What if the players are getting a $5000 stipend, no bidding? Would that be better?
There are so many factors to consider, and it has already been discussed by other people in many other threads in better detail than I can come up with, so I'll try not to get too far off track...
But scholarship athletes already get so much, if they value education (and if they don't, GTFO, honestly). They get clothes, food, training, housing, other goodies. The opportunities for corruption are already so rampant, and there is already cash (travel allowances and food allowances on road trips, for example), that it makes it hard to regulate.
So what's a little more cash? Where would it come from? The school's budget itself? How many athletic departments actually turn an overall profit? How much money does it cost to fund the non-revenue sports? Sure the bigger programs make a lot of dough, as does the NCAA, but if the schools have to cover their own additional stipends, the rich will get richer and the less wealthy programs will get poorer. Maybe the NCAA (or the big schools could break away from the NCAA altogether, which I think has been discussed) could form a whole new division, not based on school size, but based on wealth.
As far as biddingmore cash flowing back and forth would only make it easier to expand and hide the corruption that currently exist in college sports. If there was a way to control it, it would be better, but its not controlled or enforced very well now as it is.
And where do you draw the line in terms of who gets the money? The scholarship players only? The whole 105 man roster? Everyone who participates? All athletes who put in the insane amount of work and hours? Just the revenue sports? Inequality will be magnified, and more non-revenue sports will be cut. Even just limiting a $5000 stipend for the 85 football players on schollies will cost $425,000. That in itself funds
multiple non-revenue sports.
College sports is not a job for the student athletes. It is an
opportunity for their future. Full scholarships to prestigious universities are some of the greatest opportunities that anyone can ever be given. I am all for someone on scholarship making sure they have opportunities to learn, eat, and work, but if they want to get paid, they can drop out and get a job, which is a decision many students have to face, athlete or not. If that job is in pro sports, more power to you.
I just simply cannot see additional payments to players working without fundamentally changing not only the game of football, but all college sports. I see very few positives for this at all. This is all just rambling speculation, so if there was a way to make this work without exacerbating corruption and threatening amateur athletics, I would be willing to change my mind. But right now, I really think this is a terrible idea!