WaPo: Racial prejudice is driving opposition to paying college athletes. Here’s the evidence.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

In a statistical analysis that controlled for a host of other influences, we found this: Negative racial views about blacks were the single most important predictor of white opposition to paying college athletes.

The more negatively a white respondent felt about blacks, the more they opposed paying college athletes.

To check our findings’ validity, we also conducted an experiment. Before we asked white respondents whether college athletes should be paid, we showed one group pictures of young black men with stereotypical African American first and last names. We showed another group no pictures at all.

As you can see in the figure below, whites who were primed by seeing pictures of young black men were significantly more likely to say they opposed paying college athletes. Support dropped most dramatically among whites who expressed the most resent towards blacks as a group.

LINK to complete article

[SacProgressive]

1. Considering the fans of College Football...

Of course they wouldn't want black college athletes to get paid. The reason being has everything to do with these stereotypes of black athletes blowing money on jewelry, cars, tattoos, autographs, etc. The truth is that a narrative is set so that surely it justifies why these programs get to profit off of these young men and women while at the same time, having players continue to pay high tuition costs for four years of a sport they may not even play 5-10 years down the road. That's the same crap that these profiteering colleges and programs have been pulling for years! What a shame...

[loyalsister]

3. millions of dollars are made on the backs of athletes

Restaurants and bars, retail fan wear, the liquor industry, etc. before you even get to the money universities and high dollar coaches make.

Scholarship athletes especially do it practically for nothing or it may come with a price by the time they are steered towards a major that is so easy it is barely useful, their bodies are prime for early physical failings, and it turns out when they are no longer athletes they will have the same struggles as their less educated peers.

They may get scholarships for tuition, but the rest is on them, and holding a part time job takes a kind of discipline very few of us could muster. So, they have student loans and limited opportunity. At the very least they should be paid enough to cover expenses while those other people and entities rake in the dough.

[exboyfil]

9. They also get room and board

I do agree with your sentiment though. I would like to see college sports decoupled from the mission of the university. The colleges should not serve as minor leagues for the NBA and NFL. The MLB probably wonders how they got stuck having to fund their minor league and paying those players who are developing their skills. That situation supports the argument of racism (baseball being the more integrated high dollar sport).

If varsity sports stay at the university, I would also see mandatory six year scholarships (including summers) with every freshman a redshirt. Changing basketball to be competitive in one semester. Allowing the students to only take six hours during their competitive semester. Severely limiting the contact time with coaches during their two off semesters. A closely monitored scale of degree progression (on the order of academic scholarships - 3.0 for example). Graduation rates representative of scholarship students and not just of the student body in general. Graduation in majors that are proportional to the majors of the student body.

[loyalsister]

13. I like your ideas

I got a really interesting perspective from a mizzou grad student.
When he heard that the football players were not going to play he gleefully shouted "they walked off the plantation!!!"
He spoke from experience because he had an athletic scholarship for his BA. He expressed a lot of sadness when remembering what happened with his teammates.
He has a very enlightened point of view because he knows that having well educated mentors to help guide him made all the difference.

So, I would add to your list that universities should provide mentoring opportunities.

[yeoman6987]

28. I'm cool with it

Pay them but no free tuition and board. It may hurt other sports who would not survive without football. But that the price you pay to do the right thing. Question is how much do you pay them. I'd say 50 dollars an hour for games and 25 hour for practice. 150 dollars a day per diem for away games. I think that is more then fair.

[loyalsister]

33. The last MU head football coach was paid $4 millionyr

The university and businesses across the country are making millions of dollars every game. I think paying them a few hundred dollars is disproportionate to the kind of economic benefits that their labor brings others.

Do they still have to be students and therefore pay money to only increase the pressure they live under in order to earn the money for their athletic participation?

[yeoman6987]

34. And the coach has a bad year, gone!

The coaches also have years of experience from perhaps playing pro football or college football. This is all just hypothetical anyway. It probably won't happen.

[loyalsister]

35. Coaches experience is acquired via the labor of athletes

whose education is limited by their labor as they sacrifice their bodies in order to generate millions for others. The promise that their education will provide upward mobility is dishonest.
Student athletes are steered towards majors that are not academically demanding (in order to maximize their athletic labor production) and do not always offer serious professional marketability.
In other words, most student athletes sacrifice more than they gain while coaches, retail, restaurants and bars, and universities rake in millions. Anyone who makes money off of college sports is participating in exploitation of mostly black labor.

