Northwestern Players Want a Union

[mnsportsgeek]

Pay the players 18 grand a year and don't give them an education.

See how they like it if we turn them into minor league football players. My guess is they wouldn't be too happy.

Travel to games on buses. Stay in cheap hotels. Sounds like the dream.

It's a damn shame that these 19 year olds think they are getting taken advantage of. Especially considering 98% of them won't touch the NFL. Are we really going to blow up the whole system for 2% of football players and 1% of basketball players?

 

[drinks at Northpoint]

Pay the players 18 grand a year and don't give them an education. See how they like it if we turn them into minor league football players. My guess is they wouldn't be too happy. Travel to games on buses. Stay in cheap hotels. Sounds like the dream. It's a damn shame that these 19 year olds think they are getting taken advantage of. Especially considering 98% of them won't touch the NFL. Are we really going to blow up the whole system for 2% of football players and 1% of basketball players?

Why do you choose $18k per year, are you a Walmart executive?

Instead of paying them $18k a year, why not pay them based on the revenue they bring in?

Or why don't they just admit the revenue is just too obscene to continue in the current system.

 

[kellyleeks]

50 pound - I gotta ask you about your moniker. Were you a fan of the old AWA wrestler Dave Schultz? He was one of my favorites back in the day. He did awesome interviews with ol' Mean Gene Okerlund. In one that I remember well, he was ranting on Hulk Hogan, stating - "he's got a 50 pound head, a size 18 shoe...the boy ain't normal!" Golden! If I remember right, he finished the interview by exclaiming, "I want woman!". My gosh we had fun watching the AWA back in the dorms at St. Johns. This was before the modern era where the characters were like cartoon characters and truly humorous to watch.

I forgot about Schultz. AWA was pretty cool. The WWE Attitude Era was the peak though.

Remember Buck Zumhofe? He's not doing too well.
http://www.bringmethenews.com/2014/03/07/former-wrestler-buck-zumhofe-found-guilty-of-sex-charges/

 

[Pompous Elitist]

I don't see universities becoming de facto minor league team owners. While the current greed by the involved parties is shameful on a lot of levels, at least they can defend it with a noble cause of educating the athletes in some way, shape, or form.

I see the de-amateurization of college football as the end of college football.

Minor league players make dick. Is that what they want? It's the alumni fan base and fans of AMATEUR athletics that make these revenues go. Watch it all crash and burn.

Unintended consequences! Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

In a perfect world, these tv revenues would go towards actual educational activities rather than 7 million dollar salaries and a squat rack for each athlete or gold-plated latrines or the facility du jour. God forbid if the roof leaks! These are ****ing football players, get dirty. It's a damn disgrace.

I'd like to see the adults in the NCAA and the university president.conference presidents come together and do something about the greed that is threatening to blow up the whole thing. It's a damn shame.

That is all.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Why do you choose $18k per year, are you a Walmart executive?

Instead of paying them $18k a year, why not pay them based on the revenue they bring in?

Or why don't they just admit the revenue is just too obscene to continue in the current system.

Because that's what minor league baseball players roughly get.

 

[TrapperDoo]

I forgot about Schultz. AWA was pretty cool. The WWE Attitude Era was the peak though.

Remember Buck Zumhofe? He's not doing too well.
http://www.bringmethenews.com/2014/03/07/former-wrestler-buck-zumhofe-found-guilty-of-sex-charges/

I thougt AWA characters were more like cartoon villians, and not all sexed up like modern "wrestlers". Very humorous. Rock and Roll Buck lives out on Coon Lake and I have also heard he is not doing well. Lots and lots of cocaine will do that to you.

Back on topic - looks like Shabazz Napier has got something to say:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/07/us/ncaa-basketball-finals-shabazz-napier-hungry/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

[GuyFawkes]

Because that's what minor league baseball players roughly get.

No one watches minor league baseball or college baseball. Its about the 2 major revenue sports. While I'd hate to see de-amateurization of college sports, its hard not see where the players are coming from. NCAA makes billions off them yet the athletes can't go out and make anything off their names, can't even get a part time job. Read enough stories about NCAA telling athletes they need to chose between playing their sport or another hobby they do on the side because they're getting successful with said hobby. Think a few years ago, there was incident with a gopher player having to leave the team because he chose his somewhat successful music career or something like that over wrestling. I was blessed to earn enough scholarships to not to have to pay a dime for college including room and board, but I'm telling you right now, if it wasn't for the part time jobs I had while in college, I would have had a hard time surviving off just those scholarships. There is more to life than room board and education. If I worked somewhere and wasn't being compensated enough, at least I'd have the opportunity to pursue other avenues of compensation, these kids don't even have that option.


