1303 Pay Student Athletes

Whatever universities are supposed to be, they’re not intended to be athlete factories, but the reality is that the big institutions are exactly that when it comes to popular, broadcast television income-producing sports. What makes it truly obscene is that the school administration gets money, the vendors get money, the coaches get money, but the players don’t get anything. The most productive part of their sports career is over and all they got was a pretend education with room & board, many don’t even graduate. The claim is made that the sports department is essential to finance the school but if that’s so, how do other non-sports public universities operate? Certainly government institutions should not be money-making enterprises. The excuse they use is that “amateur” means free, but what’s free about paying coaches millions of dollars while the players get nothing? Nor is the selfish desire of fans to be entertained justification for such exploitation. Either make sports truly amateur, redistribute the income and pay coaches like teachers, or make them pro, pay the players and split away from education involvement.