Athletes in the two “revenue sports” Football and Basketball in the NCAA Division I have become professional athletes. The so called revenue sports are those that supposedly bring in enough revenue to cover the costs of fielding a team but also enough surplus to support other athletic teams of the school. I have no objections to schools having athletic teams, but I do object to referring to participants in the revenue sports being called student athletes when they are playing for pay. A change needs to be made in the way we manage revenue sports.
Originally college athletics were designed to give students the opportunity to engage in sports rather than spending all their time studying, partying and going to class. Today the revenue sports are designed to make money for the schools and give them nationwide publicity. The colleges are willing to pay the so called student athletes money to help them accomplish this. Since college athletics, at least in revenue sports, is a business it needs to be so classified as such by the IRS and taxed as a business. The purpose of Universities should be to educate students, not to run businesses. When they are running a business they should pay taxes on that business.
The athletes should be considered employees and have all the rights of employees. They should be able to form a union and collectively bargain for better wages, working conditions and benefits such as a retirement fund, medical and disability insurance. There should be no ridiculous requirement such as class attendance or being enrolled at the university they play ball for. If the athletes want to take courses in case their pro contract with the National Football League the National Basketball Association does not come thru, they can either pay for the courses out of the money they earn or include the cost of courses as part of their pro contract with the universities. They can also take classes at other colleges nearby.
Since the athletes are being paid they, should be able to work as athletes as long as they are able. No more four to seven years of eligibility. They should have rules concerning free agency like they have in the professional National Football League or the National Basketball Association. Maybe some to the “big name” schools teams will become so popular they will be able to purchase an NFL or NBA franchise.
This is my opinion and I’m sticking to it.