Buckeyes & Gators Players Want to Be Paid

[MrMustang1965]

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Playing in a bowl is no longer reward enough for some college football players: Some Buckeyes and Gators want a cut of the millions being generated by the championship game.

"We all deserve more money," Ohio State senior guard T.J. Downing said. "We're the reason this money's coming in. We're the guys out there sacrificing our bodies. We're taking years off our lives out here hitting each other, and we're not being compensated for it."

Instead, players from top-ranked Ohio State and No. 2 Florida received portable satellite radios and commemorative wristwatches, first-class meals and VIP treatment at posh resorts.

"I've got to admit, sometimes I look in my hand and look in their hand," Florida defensive tackle Joe Cohen said, referring to the Bowl Championship Series. "I believe players should get a little bit more than what they're getting. I don't want to sound like I'm greedy. It's just reality.

"I believe players should be paid, because I'm broke."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls06/n ... id=2721826

[crazy horse]

"We all deserve more money," Ohio State senior guard T.J. Downing said.

Shouldn't the NCAA be investigating the money that they are getting now?!?

[Stallion]

Pell Grants

[Terry Webster]

If players start getting paid, then they need to start eliminating scholarships. Put it all on a cash basis.

[ponyplayer]

Players on full scholarship get a stipend check..that check does not cover crap...all the NCAA has to do is increase it.......I do not care what individuals say about the education part............what they bring to the unviversity is tenfold..........and you wonder why there are scandels in college athletics..there...............rant of the day..............time to get a twelve and head to the course.............

[mr. pony]

SMU was simply ahead of its time, but I doubt we'll get the deserved credit when paying players becomes legal.


And it IS coming ....

[ponyfan84]

you want money? sell the crap they give you. there is several hundred bucks right there. these players, especially those in BCS bowls, get some nice gifts.

[Paladin]

Players Unions and Workers Compensation will be coming next....

[Water Pony]

Let the insanity continue. $4M per year for a head coach and now a formal payroll. If the non-BCS are at a disadvantage now, can you imagine where the revenue is that would to cover them?

BTW, you pay revenue sport athletes, you must pay non-revenue men and women too.

The world has gone mad. Me, me, me!

[expony18]

Players on full scholarship get a stipend check..that check does not cover crap...all the NCAA has to do is increase it.......I do not care what individuals say about the education part............what they bring to the unviversity is tenfold..........and you wonder why there are scandels in college athletics..there...............rant of the day..............time to get a twelve and head to the course.............

how much money does our football program bring to the university? do they even cover their travel expenses?

[Pony in Dawg Land]

I heard the team actually costs around $5M. I could be wrong, just what I've heard from a few people.

[Ponymon]

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Playing in a bowl is no longer reward enough for some college football players: Some Buckeyes and Gators want a cut of the millions being generated by the championship game.

"We all deserve more money," Ohio State senior guard T.J. Downing said. "We're the reason this money's coming in. We're the guys out there sacrificing our bodies. We're taking years off our lives out here hitting each other, and we're not being compensated for it."

Instead, players from top-ranked Ohio State and No. 2 Florida received portable satellite radios and commemorative wristwatches, first-class meals and VIP treatment at posh resorts.

"I've got to admit, sometimes I look in my hand and look in their hand," Florida defensive tackle Joe Cohen said, referring to the Bowl Championship Series. "I believe players should get a little bit more than what they're getting. I don't want to sound like I'm greedy. It's just reality.

"I believe players should be paid, because I'm broke."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls06/n ... id=2721826

They should switch to SMU where the cost of a scholarship is approximately $35m/year versus the approximately $15M/year at the state school! At least a $20M improvement right there!

[NavyCrimson]

A little sarcasm here; however, why not though?

These guys are a product of the the 'dumbed down' liberal education system we have today, they can barely read or write so a degree in whatever dumbed down major like Advanced Yoyo 101 is totally useless to them - during or after school.

So since a degree is useless to them, what do you really expect?

Hard to believe that college sports (& education & degree for that matter) in the year of 2006 AD has finally gotten to this point. Duuuuhhhh!!!!

[SMU Football Blog]

"I believe players should be paid, because I'm broke."

Welcome to the real world. My budget is pretty tight but I don't expect to get a raise any time soon. Actaully, that isn't true. But I digress.

Paying players is a short-sighted argument and as well as ill-informed and ill-conceived. Slocum undressed a guy on the radio a couple of years ago for bringing it up. It was fun to listen to.

You can't actually identify the athlete that sits in his dorm all weekend because he has no money, because that player doesn't actually exist. If the kid was that poor, he qualifies for grants. Every school in america knows how to arrange that for the kid.

Also, what college kid isn't practically broke? Yeah I had friends with more money than they could spend (it was SMU after all), but most of my buddies were in a perpetual state of looking for quarters in the couch trying to scrape together $5 for the Gatti's pizza buffet on Sundays during football season.

The fact is a lot of schools lose money on football and even more lose money on athletics as a whole. The SMU athletic department loses on about $4.5 million per year. That is real money, not scholarship money.

And I love how nobody ever brings up the women. Do you think you can pay the football players without paying the basketball players? Do you think you can pay the men's basketball players without paying the women's basketball players? You don't think that is a lawsuit waiting to happen? Do you think that isn't going to go on down the line until the women's crew team is demanding to get paid?

[MustangIcon]

I am not supporting paying players or bashing it but just wanted to comment on paying women, non revenue sports, and the like. If there was a policy in place to pay players it should be to cut them in on the large sums of revenue they bring in. IE nearly all women's teams (outside of maybe a couple Women's hoops teams) and Men's non revenue sports would receive nothing. I basically see it as profit sharing type deal.

Then you run into an even harder situation for teams like SMU who make no money and players would get no revenue share. Being that we actually lose money, at season's end would players have to pay us???