Sports talk with Jordan Lumsden

You do the math.

At $20 a ticket multiplied by the slightly north of 93,000 seats at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the University Of Southern California is making an average of almost $2,000,000 per football game in revenue. Don’t forget to multiply that by the number of home games per year, 6, bringing your grand total to nearly $12,000,000 per season on ticket sales alone.

So should the student athletes drawing in these huge crowds be paid for their play?

No.

Although collegiate athletics, such as football and basketball, are drawing in record-breaking crowds, student athletes need to remember why they are there. They enrolled in school to get an education first and foremost. College is where you learn the necessary skills to make responsible decisions later in life.

When learning a new skill, one way to better understand it is to break the process down. This helps fully understand the basic fundamentals of whatever it is you are learning.

The same is true here.

College is a place you learn how to make money, not a place to make it.

Many of these student athletes grew up in low-income neighborhoods. They’ve had to struggle most of their lives and now, for many of them, they are lucky enough to receive free education and are projected millionaires in four years or less.

But like anyone, if money is dangled in front of your face, you might just take the bait. San Francisco 49ers running back Reggie Bush did just that.

Bush spent his collegiate career at USC where he broke numerous rushing records and helped the Trojans capture 34 consecutive wins in a three-year span. Controversy surrounded Bush and USC after he left the school and entered the NFL.

During Bush’s time at USC his family was allegedly living at a property in southern California owned by a sports marketer looking to pursuit Bush as a client. The NCAA highlighted improper benefits to a player as one of the violated policies and issued USC football with a two-year bowl ban and four years probation. Bush eventually returned his 2005 Heisman trophy award.

Although a decision he most likely regretted, I do understand where he’s coming from. Bush, like many NFL athletes, struggled financially growing up. This was a young man who saw an opportunity to provide for his family. Even though his actions were wrong, his intentions were right. For that there’s a certain amount of respect has to be given.

Bush is the perfect example of the mistakes someone that age can make, especially financially. Although his heart was in the right place, he didn’t fully think about the consequences that could and did follow.

USC has since completely erased Bush’s name from campus making his time at the school virtually nonexistent.

Money and this sports agency tarnished Bush’s collegiate career.

The part that makes college athletics so great is the fact that there is no money involved. These players are going out week to week and laying it all out on the line for each other and their school. That is pride. That’s why we love it.

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