal a senior at Maryland responded "I think we should get paid, but I can see why we don't. Added Neal, "I don't think we'll ever be paid".


2009 thoughts--Divison I basketball is a business for everyone except the players, coaches make millions, athletic directors make even more, so why don't the players get anything? I do not feel the players should make millions in college, but 1o to 20 thousand a year wouldn't hurt anyone. Sure they get a free education, but what they give does not nearly equal the education. Unlike baseball and hockey (both of which have a minor league system and junior leagues, respectively) players are ready to play in the NBA as soon as leaving college. Due to this there should be a junior league system that allows for athletes who are not old enough for the NBA to play at a high level and recieve a salary, without having to go to Europe.