Should NCAA Athletes Get Paid?

One of the hot topics these days (besides best uncles of all time) is the debate over NCAA athletes getting paid. Below is Hater J's perspective (he is working for THE MAN at the moment and can not break out of his shackles long enough to type this himself).

1 - If you take a percentage of the profit from TV rights, merchandising, etc.
that would create a huge imbalance in college sports with more players going to bigger schools with more lucrative contracts.
2 - How can you earmark what percentage of school merchandise is attributable to the said sport and the actual player's performance? At Michigan State for example (which has huge enrollment and alumni based on being a state university), unless a t-shirt says "MSU Football" or "MSU Basketball", any school merchandising sales can come from a number of places such as "I went there" or "My kid goes there" or "I just liked the colors because it matched my perp shoes" or "I don't care that the team is 3-9 and not making a bowl...they're still my team".

3 - If you are paying the athletes, do the 12th man on the basket ball team or the 3rd string/redshirt QB get paid the same as the starting QB or the double/double power forward?

4 - Schools claim that merchandising and TV revenue allow for them to put up better facilities such as libraries, dorm upgrades, etc. If a portion of these revenues are distributed to the athletes, then guess who's tuition goes up?

5 - Do track and field athletes get some love? How about the volley ball team? The baseball team? The softball team? Those all get some time on ESPN too. Shouldn't they get some joy also?

6 - Do these athletes still get a free scholarship that translates into about 150-170K with room, board, books, tutors, meals, supplies (like computers, and any other crap you need for your major), etc?

I think the most simple way of doing it is giving the students the same pay an RA gets. RA's, or whatever other shyt campus job, pays somewhere slightly above minimum wage and gives the student some walk around money. An athlete has to spend 20 hours (or something like
that) a week in practice. That's time they can't work or do anything to bring in any cash for at least a sandwich.

(Bagel's notes): I don't feel too strongly about this either way, but I agree these guys should see some of the huge profits that their athletic exploits generate. Not sure if any of these guys are hurting for sandwiches, especially at the major programs. Escalades, coke and strippers, maybe.