Recently, I saw a report on ESPN that scholarship athletes at Duke University receive stipends that supersede the amount of money that is in the actual agreement of the scholarship. In other words, student athletes at Duke University get paid.
Thanks to Shane Battier, Duke?s star basketball player who is also involved in student government, the Blue Devil?s have broken the mold, and gotten themselves some thicker wallets. .
Paying college athletes has always been a topic of debate, and for obvious reasons. I mean, they are being paid by way of an education. Aren?t they? .
The fact is, the athletes are a very marketable product, and they help generate millions of dollars into the already phat bank accounts of their University. However, their status as amateurs prevents them from seeing any of that money first hand. They have to live off a scholarship that has them digging in the bottom of the couch on the weekend so that they can scrape up enough change to buy a Big Gulp. .
It doesn?t seem right does it? .
I think that scholarship athletes should see a bit of the profit that they generate for their school. It would help prevent them from violating their agreement, such as accepting gifts from an agent, coach or a member of the alumni. It may keep some of the underclassmen, who always seem in such a hurry to get their payday, from dropping out of school to pursue the pros. Maybe some would even graduate. Now that?s a nice thought. .
However, despite all these wonderful reasons to pay athletes, I don?t think that every school should take part in paying their athletes. For example, I don?t think that the scholarship athletes at Sac State should get paid. .
It?s not that they don?t deserve it. They are the reason that Hornet Gym and Fred Anderson field are covered in advertisement. They are the reason that people from the community dip into their wallets to buy a ticket. But, before Sac State should even consider such a thing, they need to save up some cash to get new sports facilities here on campus. We need it, and the students probably won?t vote for it if they have to pay for the whole thing. .
Our basketball gym, despite the renovations put into it, isn?t cuttin? the cheese. Why would a top-notch star want to come here and play in front of a packed attendance of 1,000? He wouldn?t. He?d go where the action is; to the school that has a stadium where 10,000 plus fans roar his name for 40 minutes a night. He?d go where he is treated like a king, and has the facility to match. .
Well, I guess it doesn?t really matter that much. It?s just our campus, right? Who cares about having sports programs that people want to watch. It wouldn?t be all that exciting to see Sac State playing on national TV. Or would it? .
I would love to see Sac State on ESPN, battling it out with a top-ranked team. I would love it even more if that game were broadcast live, here at Sac State, with a sold-out crowd yelling at the top of their lungs. .
The only thing I have left to say is a quote from "A Field of Dreams": "Build it, and they will come." .
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