Ah, the classic class-warfare example.
Would it make you feel better if he was making $50,000 per year and the remaining $1,999,950 was divided among the 179,200 student-athletes so they each got an extra $11.16?
No, it would make me feel better if kids got paid for the product they produced on the field. Emmert makes millions on the backs of unpaid workers. Millions because there is a lot of money in college athletics.
Let me ask you this: If the NFL and NBA had real minor league systems that took all of the top prospects, do you think 90K would still show up at Memorial Stadium every football Saturday? Would the TV money be in the same ballpark as it is now? The answer is no. 90K aren't showing up to Doane games. People want to see high level athletics and high level athletics are put forth by high level athletes. They should be compensated with something more than food, books, an eduction they may or may not use (Hello North Carolina) and use of a building to sleep in. Baseball has a minor league system. Now take a look at college baseball. Besides a few schools in the SEC, nobody is putting 5K butts in the stands. Not even my national champion Oregon State Beavers. As for TV money, there's some for the playoffs. Why? Because the top kids aren't playing college baseball. Same goes for FCS, DII and DIII football and basketball. Heck, I went to grad school at a NAIA school. The local high school football games had bigger crowds. In Europe, all of the sports are run by local clubs (Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona are sports clubs). All of these clubs have mens and women's soccer teams, basketball teams, handball teams, etc.. "School kid" sports have virtually no spectators and certainly no TV money.
As for the fallacy of a free education, room and board, what is the real cost/salary? Don't give me tuition numbers because they are meaningless. Stanford's tuition costs more than Nebraska because it's Stanford, not because the cost to produce that education is X% more. What does it really cost a university to have student athletes? If student athletes are no longer on campus, are classes going to be cut? Teachers laid off? Is History of Western Civilization no longer going to be offered at 8 AM on every campus in America. To me, those are real numbers as well as electricity, paying down the bonds for athletic dorms, stadiums, workout centers, etc. What is the real cost? Is the "salary" of a Northwestern football player 250K for four years while a kid at DONU half that (or whatever the numbers are)? Is that what we're trying to convince ourselves of?
There is no doubt that the whole thing is complicated because of Title IX, non-revenue sports and schools who don't produce much money from football and basketball like my Oregon State Beavers lol. Want to know what would really kill NCAA football? A minor league system because the NCAA is truly the minor league system now. The thought alone should get the "never payers" pause.
