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The only people prohibited from profiting on college sports is the athlete. A&M auctioned off a Crow/Manziel helmet for $80,000 and he's prohibited from selling his autograph? Meanwhile the NCAA was selling his jersey on their official site?
There's a racial hypocrisy too. I'm not hearing the outrage directed at Manziel like there was against Reggie Bush & Cam Newton.
College football is a pro sport. The $ is overflowing to everybody except the players.
Except that no legitimate competitors can emerge because the NFL and NCAA collude in what would be a clear antitrust violation in any other industry. So, yes they do have to go to college, if they want to pursue their chosen vocation. Despite the fact that a college education is in no way necessary for their on the field success at that endeavor.
Basically, the NFL forces high school kids to go to college if htey ever want a shot at the league, and the NCAA forces them to sign away the rights to all of their earning potential during that three year period. It's a sham, and the system is going to topple pretty soon. The incompetence of the NCAA is going to speed that process up.
If these kids want to get paid...then quit football and get a job.
Nobody says they have to go to college. And this applies to sperry's comment above too. If they want to make money after HS but before the NFL, they should stay out of college. They can then do what they want. Go play arena league football. Leave the country. Start your own league.
I don't see the collusion. Anyone could start a minor league with paid basketball or football players. if the guys that play in those league have the talent to play in the majors, the majors will find them. The NBA finds guys all over the world that never played in the NCAA.
Minor leagues exist for baseball and hockey. Both baseball and hockey are played in the NCAA. I don't know why we don't have minor league basketball and football but I seriously doubt collusion between the NCAA and Major leagues has anything to do with it.
I don't think you are correct. I think (but I am not sure) only baseball is exempt from Anti-Trust laws.
I am pretty sure there is nothing preventing kids from playing in say the Mid West Basketball Association for $50K per year with teams in Austin, El Paso, Tulsa, Little Rock, KC, Omaha, etc. other than the fact their is no league.
You are absolutely wrong that the NCAA has anti-trust exemptions. OU (and Georgia) took the NCAA to the Supreme Court and won an anti-trust suit in the 80s.
If only football had more pro options than Arena, Canada and NFL, or at least one option besides college for the teens/early 20s that don't have NFL eligibility yet due to age.
There's no reason why college has an obligation to pay 18-21 year old football athletes just because there isn't a pro football league out there that will.
That's the standard jock answer. They don't think about the ramifications. If they allow kids to profit from sigs, they are opening the door for a booster to pay thousands of dollars for an autograph,etc
They are thinking of exactly the ramifications. The boosters/networks/fans are already paying billions of $ and it all ends up in the coaches/schools pockets. The only ramification is that a piece of the pie would properly start flowing to the players and the coaches/schools would get to keep a little less.
So they continue the charade called amateurism solely in the name of hoarding the revenue and suckers buy into their scheme.
Again, the best way to resolve this is for the NFL and NBA to remove the age limitations from the game. If a viable opportunity to pursue a professional career exists (like there is for baseball) outside of college, it doesn't matter that colleges won't let you take money outside a scholarship, because you can go pro if you want. That makes anyone in college there by choice, and pretty much kills the argument that players are entitled to more than their scholarship. At that point it becomes the NCAA institutions offering a take it or leave it wage, and there's an alternative out there.
They are thinking of exactly the ramifications. The boosters/networks/fans are already paying billions of $ and it all ends up in the coaches/schools pockets. The only ramification is that a piece of the pie would properly start flowing to the players and the coaches/schools would get to keep a little less.
So they continue the charade called amateurism solely in the name of hoarding the revenue and suckers buy into their scheme.