Northwestern QB Kain Colter testifies in bid to from college athlete union

[ElTexan]

The University should open up free tryouts for the football team.


The line will be 1000 people long willing to be on the team for no scholarship.
In fact, they could probably CHARGE MONEY to play for a major FBS team.


I would have gladly paid a few thousand a semester to play for the Longhorns.
These "exploited players" have no idea the enviable lifestyle they enjoy relative to the normal population.


The simple law of supply and demand suggests there would be a near infinite replacement pool of talent more than willing to play football for a scholarship only. And plenty who would be willing to play for nothing.

Yes, and there are pools of talent waiting to replace Tom Brady on the Pats.

Your argument is Aggie-like, dunce.

 

[podsox]

next up student teachers and intern unions

 

[WABLTY]

Im surprised more of you arent open to this idea. While I dont agree with it 100% I find it offensive the amount of money these colleges make off of these kids yet the kids really dont see any of it. A scholarship is nice but it really doesnt provide any kind of life and MOST of the kids still end up taking out loans anyway so they have money to live off of. If the NCAA just did the right thing and gave a small amount to these kids each month to live on then this would be avoided IMO.

Very, very few athletic departments make money, even with a profitable football program. Paying players is an impossibility for a variety of reasons.

If, somehow, this gets forced through, it may break college athletics as we know it.

 

[TexasExes98]

The athletes are given a monthly stipend though. That money the colleges make is used to support non-revenue generating sports. There is not a financial windfall like people think.

I'd hope a kid on a full ride scholarship in college can live a reasonable lifestyle for 4 years. He is there to learn first right?

Look at the base pay of an E-1, E-2, in the military serving their country. The ones with families qualify for food stamps.

The monthly stipend is plenty. They don't have to live in apartments. They can live in the athletic dorm for free. Also, they need to stop spending their stipend on expensive tattoos. Basically, these athletes need to take an economics class and learn about the differences between "Needs" and "Wants".

 

[fordman84]

Im surprised more of you arent open to this idea. While I dont agree with it 100% I find it offensive the amount of money these colleges make off of these kids yet the kids really dont see any of it. A scholarship is nice but it really doesnt provide any kind of life and MOST of the kids still end up taking out loans anyway so they have money to live off of. If the NCAA just did the right thing and gave a small amount to these kids each month to live on then this would be avoided IMO.

This kids scholarship is worth $76,000 a year.

That is already pretty good "pay".

I hope these kids saying they should get paid realize that if they get their wish, I'd assume there is a good chance the scholarships are classified as "income" and taxed as such.

 

[starbigd]

I hope he wins for no other reason than to help break up the NCAA. This would just be the first salvo.

 

[BritishDolfan]

Im surprised more of you arent open to this idea.

I not that against it, but I can't see it actually helping because even if he wins I can imagine either the NCAA or individual colleges banning union membership anyway.

 

[podsox]

colter decided to attack his experience at northwestern and is getting buried by his fellow alumni

Former Northwestern football players back school - chicagotribune.com

 

[7Samurai13]

I not that against it, but I can't see it actually helping because even if he wins I can imagine either the NCAA or individual colleges banning union membership anyway.

I don't think you can ban union membership. Otherwise there would be a lot of companies doing that right now to get it out of the factory.

 

[BritishDolfan]

I don't think you can ban union membership. Otherwise there would be a lot of companies doing that right now to get it out of the factory.

You can't ban it for employees, but the NCAA have always argued that student-athletes are not employees.

 

[7Samurai13]

You can't ban it for employees, but the NCAA have always argued that student-athletes are not employees.

Isn't that basically what this lawsuit is about. If the courts state that they are allowed to unionize they would be considered "employees." Let them unionize, make the schools and NCAA set up a fund for students who become seriously injured while playing sports. But they don't get paid anything additional to the stipend that they are already receiving from the universities. They get enough between books, tuition, food, room, training, coaching, exposure, etc. Most of these people are getting way over $75k per year for 6 months of work a year when you take a look at everything that they get.

