NCAA weighing $2000 payments to student athletes

October 26, 2011   Blog Smash, NCAA Basketball SMASH, NCAA Football SMASH   2 Comments
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Right now 300 major college football and men’s basketball players are telling the NCAA and college presidents they want a cut of TV sports revenue.  The purpose of this is to fatten scholarships and cover all the costs of getting a degree. With this proposal, athletes will pick up more grant money when they graduate as well.

Athletes from Arizona, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Purdue and UCLA have all signed a petition asking the NCAA to “realize its mission to educate and protect us with integrity.” The National College Players Association, an athletes’ advocacy group, provided The Associated Press with copies of the document for release Monday. Players started sending the petition to the NCAA last week.

This document urges the NCAA and college presidents to set aside an unspecified amount of money from what it estimates is $775 million in recently acquired TV revenues in an “educational lock box” for football and men’s basketball players. Players could tap those funds to help cover educational costs if they exhaust their athletic eligibility before they graduate. And they could receive what’s left of the money allocated to them with no strings attached upon graduating—a step that would undoubtedly be seen by some as professionalizing college sports.

The issue of whether to pay college athletes has been getting increased attention at a time when athletic programs from Miami to Ohio State have endured a series of scandals involving impermissible benefits to players. At the same time, athletic conferences have made lucrative, new television deals.

Complete story via http://yhoo.it/sXtk9n

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