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Pollard's Latest on Athlete Compensation

Clonefan32

Clonefan32

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Nov 19, 2008
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I am very pro Jamie Pollard and appreciate everything he's done to enhance Iowa State Athletics. But he continues to completely misfire on the athlete compensation debate. I know in the past he's been very vocally against athlete compensation. Here's his latest on Twitter claiming an Iowa State scholarship is somehow worth $500,000:

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You have to be kidding me with this graphic. Counting "sports medicine" and "travel to and from games" as includable in the value of a scholarship? So a player blows out his knee playing football and we are treating the cost of their surgery and rehab as "value"? A Tuesday night plane trip to and from Morgantown is "value"?

If he's trying to say each athlete costs the school $500,000 over the course of their career then maybe he's on to something, but trying to equate that to the "value of a scholarship" is silly.
 
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Clonefan32 said:
I am very pro Jamie Pollard and appreciate everything he's done to enhance Iowa State Athletics. But he continues to completely misfire on the athlete compensation debate. I know in the past he's been very vocally against athlete compensation. Here's his latest on Twitter claiming an Iowa State scholarship is somehow worth $500,000:

View attachment 82468

You have to be kidding me with this graphic. Counting "sports medicine" and "travel to and from games" as includable in the value of a scholarship? So a player blows out his knee playing football and we are treating the cost of their surgery and rehab as "value"? A Tuesday night plane trip to and from Morgantown is "value"?

If he's trying to say each athlete costs the school $500,000 over the course of their career then maybe he's on to something, but trying to equate that to the "value of a scholarship" is silly.
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I agree.....not sure the goal of it...but it is all the "high end" of costs (like traveling to games?), assuming out of state tuition, that all students would use $800 of that fund listed (for four years) and also i honestly think the gear cost is probably high.....and not all athletes are full scholly. I do agree that that there is value in the training/nutrition (vs not being in school and training on your own for a pro sport), but for most that is just what comes with the territory of being a college athlete.
 
If you want to compete at the D1 level, it's expensive to travel to other D1 schools. The travel allows you the opportunity to compete at high levels you wouldn't otherwise be able to have access too. I don't know what's defined exactly as added "Value" but I don't think travel expenses are nothing and should be ignored.
 
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JM4CY said:
If you want to compete at the D1 level, it's expensive to travel to other D1 schools. The travel allows you the opportunity to compete at high levels you wouldn't otherwise be able to have access too. I don't know what's defined exactly as added "Value" but I don't think travel expenses are nothing and should be ignored.
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Oh, agree...if it was the "total cost to support a student athlete" more from a overall budget perspective then this would make sense..just seems the "vibe" of the graphic is to make it seem like this is a direct benefit.....may as well throw in the electric bill to run the jumbotrons and lights at Jack Trice for the football players :)

But for sure there are sometimes they do get some cool travel (bball euro trip, Hawaii, etc).
 
JM4CY said:
If you want to compete at the D1 level, it's expensive to travel to other D1 schools. The travel allows you the opportunity to compete at high levels you wouldn't otherwise be able to have access too. I don't know what's defined exactly as added "Value" but I don't think travel expenses are nothing and should be ignored.
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Travel expenses aren't value at all. It's expensive to travel to other D1 schools, sure. But just because it's an expense means it's part of the "value" of a scholarship. It's also awful ironic given the complete disinterest in considering travel during realignment.

It's not hard to read between the lines on this. He doesn't like the NIL and athlete compensation debate so he puts out these trumped out figures trying to say what they receive is worth $500,000 when it is not.
 
CapnCy said:
I agree.....not sure the goal of it...but it is all the "high end" of costs (like traveling to games?), assuming out of state tuition, that all students would use $800 of that fund listed (for four years) and also i honestly think the gear cost is probably high.....and not all athletes are full scholly. I do agree that that there is value in the training/nutrition (vs not being in school and training on your own for a pro sport), but for most that is just what comes with the territory of being a college athlete.
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I find the "gear" cost funny as Iowa State has a good sized deal with Nike:

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Made of money: Huge payouts in recent apparel deals good news for Iowa, Iowa State (desmoinesregister.com)
 
I feel like paying athletes is going to cause a separation of school and sports teams. They’ll turn into independent clubs. I just can’t envision a plan long-term that student athletes can get paid a salary to play for a school.
 
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He might be stretching it a bit with this graphic, but Pollard is right on the matter of athlete compensation in general.

The vast, vast majority of athletes are compensated far more than their actual market value by universities. A tiny % could earn more. Like hundredths of a percent. And they are welcome to try to do that if they want to.
 
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Clonefan32 said:
Travel expenses aren't value at all. It's expensive to travel to other D1 schools, sure. But just because it's an expense means it's part of the "value" of a scholarship. It's also awful ironic given the complete disinterest in considering travel during realignment.

It's not hard to read between the lines on this. He doesn't like the NIL and athlete compensation debate so he puts out these trumped out figures trying to say what they receive is worth $500,000 when it is not.
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If an athlete is getting paid for name/image/likeness, then the travel expenses are most certainly a value, because that travel is providing the athlete the exposure that allows them to benefit from the likeness. And I'd be willing to bet $1 that the travel and a number of the services the university provides to the athletes are going to become taxable benefits for the athletes, because they directly contribute to the value of the NIL.
 
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alarson said:
He might be stretching it a bit with this graphic, but Pollard is right on the matter of athlete compensation in general.

The vast, vast majority of athletes are compensated far more than their actual market value by universities. A tiny % could earn more. Like hundredths of a percent. And they are welcome to try to do that if they want to.
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That's fine, at least give them the opportunity to discovery their value on the open market. What's lost by that?
 
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I had a boss at a former job try to tell me that work travel was part of my overall compensation.

Like I should have been thankful to drive to Columbus Ohio and sit in the Holiday Inn Conference center for 3 days...

What a joke.
 
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jbhtexas said:
If an athlete is getting paid for name/image/likeness, then the travel expenses are most certainly a value, because that travel is providing the athlete the exposure that allows them to benefit from the likeness. And I'd be willing to bet $1 that the travel and a number of the services the university provides to the athletes are going to become taxable benefits for the athletes, because they directly contribute to the value of the NIL.
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There may be a slight argument to that, although I still don't buy it. I also think it's ironic this little graphic is completely devoid of any income related figures. Why do these kids have to travel halfway across the country to play? Oh yah, because conference alignment valued TV viewership over everything else. Don't create conferences that make zero geographical sense then try to claim the cost of flying these kids all over is "value" added.
 
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It seems to me that his post is meant to encourage people to donate to the Cyclone Club since college athletics costs a ton of money. I don't see this at all as an athlete compensation hit tweet.

College sports is expensive.
 
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