Quote Originally Posted by Tribe4SF View Post
Fear of change is pretty natural. New models for collegiate athletics are a given at this point. As one of the Dartmouth players pointed out.. "Our Managers have always been paid. We players have not." No question that the NCAA, schools, and conferences have gotten away with restraint of trade forever. College sports will be around, but look a bit different.
Compensation comes in many different forms. Over my professional career, I have been paid in cash, stock, bonus trips, an automobile, etc.... all of which have been taxed. If players are considered employees, their scholarships are now considered compensation and taxed as thus. I know Dartmouth doesn't give traditional athletic scholarships, but now any trip that is above the federal reimbursement rates would need to be taxed. I have a little knowledge of how the NFL paid players a few years ago. They were considered "Entertainers" and as such their compensation was broken down into performances. They received a check for each game. So a 16 game season, they got 1/16 of their pay every week. And that check was taxed based on the location of the performance i.e. when playing the Jets you are hit with NY state Taxes, the Titans or the Cowboys, no state taxes, No taxes that week. Now, you have an athletic department that has to try and figure out all this payroll...so at what point do they say screw it, we are offering club sports? Besides, I hate doing my taxes in a state that doesn't even have a state income tax, I can't imagine how complex it would be to do it in 5 or 6 different states every year!