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pienkows

Joined: 01/10/2012 Posts: 6165
Likes: 6022


Anyone who thinks this is akin to slavery has a distorted view of reality.


Slavery is forced - forced - labor that is unpaid. This is not forced. They have the choice. No one forces them to do this. You can make the argument that they have no other choice if they want to play football, but that is not the college's problem to solve. Why does a college have to provide them that opportunity? They don't. If anyone should, it's the NFL. If everyone is so worried about the poor football players, then complain that the NFL refuses to create and pay for developmental leagues and instead lets colleges foot the bill for that.

In what world do colleges owe it to anyone to let them play football at all much less pay them for it? What code of morality dictates that? None.

Now, let's go over the whole "fairly compensated" thing. What is "fair" to you? Have you bothered to consider the cost of putting on this whole shebang? If the players are entitled to some form of pay because the enterprise makes money - if that's the only moral justification you have - well then they should share in the risk as well. Because there is an entire organizational and physical infrastructure that had to be built and now has to be run and maintained in order for them to just walk on in and play ball. You better believe there are people at Tech who feel the risk of that day in and out and in fact their jobs are threatened by it. Now lets talk about all of the work, time, and money put into building Tech up into a brand worthy of being broadcast on national TV. Let's talk about all the work, time, and money put into negotiating schedules, apparel deals, and so on and so forth.

This is what the PLAYERS exploit when they come here. You think the players can just go out and get an audience of hundreds of thousands to watch them on TV? You think they can go out and get the best coaching, the best training facilities, the best medical care on their own? You think they can find anywhere else where so much time and effort is put into maximizing their success and showcasing that in front of as many people as possible? Throw in the free education (I'm sure all those paying off student loans see the value in that) the per diems, adoration of the student body, and all kinds of other perqs and I'd say they're pretty fairly compensated, especially given that only a small minority of them are good enough to play pro anywhere. Think about that. 90% of them are not good enough to get paid to play football ANYWHERE and yet we're sitting here claiming they're not getting their "fair" share? Please. The only argument weaker than that is that this is institutionalized slavery. That's a smack in the face to anyone who's ever been enslaved. It really is.

(In response to this post by Hubman)

Posted: 08/02/2018 at 8:46PM



+0

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