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Sports Daily: The End of Scholarships?

  09:08 PM - March 31, 2014 by RaychelSnr

It may leave prospective college athletes scrambling for ways to cover the cost of their education, but what if the removal of athletic scholarships was the key piece to cleaning up the integrity of the NCAA?

In an article at Nader.org, League of Fans has proposed such a concept.

Quote:
“By eliminating athletic scholarships and special admits from the college admissions offices for athletes, we could significantly mitigate many of the problems plaguing college sports today,” says Ken Reed. “We could also lessen many of the commercialization and professionalization abuses seeping down to the high school and youth sports levels.”


Sound Off: Does the future of college sports include an end to athletic scholarships?

Sports Headlines for March 31, 2014

Game: NCAA FootballReader Score: 9/10 - Vote Now
Platform: SportsVotes for game: 3 - View All
Member Comments
# 1 drewst18 @ 04/01/14 01:26 AM
If it does its not the way this article is wanting it done.

If it happens it will be because scholarships have been replaced with a modest salary . There is 0% chance athletic scholarships will be taken away and not replaced. There are a number of more likely scenarios before this were to happen, no athletic scholarships would essentially turn college level athletics into an intramural activity.

I am actually surprised this hasn't happened already but you would instantly see a billionaire launch a NFL/NBA/MLB Farm system in which players aged 18 - 22 play prior to going Pro.

We already see it up here in Canada with Hockey where college is pretty rare route for NHL prospects. It is a big money business but would really be a last resort, but will NEVER happen because regardless of academic integrity or not the NCAA and the schools don't give a damn "it's all about the Benjamin's"

A few passing grades for people who don't deserve them are a small price to pay for the millions they bring in a year.
 
# 2 RandyBass @ 04/01/14 04:25 AM
From article:

Quote:
Athletes who are only interested in athletic careers can seek opportunities with lower-level professional leagues.
And for football that would be...

Until the NFL creates a developmental league, this plan is a pipe dream.

At the end of the article they state the second choice:

Quote:
Openly acknowledge the professionalism in big-time college sports, remove the tax-exempt status currently given to athletic departments, and make universities operate them as unrelated businesses — apart from their educational mission.
Honestly I see this happening before the end of scholarships. Big time universities pretty much already operate this way.
 
# 3 RandyBass @ 04/01/14 04:40 AM
Or they could just make kids and parents watch Hoop Dreams every year from about age 5. Maybe then you wouldn't have so many young people putting all their eggs in one basket so to speak.

I mean seriously, this problem has roots much deeper than the NCAA. Really what we're seeing is just the fruit being reaped, not the seed being sown. The roots go all the way down to family, culture, history, and poverty.

This nation has sown some bad seeds, and we're just seeing the fruit of it, that's all. It's very hard to undo what's been done, takes a long time, a lot of work from a lot of different people in a lot of different areas.

Ending scholarships, turning universities into semi pro teams, these won't make that big of a difference because you're trying to deal with the problem at the end not at the beginning.
 
# 4 ubernoob @ 04/01/14 05:04 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandyBass
And for football that would be...

Until the NFL creates a developmental league, this plan is a pipe dream.
Well, that's the NFL's problem - not the universities' problem.
 
# 5 RandyBass @ 04/01/14 06:33 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ubernoob
Well, that's the NFL's problem - not the universities' problem.
Yeah, the universities would only have to deal with the gaping hole in their revenue and alumni support created by the loss of their football programs. Point being, the article conveniently omits perhaps the largest driving factor in this whole matter: self interest. It's easy to dream up utopias, and next to impossible to implement them.
 
# 6 RandyBass @ 04/01/14 06:46 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BizDevConglomerate
If we weren't such scared nation. Scared in the sense of the next man coming up and making something, this wouldn't be an issue.
You're entire statement was a bit bewildering, but the beginning was perhaps the most perplexing, and quite frankly just flat out wrong. I understand the whole land of opportunity thing may be more myth than reality, especially in these recent times, but come on man! Compared to pretty much every nation on earth, perhaps even in the history of civilization itself, this country is very much about the next man coming up and making something. Not sure where you got that idea.
 
# 7 Equinox831 @ 04/01/14 10:52 AM
Right now I'm typing this from my dorm room at a pretty big university that I'm only going to because I got a hefty athletic scholarship for track and field. I can tell you right now that scholarships aren't going anywhere. Some of the best athletes in the country couldn't dream of affording to go to a 4 year university at full price. The only good I can see coming from that is athletes working harder in the classroom to get academic scholarships because I can admit, we can slack sometimes, but we're human it happens. Unless you want to see a dramatic decline in competition and talent at the college level, scholarships need to stay in place. I know that if I lost my scholarship I'd be going back home and picking up the pieces and I wouldn't really have a direction anymore. I'd hate to see that happen on a large scale.
 

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