Poll: Should College Athletes be Paid in Cash vs. Scholarships?

[Manorite]

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Somebody needs to figure out a way of establishing professional minor leagues in football and basketball. That would fix the money-related problems in college football and basketball.</p>

<p>There are two other major professional sports in the US, namely baseball and hockey, and we don’t have the same corrupting hypocrisy in the college versions of those two sports. If a young baseball or hockey player wants to focus on that sport, the non-college paths are actually better than the college path. However, in football or basketball, college is the only practical choice for sports development.</p>

<p>Tempting as it may be to rip up and re-structure college football and basketball, there is no guarantee of getting it right.

I think it would be better with the recruiting focus on a professional minor league. Of course, that can’t happen now. Recruitment standards are already set with college, college sports are a multibillion dollar industry, and the long-standing traditions of these programs are a big attachment for the general populace.</p>

<p>There are too many interests that would fight the lessening of importance of college sports.</p>

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What happened to attending college PRIMARILY to get a degree?

It’s true for most people who attend college, but is simply not true for major athletes. And it will continue to not be true unless you eliminate their ability to play their sport. As long as you have kids going to college to play football with the eventual goal of going to the NFL, they’re nearly always going to care more about their future multimillion dollar careers than their classes. In fact, a large amount of the other people going to college are doing so primarily to be able to make a lot of money once they leave. The only difference is that they need the degree to do it, and the football players don’t.</p>