I really hope they can find a common ground here, and its in the best interest for everyone. NCAA will not succeed continuing to do what they are doing, and I hope they see that

 

[Gopherguy0723]

No one watches minor league baseball or college baseball. Its about the 2 major revenue sports. While I'd hate to see de-amateurization of college sports, its hard not see where the players are coming from. NCAA makes billions off them yet the athletes can't go out and make anything off their names, can't even get a part time job. Read enough stories about NCAA telling athletes they need to chose between playing their sport or another hobbie they do on the side because their getting successful with that hobby. Think a few years ago, there was incident with a gopher player having to leave the team because he chose his somewhat successful music career or something over wrestling. I was blessed to earn enough scholarships to not to have to pay a dime for college including room and board, but I'm telling you right now, if it wasn't for the part time jobs I had while in college, I would have had a hard time surviving off just those scholarships. There is more to life than room board and education. If I worked somewhere and wasn't being compensated enough, at least I'd have the opportunity to pursue other avenues of compensation, these kids don't even have that option.


I really hope they can find a common ground here, and its in the best interest for everyone. NCAA will not succeed continuing to do what they are doing, and I hope they see that

They cannot. All they can see is losing their dollars. This is a tried and true story. Big Institution exploits something for a long time, uses PR to convince the public at large that they are the good guys, and so on. The exploitation goes on for decades to grab as many dollars as possible. Big Institution has no foresight or ability to see the need for reform or moderation because the people running Big Institution are greedy. Then, people (mostly lawyers) wise up to the skullduggery that's actually occurring. Big Institution typically becomes more entrenched until it loses its first battle or two. Then Big Institution admits it was wrong all along and offers some quarter-measure (not even a half-measure most of the time) to ameliorate the situation. The people who wised up laugh at the mockery of the offer and carry on until Big Institution loses its grip on everything.

 

[Thorviking]

I don't know if this has been discussed but if unionization happens, do they become employees. Do they then have to report their scholarships as income and pay taxes on their scholarships?

 

[Gopherguy0723]

I don't know if this has been discussed but if unionization happens, do they become employees. Do they then have to report their scholarships as income and pay taxes on their scholarships?

Not necessarily.

 

[Unregistered User]

I don't know if this has been discussed but if unionization happens, do they become employees. Do they then have to report their scholarships as income and pay taxes on their scholarships?

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc421.html

Topic 421 - Scholarship and Fellowship Grants
A scholarship is generally an amount paid or allowed to a student at an educational institution for the purpose of study. A fellowship is generally an amount paid to an individual for the purpose of research.

If you receive a scholarship or fellowship grant, all or part of the amounts you receive may be tax-free.

Qualified scholarship and fellowship grants are treated as tax-free amounts if the following conditions are met:

You are a candidate for a degree at an educational institution that maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled body of students in attendance at the place where it carries on its educational activities; and
Amounts you receive as a scholarship or fellowship grant are used for tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at the educational institution, or for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses at the educational institution.
You must include in gross income amounts used for incidental expenses, such as room and board, travel, and optional equipment, and generally, amounts received as payments for teaching, research, or other services required as a condition for receiving the scholarship or fellowship grant. Also, you must include in income any part of the scholarship or fellowship that represents payments for services. Generally, when reporting scholarship income on your tax return, you will include the amounts on the same line as "Wages, salaries, tips, etc." Review the instructions of your tax form to determine how to report any income from scholarships.

However, you do not need to include in gross income any amounts you receive for services that are required by the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program or the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship and Financial Assistance Program.

If any part of your scholarship or fellowship grant is taxable, you may have to make estimated tax payments. For more information, refer to Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education.

 

[drinks at Northpoint]

Because that's what minor league baseball players roughly get.

If minor league baseball filled stadiums and had billions in tv revenue, I would imagine that dollar amount would go up.

Alabama recently announced revenue from sports that exceeded all NHL teams and most NBA teams.

