To Pay or Not to Pay?
The term student-athlete was first crafted by Walter Byers in 1951, the first President of the NCAA. Student-athlete refers to a student enrolled full-time at an accredited four-year academic institution who also participates full time in collegiate athletics. The NCAA has stated time and time again that these students are not employees of the university they attend or of the NCAA and refuse to compensate them for their talent. My position on this matter is that student athletes should be given a form of monetary compensation for their athletic talent at the school. The majority of student-athletes on full-time scholarships are currently living below the federal poverty line; an athlete's chance of being compensated after
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Last year the NCAA March Madness tournament alone generated $989 million, almost a billion dollars just from the tournament. Division I football programs generated $1 billion dollars last year while basketball programs generated $300 million (USA Today). The NCAA likes to throw out the statistic that only fourteen schools reported a profit last year from their athletic programs, but this number is misleading according to USA Today economists. Most schools will reshuffle their budgets to make it appears as though they are not generating a larger amount of profit. However, schools very often will find themselves with millions of dollars in generated revenue and will simply spend it either on coaches salaries or updating sports facilities to look like luxury spas. Thanks to some clever budgeting a school can appear to only generate a small profit each year when in reality they are bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars. Say for example we decided to pay student athletes $5,000 a year, the NCAA argues that they do not have the money to cover such a cost so therefore it is impossible. If you were to pay all 460,000 athletes $5,000 a year it would only come out to be 4% of the total budget for the NCAA and the universities (Forbes). That does not include jersey sales or advertisements for the students. While the NCAA wants people to believe it cannot afford to pay all of its athletes, the reality is that not only could they afford to pay, but they could do so with hundreds of millions to
The NCAA is guiding them in directions to make money for everybody while doing everything possible to keep the players out of the money. College athletes deserve profit because they bring in large revenue into their program and the NCAA, and they invest tons of time into their sport. The athletes at these institutions bring in tons of money into their school every year and deserve compensation. These universities are exploiting these athletes by not giving them back what they make for their school. The numbers say it all when it comes to the scamming of the athletes by their own schools.
Should college athletes receive pay for what they do? You’ve probably seen this pop-up a million times, and thought about it. You’ve probably figured why should they? Aren’t they already receiving benefits from a full-ride scholarship? But then an athlete will get caught up in a scandal like Johnny Manziel, where he signed footballs for money.. then you think well why shouldn’t he receive that money? And you then contradict yourself. But shouldn’t they receive money from outside sources, and then the benefits from the school. Not get a salary from the school just the benefits they’re already receiving, and money from sponsors. Wouldn’t that make sense considering the money they’re making the school? According to an ESPN report Alabama University makes $123,769,841 in total revenue from sports. (College Athletics Revenue) Yes ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY THREE MILLION. Yet an athlete from Alabama can only receive benefits from a scholarship.. That doesn’t seem right. You would want to be payed when the opportunity arises. It should only be fair these players get a piece of the revenue pie, after all they are the ones creating the revenue. The players should be getting benefits to allow them to pay for basic college needs, grow up to be responsible adults, and allow the NCAA to thrive. This would allow for the NCAA to truly thrive as a sporting association.
Student-athletes should not be paid to play and the amateur status should remain as it has for generations. Student-athletes have not matured enough at this stage of life to be able to handle all of the additional responsibilities that would be forced upon them with the professional status. Put the almighty dollar aside and let students-athletes be student’s first, amateur athletes second, allowing them to grow and mature into tomorrow’s effective leaders.
College athletes generate millions of dollars for their schools each year, yet they are not allowed to be compensated beyond a scholarship due to being considered amateurs. College athletes are some of the hardest working people in the nation, having to focus on both school courses and sports. Because athletics take so much time, these student-athletes are always busy. College football and basketball are multi-billion dollar businesses. The NCAA does not want to pay the athletes beyond scholarships, and it would be tough to work a new compensation program into the NCAA and university budgets. College athletes should be compensated in some form because they put in so much time and effort, generating huge amounts of revenue.
Some people argue about the poor financial situation some colleges are in and their ability to afford to pay student athletes this additional money. This does not make sense, though because Universities make tons of money off of their tuition and overpriced room and board. Also, the NCAA could be asked to chip in to pay for these additional scholarships considering that the NCAA, a non-profit organization, makes six billion dollars annually (Frederick 2013).
Student athletes should not be paid more than any other student at State University, because it implies that the focus of this university is that an extracurricular activity as a means of profit. Intercollegiate athletics is becoming the central focus of colleges and universities, the strife and the substantial sum of money are the most important factors of most university administration’s interest. Student athletes should be just as their title states, students. The normal college student is struggling to make ends meet just for attending college, so why should student athletes be exempt from that? College athletes should indeed have their scholarships cover what their talents not only athletically but also academically depict. Unfortunately, the disapproval resides when students who are making leaps academically are not being offered monetary congratulations in comparison to student athletes. If the hefty amount of revenue that colleges as a conglomerate are making is the main argument for why athletes should be paid, then what is to stop the National Clearinghouse from devising unjust standards? Eventually if these payments are to continue, coaches, organizations, and the NCAA Clearinghouse will begin to feel that “c...
