Van_Slyke_CF
Mentor
We all know it is common for college football teams to play 13 games in a season with a bowl game included. We can see even another game depending on the conference and if it has a championship game or not. We also see the top 16 1-AA teams play 13 to 15 games by the time they finish their playoffs each season.
So I have been wondering increasingly in recent years about the long-term impact on the health of so many thousands of college football players who are "amateur athletes."
Of course these young men can get their injuries taken care of while playing for their respective universities: surgeries, rehabilitation etc. But what happens to many players whose joints fall apart in the years following their careers? What about someone who needs a knee replacement a few years down the road? Or how about the former player in his 30s who needs care for chronic neck pain resulting from his playing days? I bet this will become a bigger issue in the not-too-distant future as the expanded seasons take a greater physical and mental toll on the players.
College football is big business as we all are aware, and the players on scholarship-and some who are not-make tons of money for people who are not selling out their bodies on the field. I am not trying to generate a discussion about paying the players above the table as much as I am trying to think about what is fair in the ever-growing business of college football.
It is now commonplace for coaches to get multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts. What about the young men who do the dirty work to help make them rich? If their workload continues to increase, and I most certainly mean on the field and not in the classroom, how much is too much?
Only a small fraction make it into the NFL for a long enough period of time to qualify for those benefits, and we all know the problems that have been going in the NFLPA for years.
Any opinions from the men on this site?Edited by: Van_Slyke_CF
So I have been wondering increasingly in recent years about the long-term impact on the health of so many thousands of college football players who are "amateur athletes."
Of course these young men can get their injuries taken care of while playing for their respective universities: surgeries, rehabilitation etc. But what happens to many players whose joints fall apart in the years following their careers? What about someone who needs a knee replacement a few years down the road? Or how about the former player in his 30s who needs care for chronic neck pain resulting from his playing days? I bet this will become a bigger issue in the not-too-distant future as the expanded seasons take a greater physical and mental toll on the players.
College football is big business as we all are aware, and the players on scholarship-and some who are not-make tons of money for people who are not selling out their bodies on the field. I am not trying to generate a discussion about paying the players above the table as much as I am trying to think about what is fair in the ever-growing business of college football.
It is now commonplace for coaches to get multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts. What about the young men who do the dirty work to help make them rich? If their workload continues to increase, and I most certainly mean on the field and not in the classroom, how much is too much?
Only a small fraction make it into the NFL for a long enough period of time to qualify for those benefits, and we all know the problems that have been going in the NFLPA for years.
Any opinions from the men on this site?Edited by: Van_Slyke_CF