 

[Deleted_User]

If I ran the NCAA, I might consider the following reform measures. Require long term and short term disability insurance for each football player, regardless of conference. Allow the super conferences to allow for up to 2500 per month salaries for players, up to 10 months per year and $500 per month for the remaining months. Have a table for variance based on need, local differential on expected expenses capped at $30,000 annually. Continue the program for scholarships based on academic performance and award according to actual grades. Have 105 guys on roster with 85 scholarships, the 85 go to the players with the highest GPA for the quarter/semester. The rest can suffer the financial aid process.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Hey don't forget to pay the HS football players down south.

 

[gopherhoopsguy]

If I ran the NCAA, I might consider the following reform measures. Require long term and short term disability insurance for each football player, regardless of conference. Allow the super conferences to allow for up to 2500 per month salaries for players, up to 10 months per year and $500 per month for the remaining months. Have a table for variance based on need, local differential on expected expenses capped at $30,000 annually. Continue the program for scholarships based on academic performance and award according to actual grades. Have 105 guys on roster with 85 scholarships, the 85 go to the players with the highest GPA for the quarter/semester. The rest can suffer the financial aid process.

U left something out how much are u paying the tennis players? Oh u forgot about that! lol keep dreaming

 

[CentralGopher]

If I ran the NCAA, I might consider the following reform measures. Require long term and short term disability insurance for each football player, regardless of conference. Allow the super conferences to allow for up to 2500 per month salaries for players, up to 10 months per year and $500 per month for the remaining months. Have a table for variance based on need, local differential on expected expenses capped at $30,000 annually. Continue the program for scholarships based on academic performance and award according to actual grades. Have 105 guys on roster with 85 scholarships, the 85 go to the players with the highest GPA for the quarter/semester. The rest can suffer the financial aid process.

I'm totally against paying them or giving them a stipend of any kind at all. They have enough money to spend on tats, jewelry, weed, cell phones, and live off campus with their buddies with no meal plan then they already have enough to pay for school. Obviously not every player spends money on all of these but take a look at the top schools and even NW and look at their players. A good percentage of them are covered in tattoos and have jewelry of some kind. I consider myself very old fashioned but we got along fine without cell phones before I see no need for one if you can't really afford one to start with. Every young kid has to have the latest phone, ipod, beats by dre headphones and any other little gadget their friends have. College kids have way more than me or any of my friends had when I was in college. I heard Shabazz Napier's little rant about going hungry some nights and thought he was such an entitled little prick I wanted to smack him. Maybe if kids didn't waste their money on superficial things like tats and cell phones or weed and boozing they would be able to cover all of their expenses or at least come a lot closer. Ok rant done now.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I'm totally against paying them or giving them a stipend of any kind at all. They have enough money to spend on tats, jewelry, weed, cell phones, and live off campus with their buddies with no meal plan then they already have enough to pay for school. Obviously not every player spends money on all of these but take a look at the top schools and even NW and look at their players. A good percentage of them are covered in tattoos and have jewelry of some kind. I consider myself very old fashioned but we got along fine without cell phones before I see no need for one if you can't really afford one to start with. Every young kid has to have the latest phone, ipod, beats by dre headphones and any other little gadget their friends have. College kids have way more than me or any of my friends had when I was in college. I heard Shabazz Napier's little rant about going hungry some nights and thought he was such an entitled little prick I wanted to smack him. Maybe if kids didn't waste their money on superficial things like tats and cell phones or weed and boozing they would be able to cover all of their expenses or at least come a lot closer. Ok rant done now.

Man you are old. Who buys iPods anymore?

 

[CentralGopher]

lol, thanks. Whatever gadgets the kids these days use to listen to their rock and roll music.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

lol, thanks. Whatever gadgets the kids these days use to listen to their rock and roll music.

I agree with you on Napier though. That whole article made me laugh. Meanwhile, he's got huge ass tats on both arms that cost him a pretty penny.

You could eat for a year with the money he has spent on tattoos.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

If minor league baseball filled stadiums and had billions in tv revenue, I would imagine that dollar amount would go up.

Alabama recently announced revenue from sports that exceeded all NHL teams and most NBA teams.

Does that include donations? Because people donate to amateur athletics, nobody calls up the Minnesota Wild and says "hey, let me make a donation".

