I am particularly interested in how universities will handle students getting into trouble with the IRS. There will surely be many students who do not properly report their incomes and thus incur the wrath of the tax man. Since we are likely talking about significant sums of money, the incentive for the IRS has to be pretty high to go after tax dodging students.
I find the idea of paying students troubling for one naive reason. Universities are supposed to be non-profit institutions where you go for an education. This is clearly a farce when it comes to athletics. The amount of money SEC football programs make, for example, is amazing, and good for them, but as it has very little to do with the mission of the university, which is often subsidized by taxpayers and can actually end up doing harm to the kids who go to school to play sports but can't succeed in the classroom, why do we still treat this as anything less than a business? The NCAA has/had no control over big time football and basketball. Kids are travelling across the country mid-week for volleyball, softball, and crew due to insane conference alignments. It would be more decent to make football and basketball professional enterprises outside the world of academics. At least students wouldn't have to pretend to attend classes they have no intention of finishing.
I am particularly interested in how universities will handle students getting into trouble with the IRS. There will surely be many students who do not properly report their incomes and thus incur the wrath of the tax man. Since we are likely talking about significant sums of money, the incentive for the IRS has to be pretty high to go after tax dodging students.
I find the idea of paying students troubling for one naive reason. Universities are supposed to be non-profit institutions where you go for an education. This is clearly a farce when it comes to athletics. The amount of money SEC football programs make, for example, is amazing, and good for them, but as it has very little to do with the mission of the university, which is often subsidized by taxpayers and can actually end up doing harm to the kids who go to school to play sports but can't succeed in the classroom, why do we still treat this as anything less than a business? The NCAA has/had no control over big time football and basketball. Kids are travelling across the country mid-week for volleyball, softball, and crew due to insane conference alignments. It would be more decent to make football and basketball professional enterprises outside the world of academics. At least students wouldn't have to pretend to attend classes they have no intention of finishing.