It's not Tabor's first rodeo on twitter. I can't recall all of his blundered comments, but it's been two or three other twitter incidents. Have any of you had to deal with the generation coming out of HS these days? Complete morons, even the honor students. Total lack of communication and empathy for others in conversation. Thank iPhones, FB, etc. I'm certainly not a fan of what he said, but I didn't really have a lot of respect for him to lose.
As for the actual issues he raises, I understand where he's coming from. You are making a lot of money for the University. More than what we talk about, because of the other sports operating at a loss. Plus these "faces of the program" get their picture thrown up all over the place....posters, commercials, etc. Watch the 30 for 30 on the Fab 5 and they do a good job of talking about the money issue. So I get where he's coming from as a top player at a highly visible program. The problem is that it's a deeper issue than that.
I think it's completely valid to say they are compensated plenty at about $50k/year for room/board/tuition/etc. That's roughly $4.25MM a year in "labor" on a sport with about a $45MM profit minus fixed costs. Now this certainly doesn't account for merchandising that football creates. So a couple arguments can be made. 1) That is pretty consistent with NFL profits, so the salary pool is probably close, but could be increased some. 2) the scholarships are based more in communism than capitalism. Meaning all scholarship players get paid the same regardless the amount or type of labor. I think most upper tier scholarship athletes think the same thing. I do more, but Hardin gets the same benefits, but they either can't process and communicate it or know better than to say it. The problem is how could you realistically split the money. Would they NCAA put in a salary cap? etc. etc etc.
So how do you fix the problem? How much a problem is it really? I mean in reality there is competition. These guys could go to the CFL and get paid to play. So you can't call the college machine slavery, when you have options. Could the NCAA allow players to participate in limited endorsements for money? What other ways can you reward the top players for what they do? After all, they are responsible for a lot of money coming in. From an economic POV, I'd love to see some top guys go to the CFL for 3 years. As a college football fan, I'd hate to see it.
