Playoff expansion has now become a reality, with the NCAA
football leaders finally agreeing to expand the current playoff system to
include four teams. The announcement has
sparked speculation of the enormity of the TV dollars that will be associated
with the playoff. No one doubts that
there will be a lot of money thrown at the playoff, but these figures have also
reignited the conversation about paying football players and potentially other
athletes competing in the “revenue generating” sports. Paying only the players should not be the
topic, but instead the focus should be on the bigger picture issue of using
this money to make a college education more affordable for everyone.
The TV money will be huge, no doubt about it. Five
billion dollars is one estimate being thrown around. Exactly how that money will be divided up has
yet to be determined, but most major football programs should expect a
reasonable increase in revenues. The
important next step is determining what should be done with that money.
Football players should not be the sole recipients of this
money. Many columnists write about the
plight of the athlete and how they need to receive more benefits because they are being exploited. Some even go so far as to say the athletes receive nothing in return which is nothing but a straight-faced lie insulting
the readers.
A free college education at a well-known university is quite
a benefit for playing a game that many of them love. Jay Paterno writes a great article in defense
of a free college education, something that shouldn’t need to be defended. These athletes also receive top notch
tutoring and support services, first class athletic facilities, and often first
choice when it comes to dining, housing, and scheduling classes. They also are basically treated like Gods on
campus, and their fame from performing on the gridiron can help them in many
careers since so many of them do not go to the NFL. However, all of these benefits are
conveniently overlooked by most of the media.
One would think that if football players are stuck in such a terrible
situation, then we would see a lot of players quit. Nothing of the sort has even come close to
happening, so maybe their circumstances aren’t quite as dire as the media would
have everyone believe.
The combination of rising tuition costs and massive student
loan debt is becoming a very large problem in this country. Thankfully, this issue has received a lot of
attention lately and hopefully there are solutions in process. One part of the solution could be to allocate
the new revenue stream created by the playoff to reducing the financial burden
of the student body at large. Since the
contracts have not been signed yet, no one knows exactly how much money each
school would receive. However, it is
safe to say that many schools will receive several million dollars per year,
and there are a lot of schools suffering from budget cuts that could use those
millions outside of their Athletic Department.
Hopefully some of the school presidents will show the leadership to
allocate those athletically created funds back to those who support the teams
with their attendance and tuition dollars.
While the downtrodden football player surely exists, not
every football player is unable to go to the movies or buy a pizza. What about the ‘normal’ student who comprises
the vast majority of the student body?
They are often working twenty hours per week while they go to class,
furiously applying to land an internship and/or co-op, praying that the job
market is not awful when they graduate, hoping that their major will afford
them an initial job and eventual career enabling them to pay off the student
loan payments they probably incurred.
Why can’t they finally be the benefactors of the team they loyally and
unconditionally support? Without the
students paying fees, most universities would not be able to field athletic
teams. The time has come for the student
body to be paid back.
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