Clubhouse Chatter: Should college athletes get paid?
What our Sports staff has to say while waiting for the games to resume.
I played basketball at Northwestern, and I always thought of my scholarship as my pay for working for and representing the school. But the money involved in college athletics now is just at an outrageous level, and I can understand the desire by many college athletes to be able to share in profits that they play such a huge role in generating. But where do you stop? If you pay football and men's basketball players, the biggest generators behind this cash cow, do you pay swimmers and field hockey players, too? I'm torn on this topic. Do athletes deserve a piece of the pie? Probably. Can it be done in such a way that a mutiny doesn't occur? Probably not.
- Patricia Babcock McGraw
Anyone following the latest news knows that Arizona, LSU and many more already are. Might as well make it legal. The NCAA has never done much to punish Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State, UCLA, Louisville and dozens of other programs involved in various scandals. Heck, Rick Pitino just got another job, and we can't pay the players? I've never been the biggest Jalen Rose fan, but I liked what he said about the Fab Five at Michigan when he pointed out the hypocrisy of the school making millions of dollars selling a jersey with his name on it.
- John Lemon
The best players have been getting paid as long as there's been college sports. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous. "Legal" compensation will eventually be widespread. Regardless, the NCAA is a house of cards.
- Barry Rozner
Don't believe so. They are receiving scholarships unlike most students on campus who do not. A free education today is great compensation for their athletic skills.
- John Leusch