re: Ok. I've got a question about college athletes becoming university employees.

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Why not just go full tilt, contractually obligated professional football with all this? It would offer clarity and boundaries.

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Well if that were the case we would have to ask the more fundamental question: why should a university host a pro football team?

Right now the schools argue that school sports are a part of the educational program, mind body spirit and all that. The scholarships are there for the same reason that academic ones are, provide for those who show the best educational merit. That argument does not work if the football players are nothing but pros on salary.

I know this may seem silly given that many would say CFB has effectively been pro for a while, but this educational argument matters because without it, some fundamental questions come up. For example, why should state institutions use state tax dollars to pay for a pro sport team (not subsidize a stadium, but actually operate a pro team)? When the athletics fall under the education umbrella, societal goals are being advanced, public education is a societal good, the state should support institutions that further the mission of learning, etc. But if they are just pros that the school is paying for and there is not an educational component, what’s the reason for state support?

Let’s also not forget that most of the faculty and administration at these schools hold ideological beliefs that do not align with the majority of the populations of the states they are located in. I bring this up because if the schools start having to answer for having something like a pro football team, they may have to start answering other questions. I can certainly see state politicians latching onto this sort of issue. In the past the schools could use the shield of “education” and “academic freedom” against such interference, but if they openly are sponsoring something that has no educational component, like a pro football team, that shield won’t work.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the academic shield for these schools, and I cannot see any reason they would do something that would threaten it so much.