It is an unforgivable pillar of structural racism. White people make millions on the backs of individuals who are actually barely compensated while their future earning potential and options are diminished.

[frizzled]

2. I don't think opposing the corruption of academia by big-money sports is racist.

If anything, these athletes are grossly exploited, they should be paid for being professional athletes, and not be anywhere near an institution of learning.

And football causes brain damage and should be banned.

[exboyfil]

10. I am waiting for the massive NCAA lawsuit

related to that. The NFL has already paid out (not nearly what they should have).

[cali]

4. Sorry, college athletes should not be paid.

[Enrique]

6. if other people get rich of their work

then they should be paid.

[cali]

20. These students are already getting compensated with a free education and

many benefits

[Orrex]

21. I'm not a sports fan. Out of curiosity, what are those "many benefits?"

[cali]

23. Here's a recent article.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2015/08/18/ncaa-cost--attendance-meals-2015/31904839/

[Orrex]

27. Thanks. $160M is a big number.

I don't know how that's spread out over how many athletes, but it ain't chump change.

At some of these universities, tuition and meal plans alone can run into hundreds of thousands over four years.


Ultimately, I don't have a strong opinion on the subject, other than to say that that the whole industry is bloated and grotesque. I'm not sure that the answer is to funnel cash at the athletes, though. Hell, treat them as a work-study program, since they're and pay them an appropriate wage. They're working for the university, after all, just like the kid who signs in visitors at the dorm.

[Brickbat]

24. Scholarship value is not market value.

The system as it is is broken and arguing that it's not helps no one.

[Brickbat]

25. First you say they shouldn't be paid and then that they're "already compensated."

So which is it?

[philosslayer]

17. Why not?

The Universities are making millions off of their backs. Coaches are paid millions. Everyone is making money except for the ones everyone is paying to watch.

[edhopper]

29. For some of the big teams yes

you'd be surprised at how many colleges use student fees and other funds to pay for their athletic programs.

[Bonx]

18. I'm fine with them being paid, but I would stop following those sports.

I like amateur college athletics.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. I'm okay with college athletes getting scholarships

and a modest per diem for living expenses, but they shouldn't be getting paid a salary for being student athletes. I know that college sports make money for the school, but a lot of students who don't get scholarships also do a lot for the schools, and they don't get a cent from anybody. I think there should be stricter rules about what the colleges do with the money they get from sports, also. I think the money should go in the college's general fund, and most of it should be spent on academic needs. There is way too much corruption in college athletics.

[exboyfil]

12. Actually a huge chunk goes towards supporting the non-revenue sports

Aside from the coaches large salaries, it is not like it is for profit business.

[Lee-Lee]

7. Nobody is asking the real question that needs to be asked

And that question is why our our universities even in the sports entertainment business?

Why are they serving as the "farm teams" for the major sports leagues?

If you were to sit down and draw out a model of how sports recruiting should work, does it even make sense that we put universities in it?

Look at the mess at UNC, and see just what a mess it is.

[raouldukelives]

15. Indeed. I also find it disgusting entertainers aren't allowed to go pro.

If they are good enough to get paid professionally for entertainment, why risk injury for themselves and blow the chance to do what they really wanted?

We don't make other entertainers pass some sort of coddled feel good 'education' combined with a bizarre hazing ritual to join the pros.

Well, at least, not like that.

[Igel]

30. There are lots of "nobodys."

And they often get the same answers.

Our universities are in the entertainment business because

(1) undergrads expect it, turn out for games, and spend money on branded apparel

(2) alumni expect it, spend money on branded apparel, and in winning years donate more

(3) for many schools it's an advertising tool--Steven's Tech would have to send out flyers to thousands of high school kids while University of Oregon, even in a fair year, gets a lot of publicity during football and basketball seasons.

A lot of the revenue/expense calculations don't include "development" (i.e., fundraising) or branded apparel in their calculations. UCLA didn't, for instance. The branded apparel income went to the Assoc. Students of UCLA, a separate non-profit (at least at the time) and the fundraising went to the UCLA Alumni Assoc., also an independent organization.