It is reported that the NCAA makes $6 Billion annually. This is all from TV deals, advertisement, merchandise, and sponsorships. All this money because of the players and they don’t see any of it. How would you like to go work for a company make that company a million dollars and you not receive a dime of it? It just doesn’t sound right. Especially when you take into the fact that these players are putting their bodies at risk for their school. A college football player for example, his body takes so much punishment on the football field and injuries absolutely happen and he isn’t getting paid to put his body on the line. What happens to these kids’ scholarships if they suffer a career ending injury? If they were receiving some sort of compensation they can help pay their way forward to having an education if they can’t play a sport again because of an injury. These same athletes are also getting stuck with the medical bills when they get hurt. For example at the University of Maine athletes are responsible for the first $10,000 in deductibles (Emmert, Mark 2014). How is this fair they aren’t even receiving any money to pay for this
They are students receiving access to a college education through their participation in sports, for which they earn scholarships to pay tuition, fees, room and board, and other allowable expenses,” (Mitchell). “There has been major discussion recently if college athletes should or shouldn't be paid while they are in school. The first
As I said in my last paragraph, many athletes who receive full ride scholarships have been given thousands of dollars for tuition, a meal plan, free books, and school fees, just to play sports. These athletes are also entitl...
College athletes should be paid! College athletes are often considered to be some of the luckiest students in the world. Most of them receiving all inclusive scholarships that cover all the costs of their education. They are also in a position to make a reputation for themselves in the sporting world preparing them for the next step. The ongoing debate whether student athletes should be paid has been going on for years. These athletes bring in millions of dollars for their respective schools and receive zero in return. Many will argue that they do receive payment, but in reality it is just not true. Costs associated with getting a college education will be discussed, information pertaining to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and benefits student athletes receive. First, I’ll start with costs associated with college and most of all why student athletes should be paid!
The reality is that college sports programs, namely the "big name" programs such as football and basketball programs at marquee schools, are businesses that stand to make a large amount of money for their respective schools. According to an article in the Harvard Journal on Legislation, "[i]n the past twelve years, the amount of money generated by these two sports has increased nearly 300%, such that they now fund almost all other sports programs. 41 Harv. J. on Legis. 319. The student-athletes who participate in these programs are part of the reason why these schools stand to make such handsome profits: through ticket sales, endorsement deals, broadcasting deals, and jersey sales (although player names cannot be represented on jerseys), among other things.
A question that has been rising to the surface lately is “should college athletes be paid a salary?” One cannot get on the internet now a day and not see some kind of college sport headline. The world of college sports has been changed greatly the past decade due to college athletes. These athletes make insurmountable amounts of money and an unbelievable amount of recognition for the universities. The athletes that provide and make a ton of revenue for the colleges also spend a huge amount of their time practicing and staying committed to sports, and have to maintain good grades in school which requires quite a bit of overtime. Because college athletes generate massive amounts of revenue and put in massive amounts of personal time for their individual universities, colleges need to financially compensate players for their contributions. The colleges that these superstars represent are reaping all of the benefits of the accomplishments the athletes have, yet the big named players are making nothing from what they do.
College athletics is a billion dollar industry and has been for a long time. Due to the increasing ratings of college athletics, this figure will continue to rise. It’s simple: bigger, faster, stronger athletes will generate more money. College Universities generate so much revenue during the year that it is only fair to the players that they get a cut. College athletes should get paid based on the university’s revenue, apparel sales, and lack of spending money.
Wake up in the morning, every morning, before the sun has risen. Hit the gym at five in the morning, before long, head to school, and finally precede back to working out and practicing. This is the exhausting day-to-day life of the majority of college athletes. Athletes that spend countless hours working with the result that they can be the best they can possibly be. At their best they make their school millions and millions of dollars and the maximum they can receive out of it, is a free education. College athletes should receive a stipend to play their sport. There is not much of a difference between keeping a college scholarship and keeping a job in a professional sports team, they bring millions of dollars to their school each year, and
“Definition of indentured servant, you work for accommodations and food.” (Arian Foster, Get schooled Netflix documentary). This definition could also describe a college athlete. College athletes have been making the NCAA millions of dollars for decades. All the athletes want is money to help them get by in school, but because we are not paying them they leave for the pros as soon as they can. So now these kids are not getting the education they should, but instead are just trying to make money. College athletes deserve to be paid, if the NCAA is making money from their play. The NCAA is a trap for athletes to make colleges money, colleges don’t care enough for the individual athletes, and these athletes do so much for their colleges. These are just a few of many examples of how the NCAA is deceiving and using these athletes.