 

[gopher71runner]

Ohio taking preemptive action:

"...lawmakers also proposed adding a specific definition to Ohio law that says student-athletes are not employees of public universities.

Some questioned what, if any, actual legal impact the language would have if student-athletes in Ohio chose to follow in the footsteps of Northwestern University athletes who are weighing an April 25 vote to unionize. Asked about the practical impact, Amstutz said, “Probably none.”

“But if it ever comes up, it will be in the law,” he said, adding that the idea came from caucus staff.

Ohio State University lobbyists said they were unaware of the proposal. Bruce E. Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio, said he’s been busy with other bills. “We have not focused on this at all.”

The amendment was one of several added to House Bill 483, one of the roughly dozen bills that now make up Kasich’s Mid-Biennium Review.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...ove-takes-aim-at-fitzgerald-over-ballots.html

 

[wait!what?]

"...lawmakers also proposed adding a specific definition to Ohio law that says student-athletes are not employees of public universities.

So kids will choose to attend a school that pays them...a private school. bad move by the state of ohio, hobbling state schools.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Let's consider what would happen if a school decided to pay their players. That school would be in breach of NCAA rules and punted out of the organization. Now, if enough schools decide to drop out of the NCAA they could form their own organization and league. Perhaps the NEAA, the National Entitled Athlete Association.

The NEAA professional league would be in competition with the NCAA amateurs. Fans would need to decide which teams to throw their dollars and time behind. NFL minor league, or amateur athletics.

I suspect the Northwesterns of the world would need to fold up shop relatively quickly as interest wanes.

It would be interesting to see in practice though.

 

[Deleted_User]

Legislator meets God, says he would like to amend the first commandment.

How'd that work out.

 

[FreakyDeke]

If minor league baseball filled stadiums and had billions in tv revenue, I would imagine that dollar amount would go up. Alabama recently announced revenue from sports that exceeded all NHL teams and most NBA teams.

Because it's the Alabama Crimson Tide. If those same players were on a minor league team called the Tuscaloosa You-name-its, would they bring in that kind of revenue?

 

[drinks at Northpoint]

Because it's the Alabama Crimson Tide. If those same players were on a minor league team called the Tuscaloosa You-name-its, would they bring in that kind of revenue?

If my aunt had a penis, she'd be my uncle.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Because it's the Alabama Crimson Tide. If those same players were on a minor league team called the Tuscaloosa You-name-its, would they bring in that kind of revenue?

Yep. The college name/loyalty is what drives revenue to college sports. If it were the players' athletic ability that people were paying to see, then we would see there be some kind of professional team in America for every player graduating from the major conferences. The athletes would be even better and more exciting as 24-28 year olds as they were as 19-23 year olds. However, no one cares (unless they are good enough to make it at the NBA/NFL/NHL level) because it is the college recognition that drives fans back.

 

[Deleted_User]

Let's consider what would happen if a school decided to pay their players. That school would be in breach of NCAA rules and punted out of the organization. Now, if enough schools decide to drop out of the NCAA they could form their own organization and league. Perhaps the NEAA, the National Entitled Athlete Association.

The NEAA professional league would be in competition with the NCAA amateurs. Fans would need to decide which teams to throw their dollars and time behind. NFL minor league, or amateur athletics.

I suspect the Northwesterns of the world would need to fold up shop relatively quickly as interest wanes.

It would be interesting to see in practice though.

Let's consider that the ruling had broader implications and that all scholarship athletes are on payroll at every institution. They would all be in breach of the NCAA rules and the NCAA would be forced to reform. Right now, the NCAA is trying to reform even though they: are fighting the ruling, and formed reform committees in the background to change the ground rules.

Fans are not going to disappear if the games get played on Saturday with or without a W2. They may end up looking less sharp than now, but then again, a few minor rule changes could still make the product very exciting.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

What is to keep any of these players from taking out a $4,000 loan like the rest of America? Take out 20 grand over the course of 5 years to live on. It's no different than taking out a loan to pay for tuition.

Plus when all these studs make millions in the NFL it will be chump change!

 

[dpodoll68]

Take out 20,000 grand over the course of 5 years to live on.

No college student needs $20 million to live on. Plus, I don't think any of them would be approved for a loan of that amount.