What was once unthinkable is now on national television

by Kurt St. Angelo

Where have I been?

I follow college basketball on television and watch almost every I.U. game.
I’m also an avid Notre Dame football fan. I’ll even set my VCR to catch
college-wrestling matches. But the idea of paying college athletes to play
college football and basketball hit me unaware and in the worst way.

About a month ago, just preceding the NCAA basketball tournament, ESPNU held
a nationally televised forum on the issue of paying college athletes.

Yes, I vaguely remember the sorrowful incident of Maurice Clarett, who
railed against Ohio State for not buying him a ticket home from a Fiesta
Bowl practice to attend the funeral of a boyhood friend, even though his
school netted $13 million from the game.

But yikes, I didn’t think a discussion about the NCAA’s rigid rules and
bureaucracy would result in one about paying college athletes – just to do
what they love to do. To me, paying college students cash to attend college
is as unthinkable and repulsive as the General Assembly doubling our tax
burden.

What’s unthinkable is that the greatest bastion of pure sports competition
in America is being shaken by the greed and ungratefulness of the very
students who are getting scholarships. Their issue is no longer about the
unfairness and indignity of not having enough money to attend their friends’
funerals. Now they want cold, hard spending money.

To address this, the NCAA will spend over $11 million this year to pay for
clothing, emergency travel and medical expenses of needy athletes. It has
allocated another $19 million to cover an array of personal needs of all
student athletes, regardless of financial status. With these programs, plus
the ability to work during the academic year, scholarship athletes ought not
have money problems.

Given that these athletes receive education (including tutoring), room,
board, medical care and travel for their participation in sports (plus
frequent flyer points), they get what they need and more. They leave school
with no debt plus a reasonable chance of earning $500,000 more in their
lifetime than peers who did not graduate from college.

But now some scholarship athletes believe they’re entitled to more than a
free education. Sure, according to the NCAA, there are about 40 major
Division 1-A schools that make money off of their star football and
basketball athletes. But for each university in the black, there are about
25 other colleges or universities whose sports programs are in the red.

Just like many fans prefer successful teams, superstar athletes choose high
profile and extremely competitive university sports programs to launch their
professional careers. Winning teams make players – not the other way around.
Where would Michael Jordan be if he’d gone to Wabash or DePauw instead of
North Carolina?

The Indiana Hoosiers may have recently lost Bracey Wright and Patrick Ewing,
Jr. from their roster, but Hoosier fans will tune-in to I.U. basketball next
year anyway, particularly if the team starts winning more.

Likewise, fans support Notre Dame because of its winning football tradition,
not because so-and-so is playing quarterback.

Having said this, pay-for-play should be a moot issue with regard to all
college sports, except football. Great high-school basketball players can
skip college and go directly to the NBA. Superstar basketball players have a
real choice where to play and are not exploited by playing for a college
scholarship.

But because NFL players must be 20 years or older, college football has
become the de facto minor leagues for the NFL. The best and usually only way
to go pro for most football players is to play college football. But because
it is so physically tough, outstanding players risk potential professional
careers for an education that some of them don’t really value.

This situation is unfortunate, but we shouldn’t blame it on the amateur
status of college sports. The solution is not to professionalize college
football, but to convince the NFL and other professional sports to lower
their age requirement to 18 years. Then all superstar athletes would have
the choice of getting paychecks from professional sports teams right out of
high school or accepting a free college education as fair compensation.

Choice is good.