Wikipedia talk:WikiProject College football/Amateur

How WP:ATHLETE affects things

I think something on here should be said about the major shortcoming of WP:ATHLETE, which is that it completely ignores the reality of American sports. Generally speaking, college football and basketball are more "notable" (by any objective metric other than player salary) than almost any other sport or league in the world. In the U.S., I believe that only the NFL has greater popularity, viewership, or revenue generation. That includes major and highest-level professional leagues like the NHL, MLB, NBA, MLS, and MLL, whose athletes all get automatic tickets to notability as long as they play in one game.

Here are some thoughts:

An American basketball player plays college basketball at a major college program. That in itself, does not qualify one under WP:ATHLETE. However, if upon graduation, they play in a minor professional basketball league, such as in Turkey or Romania, which is not uncommon for mediocre college players, they then automatically become notable. This is a major oversight. An American college basketball player who plays on, say a team that gets eliminated in the second round or sweet sixteen of the NCAA tournament, is essentially a household name. Do non-import Turkish basketball players have any real claim to notability other than they get paid to play in a small league? I don't think even the league's stars would likely be recognized outside of Turkey, and maybe not even there.

Here's another interesting example: Reggie Love, a player on Duke's national championship-winning 2001 team, didn't have an article until he joined the Obama campaign staff.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?