Are we talking about the MAC?!
Akron
and Kent are both going to be damn good next year I think
Alma mater! The wagon wheel is coming home this year
lol, how often does an international econ thread asking general questions about sports get hijacked by MAC fans? This may be a first.
For Laotzu: GO GOLDEN FLASHES (I root for them a lot in Bball)
William, I agree this is strange. Im PAC10. U of O.
I’m actually wondering why a metadiscussion about sports is involving actual sports talk. Some of these posts read like alphabet soup.
Miami University alumnus here.
As for sports: NFL, NCAA Football and NCAA Hockey.
When we talk about college players getting paid we need to rethink that a bit. These guys (and gals) get treated like gods. They get a hell of a lot more than the average student. While I agree that the NCAA policies on student atheletes go a bit too far, I don’t think the average student athelete requires a salary. I should actually refer to them as athelete-students. If a college player can land a sponsor, then why shouldn’t they benefit? If property is given to these players, why shouldn’t they be allowed to sell it? But there should be no guarantees made that just because these guys were selected by the University to join a given team.
@KC
“While I agree that the NCAA policies on student atheletes go a bit too far, I don’t think the average student athelete requires a salary”
I see where you are coming from, but what about most of the students who work on campus? They get paid, an athlete is no different. Even if they were paid minimun wage the practice “work” hours they put in would amount to a nice amount of money. If the athlete could have it if he/she graduates, its more likley he/she will graduate.
“I should actually refer to them as athelete-students. If a college player can land a sponsor, then why shouldn’t they benefit?”
They should.
The bottom of the line is that the NCAA is a cartel,and the do what ever they need to do in the publics eye to maintain the “integrity” of student athletes.
Mainstream organized sports are for the plebeians.
I’m actually wondering why a metadiscussion about sports is involving actual sports talk. Some of these posts read like alphabet soup.
Meh, what else is there to say; Moly has the habit of being an amature psychologizer who is willing to rationalize any worldview to his narrative choice and try to pass it off as valuable info. Honestly the man has tunnel vision. Besides all that the man is a moralizer, which makes him boring in my book, and very literally uncompelling.
Anyway, sure sports are state subsidized, but what isn’t to a degree, either directly or indirectly?
It is no different than me going on about baseball, or saying a comment like “sports are for plebs”.
EDIT
KC Farmer,
I’ve posted a thread about this very same subject and called it “Modern Day Slavery”. My knowledge of this operation is a bit hazy. The NCAA is basically a cartel and overseas programs - much of them publically funded. The NCAA punishing programs for compensating their players is akin to the War on Drugs. There is something wrong with the fact that players are not getting paid despite being the most responsible in bringing in million$ for their schools and TV networks. This is not a free market at work.
Ever heard the saying, “Bread and circuses”?
What else is there? As long as both are being supplied in ample enough quality/quantity not to cause massive upheavel, that is what we could call “good society”… and I am not joking.
Had a lot of athlete friends in college, and the NCAA rules were and still are pretty draconian. I’m all for lifting those rules. I remember most of them being broke (without cash) all the time because the NCAA limited their earning potential (limits on part time jobs and hours they could work), but then they didn’t have to pay for college. In many cases, that scholarship is worth a hell of a lot more than what any entry level person would earn.
I also don’t like this amateur-purist position the NCAA takes. If a kid wants to take a shot to try out for a professional team, I don’t think they should be excluded from returning to college. Most won’t make it as a pro, and that experience early on may cause them to rethink their long term goals. Might actually have more athletes become more serious about their education. If a kid is only out to become a professional athlete, then they could be gone after the first or second year. This is actually happening in college basketball, and once they cross that amateur-professional line, they are barred from re-entry.
I view practice and games as coursework for these athletes. Are chemistry or engineering students paid for their coursework? But if the market will demand compensation for time worked (whether in the classroom, on the practice field or come game day) then so be it.
Traditionally the costs of incidental living expenses were covered by stipend.
Athletes, depending on their scholarship and the school they are associated with, gain a free education, room and board, equipment and clothing, private tutoring, special treatment for exams, paid travel, often preferential treatment from the opposite sex (which is worth more than a salary at that age), and other intangible benefits from being a celebrity in this celebrity-fetish society. A lot of athletes also come with serious baggage and an entitlement disposition, although most are just normal folks.
I don’t believe you can call them slaves. Their scholarship is voluntary. They can leave at any time (drop out, transfer, turn pro, or just concentrate on academics).
Presently, the value of this career path is based on the potential earning by a small number of athletes at the professional level. Saying that they need a salary is fine if the market determines it. My opinion is that college in general is overpriced/overvalued. College athletics is even more so. At this level, it’s just a game.
One could argue that some NCAA sports have really become professional sports. I’d say NCAA Division I football and college basketball fall into this category. As such, perhaps the players need to be treated as professionals rather than amateurs. Problem is that these sports are cash cows for the schools who field the teams. If those schools don’t get their money, would we see the same degree of output? In otherwords, would the schools drop the scholarship system and just hire athletes? Would just a handful of athletes on a given team get paid? It’s an interesting idea, but there’s no way to tell exactly how this would alter these sports. It might even cause for the elimination of the other amateur sports at a university to cover the expenses associated with fielding a professional team in an extremely competitive market. I also think it could become the case where universities may be forced to decide whether they are in the business of education or in the business of professional sports. I think you could see a lot of universities just opt out of sports all together.
Politics is just sports for those with above-average intelligence, if you ask me.
I watch American Football, Internation Soccer/Football, and a little bit of baseball. Currently following the Copa Libertadores!
I’ve always been a big follower of NFL (Go Chiefs!) and MLB (Royals are coming back!). I was raised as a Mizzou fan and I go to K-State now, so I love college football and basketball and love watching KU get beat. I’ll watch the occasional Stanley Cup game; those are pretty exciting.
Recently, I’ve been watching association football. I follow the English Premier League (Come on, Fulham!) and the German Bundesliga (Borussia Dortmund are deutscher meister!). I catch the occasional big match in the other leagues (Inter/Milan, Besiktas/Galatasaray, Real Madrid/Barcelona, etc.) as well as follow the Champions and Europa League. I’ve watched a few Copa Libertadores games on awful quality streams. Those are pretty exciting.
Oops, before I noticed this thread, I posted this about Olympic sports and government: https://forum.freecapitalists.org/t/why-powerlifting-shouldnt-be-in-the-olympics/19392
Personally, I don’t follow many sports, though I wrestled in high school, and I bodybuild right now, if you want to consider that a sport. Every once in a while I watch hockey? Haha