Discussion: John Oliver Rips The 'Sweatshop'-Like Business Of The NCAA (VIDEO)

Discussion for article #234313

With the way student debt is now structured and regulated, in some ways it isn’t just the athletes who are working in a sweatshop.

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“I can’t say often enough, obviously, that student athletes are students, they’re not employees,” Emmert said."

Puleeeeze! Tell that to the One and Dones at UK. And somebody….anybody please beat that team! Lord knows we don’t want to listen to their boasting and bragging crap forever more.

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A core issue is that the players do not own their labor, autographs, and autonomy. One would think that principled conservatives would find this shocking! shocking! But they don’t, proving that their ideology is about the power elite, not principles. A simple step toward solving this is to make all scholarships voucher-based, allowing the player to do the education part at any time, such as after his playing days are over. And he/she could sell or barter the voucher away if desired. If players are getting value for playing, it should have some in the marketplace.

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what woul;d be great if all the "STUDENTS who got drafted into a collage told the NCAA that they can stick their rules and if they didnt like it they will play ball but not on TV or in march madness …and see all that money go down the drain

It’s a grotesque system and one that would collapse if the students are considered employees (which they obviously are), since then they would be paid worker’s comp. The most ironic thing about sports is that, while they are viewed as the pinnacle of competition on the field or court, as businesses they are anything but.

By the way, the notion of amateurism in sports has nothing at all to do with the “love of the game”. It originated as a way of keeping the working classes out of sports so rich kids wouldn’t have to compete against them. The ancient Greek athletes, often cited as the model for amateurism, were highly paid professionals.

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I wonder how much of that debt comes from online diploma mills recruiting people to enroll using loans guaranteed by the government to pay tuition. Veterans in particular are targeted, since they can have 100% of their loans guaranteed.

But this is the new model – each state will have one or two flagship public schools, a few private ones for the wealthy, and everyone else goes to a for-profit online “school” such as Everest College or Grand Canyon University. Basically, the 0.1% must own ALL the capital, even human capital. You can get degree just like you can buy a house or car, but if you do it with borrowed money you’re really on a “rent-to-own” plan.

Yes, because the One and Dones at UK are so very different than the One and Dones at Duke, UNC, KU, UA… Blame the NBA for One and Done, not the colleges. And BTW, many of UK’s supposed One and Dones have actually returned for Soph and Jr years. And the guys who left after their Freshman year were well prepared for their career. Isn’t that what college is supposed to do - prepare students for their careers?

What would be the business model for paying that athletes that would still generate a profit? I don’t see it.