The cover story in THE SPORTING NEWS is on how college
athletes should be compensated. TSN's Douglas Looney outlines 10
"solid ideas" to link college athletes and money, ideas which
come from interviews with "dozens of college sports leaders."
The headers: 1) Pay the athletes; 2) The cornerstone of democracy
is free enterprise. Let it work; 3) Allow scholarship athletes
the same freedoms and rights that all other students enjoy --
which, among many things, includes the right to have jobs if they
wish; 4) Give each scholarship athlete -- male and female,
everything from field hockey to golf to basketball -- 50 to 100
seats in prime locations to all home games; 5) Ten percent of
each sport's net profits could be distributed to the players; 6)
Dramatically increase the Special Assistance Fund; 7) Let
athletes sign with agents whenever they want; 8) Add
substantially more money to the familiar full-ride scholarship;
9) Put any money the player earns or receives while in college
into a trust fund handled by the university and give it to him or
her upon graduation. If the athlete doesn't graduate, the money
stays with the university for academic purposes; and 10) Allow
recruiters to offer athletes scholarships that might include
graduate school, law school or medical school (TSN, 7/1 issue).