 

[BritishDolfan]

Isn't that basically what this lawsuit is about. If the courts state that they are allowed to unionize they would be considered "employees."

That's a good point. I'm not sure if that would be implied if the court doesn't actually say it though.

 

[MarkOU]

Lets remove athletic scholarships and make them pay their way through school. If they are smart enough they can get academic scholarships but no more special privilege. Miss a class or test because of practice or a game. Too bad. Receive an F and lose that scholarship.

 

[ram29jackson]

Lets remove athletic scholarships and make them pay their way through school. If they are smart enough they can get academic scholarships but no more special privilege. Miss a class or test because of practice or a game. Too bad. Receive an F and lose that scholarship.

that will never happen, true gifted jocks will never make it big if that happened.


its simple...there isn't enough money to pay players nation wide...just get rid of the ncaa as is and start allowing the under the table money they use to get busted for as donations but players will still have to be responsible students to keep a scholarship but it has to be as is and not as stringent as your idea.

and the schools have to liable for injuries

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

Lets remove athletic scholarships and make them pay their way through school. If they are smart enough they can get academic scholarships but no more special privilege. Miss a class or test because of practice or a game. Too bad. Receive an F and lose that scholarship.

this is what I'm talking about.

 

[BritishDolfan]

Lets remove athletic scholarships and make them pay their way through school. If they are smart enough they can get academic scholarships but no more special privilege. Miss a class or test because of practice or a game. Too bad. Receive an F and lose that scholarship.

I wouldn't be against this really. Someone would probably argue that it's racist though...

Regarding your last point, at my college in the UK (which doesn't have athletic scholarships (not officially anyway, Loughborough, Oxford and Cambridge do in all but name)) there were never any classes scheduled for Wednesday afternoons (which was when a lot if not all the sports teams played) and most practices were out of office hours, so presumably colleges would do similar things.

 

[uncfan103]

Does Kain Colter understand that the cost of attending Northwestern is $63,228/year? That's a pretty good amount of money he's already receiving, more than some college graduates are making in their career.

 

[uncfan103]

Im surprised more of you arent open to this idea. While I dont agree with it 100% I find it offensive the amount of money these colleges make off of these kids yet the kids really dont see any of it. A scholarship is nice but it really doesnt provide any kind of life and MOST of the kids still end up taking out loans anyway so they have money to live off of. If the NCAA just did the right thing and gave a small amount to these kids each month to live on then this would be avoided IMO.

What do they need to live off of that they're not already given?

 

[Irish7478]

Im surprised more of you arent open to this idea. While I dont agree with it 100% I find it offensive the amount of money these colleges make off of these kids yet the kids really dont see any of it. A scholarship is nice but it really doesnt provide any kind of life and MOST of the kids still end up taking out loans anyway so they have money to live off of. If the NCAA just did the right thing and gave a small amount to these kids each month to live on then this would be avoided IMO.

Who determines which player makes the most money. If Texas makes a lot of money, but Colorado doesn't, is Texas forced to pay their players more? Do starters make more than backups. Do redshirts get paid at all? If student athletes are employees, they should be getting taxed on all this income. And if they are taking exemptions, I want the IRS to ensure that their parents aren't also taking them as exemptions on their taxes.

 

[uncfan103]

Who determines which player makes the most money. If Texas makes a lot of money, but Colorado doesn't, is Texas forced to pay their players more? Do starters make more than backups. Do redshirts get paid at all? If student athletes are employees, they should be getting taxed on all this income. And if they are taking exemptions, I want the IRS to ensure that their parents aren't also taking them as exemptions on their taxes.

Just removing the amateur label and letting athletes endorse products and receive money for when the university uses their likeness would be fine with me. Obviously, players at Texas have a better chance to market and make more money that way than players at Colorado, but at the same time if a five star athlete went to Colorado and was the biggest face at the school he might have more opportunities than being one of several five stars at Texas.

I also don't think it would affect recruiting that much