It's also, to some extent, tradition and ideal: Mens sana in corpore sano. Intramural can suffice, but intermural is more exciting and achieves the other goals, too.


Note that college baseball also serves as a kind of farm league; a lot of high schoolers go to college on baseball (etc.) scholarships and are recruited.

College sports are often also Olympic off-year training sites. When UCLA's men's swim and gymnastics teams shut down, a number of Olympic contenders had to scramble--do they train or study, and if they train where do they find the money and space?

We won't mention diversity numbers at some schools. A lot of tutoring and remedial work happens with those sports teams.

[Human101948]

8. Rutgers spending on sports (mostly football) exceeds revenue by $36 million...

Of all the schools that have tried to use intercollegiate athletics to advance the university’s name recognition and mission, none have done so more vigorously and expensively than Rutgers University. At last report, the school’s spending on sports exceeds revenue by over $36 million annually. That is the equivalent of a dollar a second during every minute, hour, day, week and month of the year. That is about $900 for every student attending the main campus of the University at New Brunswick. To be sure, the students directly pay somewhat less than that through student fees, but the university’s budgetary support for athletics is money that could have been used to reduce basic tuition fees for instruction. Since students are typically in school less than nine months a year, the typical Rutgers student pays about $100 every month to support the schools quixotic efforts to achieve athletic greatness. I also speculate that is at least $50 for each athletic event the typical student actually attends.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2015/04/02/losing-at-a-dollar-a-second-rutgers-university/

Emphasis added. This is the other side of the coin.

[Hortensis]

11. No suprise at all for SOME whites, but this needs to be

weighted. The usual enmity of the usual hostile minority of whites is unlikely to be THE driving factor in a big money issue that also involves overthrowing of a "great" American tradition. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

[Starry Messenger]

14. If your labor provides a profit, you should be paid.

[mythology]

16. Except without financial shell games, most college football teams don't make a profit

http://thedailybanter.com/2014/10/upon-review-college-football-giant-waste-money-schools/

There are a handful of schools that actually make money on college football. But even if you were right and athletes on teams that make money should be paid, you would then be taking that money away from other sports which are already often on the chopping block.

Athletes already get substantially outsized spending as compared to regular students. Many of them get free education. I'm still paying my student loans.

There are some changes I would make such as making scholarships good for say 5 years of tuition/expenses rather than being a year to year deal where if a player blows a knee out or if a new coach is brought in, the scholarship can disappear.

[Starry Messenger]

19. These games are televised I believe.

I'm not a football fan, but I was under the impression that college football is quite popular and a money maker for the networks.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2015/07/20/the-sec-is-finally-the-most-valuable-conference-in-college-sports/

I'm sure the college athletes can see their value and make their own assessments too.

I don't consider the modest $2-5k stipend bump they all got this year to be "substantially outsized" compared to the money their sport attracts. I think a free education is a bargain considering the risk of traumatic brain injury, which is less of a risk for other students.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/04/news/companies/extra-cash-college-athletes/

This article says many of the students were going to bed hungry, even though they burn massive amounts of calories. I don't see how any school could have that on their conscience.

[GummyBearz]

22. Universities should not pay them

However if they want to sell their autographs, sign a shoe deal with Nike, etc., universities should also not punish them.

Lots of college kids work for Nike I bet. They just aren't in a commercial

[Buzz Clik]

26. "Racial prejudice is driving opposition." About that...

The statistical association between opposition to paying athletes and negative racial views does not demonstrate cause.

We might be able to say, "White people who oppose paying athletes tend to have racial biases", but we cannot say "Racial prejudice is driving opposition to paying athletes."

It's an important distinction.

[Waldorf]

31. They get a free education with room & board. Seems they are compensated enough.

[DavidDvorkin]

32. Universities should not be operating sports teams

Get rid of all that crap and focus on education.

[FLPanhandle]

36. I'm against it because a few mens sports fund womens sports

Basically, it pays students in a couple of sports (all men) and will kill the budgets for women's athletics.

They are all already compensated with a college education and that is a lot.

[Cali_Democrat]

37. K&R

Great article.

Still a lot of white resentment in this country.

Some whites can't stand it when a black person is more successful than they are.