So many questions, not enough time

What is going on in college football? When did it become a “minor league” of the NFL? If you’re wondering what I mean, let’s take a quick look at what has happened to college football in past few years.

Remember the good old days (yes, I’m old) when if you were a good athlete, you would get a “free ride” scholarship to play football for a university or a college? An athlete would hope that the school they wanted to go to would find them good enough to give that scholarship so they could play for their favorite college.

It seems like now, just get on any college roster, play to the best of your abilities, and all of a sudden, you’re worth millions to other colleges who are clamoring to pay for you to play for them. It’s not about going to college to get an education (though I’m sure most athletes still get one), but how much money you can get to play a game for the highest bidder.

What happened to loyalty? In the old days (yeah, I’m still old), when a school was invested enough to give an athlete a scholarship, the player was loyal to that school and spent the whole of their college life there. Now? If another college thinks you can help them win, it’s payout time and everyone goes where the money is.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz recently said in an interview with Rich Eisen that the NCAA needs to be careful or there will be teams in the college football ranks that have so much more money available than other schools, that there will be five or six schools with all the great players and massive amounts of resources.  He believes there needs to be a salary cap like in the NFL, so it evens out the “playing field” for all universities.

I’m not sure where I stand on the whole “paying a college player to play football” thing. One on hand, the really good players are already getting scholarships that amount to them saving hundreds of thousands of dollars on their education. Which by the way, is probably what’s causing the cost of an education to skyrocket the past 10 years or so.

If a scholarship athlete is getting a free ride, err, education, why do they need even more money to play a game? Because the schools make money off of their athletic programs. So, the better the sports teams, the more they can charge for tickets, food, parking, etc. When I was in my teens, a trip to a college football game was affordable and a blast. It seems as though it’s still fun, but how easy is it to afford to go to a game these days?

According to everyone’s favorite search source, AI, ticket prices range from $20 (I’m guessing a DII school) to $100. $100 for ONE ticket to college football game. So, if you have a family of four, that’s $400 just for tickets. Then you pay for parking, food and drinks (which is getting outrageously expensive) and if the kiddos want some team merchandise, you’re probably looking at $600 or more for one game.

One more question. If universities are there to give a topnotch education to its students, why are the athletes the ones getting all the money? Isn’t it better for our country to have young people who wanted to go to university to learn and grow, gain skills they can use to actually help our country grow? To maybe one day be the doctor who saves your life, or the scientist who discovers the cure for Alzheimer’s? Why is it Americans are so obsessed with sports that we would rather pay young people to play games rather than pay young people to learn and become important members of our communities?

Athletes (not all of them) get all the money and perks, while the average student is stuck with years and years of student loan payback. I understand that sports are a massive part of life in the U.S., but shouldn’t we be more supportive of the students who actually pay to go to college?

Admission prices are rising. Education scholarships aren’t enough to offset everything a college kid has to cover. Not everyone can be an athlete. On the other hand, not everyone can be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a scientist, or a good business leader.

It just baffles me. Maybe someone out there can explain it to me where it all makes sense, but I don’t think they can. I know I sound like the old man shouting for you to get off my lawn, but stop and think just how much money universities spend on athletics, and how little they spend on actual education, and it makes you stop and think about where we are headed.

I shall now step down from my bully pulpit and let you get back to life, until another question pops into my head.

Tim Marlow lives in Storm Lake.