Big 12 football: Bowlsby says no to pay for play

Do not count Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby among the proponents of paying athletes. “If we establish an employer/employee relationship, we will have lost our way,” Bowlsby said.

Bowlsby has several arguments against the idea. Starting with the notion that football and basketball players should be paid, since they part of the major-revenue sports.

Bowlsby refers to it as “labor value.” “I don’t think anyone will suggest that wrestlers don’t work as hard as football players, or track and field athletes don’t work as hard as basketball players.

“It has to be for all athletes. Many of our kids labor in obscurity and work just as hard as many that play in front of the big crowds.

“If we ever get to resemble professionals, we will have made a major mistake.”

Bowlsby said college athletics remain not a training ground for professional sports but an avenue to life success.