With the final horn sounding the UCONN Huskies have just won the 2014 Men’s and Women’s College Basketball Tournament for only the second time in school history. As the Huskies celebrated so did the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as they racked up nearly one billion dollars in revenue from the tournament (Morganteen "Should Student Athletes Be Paid? No, Says NCAA President"). This statement brings up the issue whether or not the NCAA is hiding revenue received from college athletics for there own greed. Several people agree that providing student-athletes with a full scholarship is enough for them to be paid with; however, others argue that universities are making too much of a profit off of them.
With many of these ideas being stated many people don’t realize what a student athlete actually is. A student-athlete is defined as an enrolled student who participates in an organized competitive sport sponsored by the college/university in which he or she is enrolled. Student-athletes must balance the roles of being both a student and an athlete at their school. Many student-athletes are subject to eligibility rules to maintain a certain GPA in order to continue participating in their sport. As the NCAA states, “Student-athletes must, therefore, be students first” (Athlete Connections “Student Athlete”). Although this definition states that a student athlete must place their education before anything else it doesn’t state why they can’t receive payment for the revenue they have earned. This is why the NCAA added in a regulation to prevent athletes from boycotting the school. Bylaw section 12.1.2 in the NCCA Summery of Regulations states “Taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport”. This bylaw restr...
... middle of paper ...
...014.
Edelman, Marc. "When It Comes To Paying College Athletes, Title IX Is Just A Red Herring." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 04 Feb. 2014. Web. 09 May 2014.
Ellison, Charles D. "Rather Than Paying College Athletes, Let’s Invest in Their Education." The Root. The Root, 27 Mar. 2014. Web. 07 May 2014.
Koba, Mark. "Top College Players Could Be worth $1M on Open Market." CNBC.com. CNBC, 12 Apr. 2014. Web. 06 May 2014.
Morganteen, Jeff. "Should Student Athletes Be Paid? No, Says NCAA President." NBC News. NBC News, 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 07 May 2014.
Murphy, Kate. "Privilege, Not Job: College Athletes Shouldn't Be Paid." The Pendulum. The Pendulum, 13 Apr. 2014. Web. 06 May 2014.
Nocera, Joe. "Let’s Start Paying College Athletes." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Dec. 2011. Web. 05 May 2014.
Summary of NCAA Regulations - NCAA Division I. N.p.: NCAA, 2011. PDF.
They do not face problems of debt and tuition to the extent that the normal college student faces. Student-athletes are fairly compensated through publicity and financial benefits, and the NCAA should continue to refrain from paying them. The varying size and interest levels of universities makes it almost impossible to fairly pay all athletes. In order to avoid problems like those exhibited by Northwestern’s football team, who recently tried to unionize, all athletes would need to be paid equally. The excitement brought on by college sports is immense, and problems created due to paying athletes would only hurt the tradition and charisma that college athletics offer. In conclusion, College athletes are students and amateurs, not employees. “Remember student comes first in student-athlete”
Daugherty, Paul. "College athletes already have advantages and shouldn't be paid." Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated, 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/paul_daugherty/01/20/no.pay/
Woods, Al. “College Athletes Should Be Paid.” Sports and Athletes: An Anthology. Ed. Christine Watkins. Greenhaven Press, 2009. 87-94. Print.
Posnanski, Joe. “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid.” Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed. Pages 584-590. 2013.
5) Shropshire, Kenneth. “College Athletes Deserve Pay, Olympians Get Paid. So Do College Coaches, Why Not The Stars?” USA Today, Final Edition. 18 Sept. 1996. Sec. A p: 15.
Salvador, Damon. “Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid?” 20 April 2013.Web. 18 May 2014.
“Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?” US News. U.S. News and World Report, Apr. 2013. Web. 05
Mitchel, Horace and Marc Eldelman. Should College Student- Athletes be Paid? 6 January 2014. 6 April 2014 .
Suggs, Welch. "NCAA Faces Wave Of Criticism Over Crackdown On Payments To Players While In High School." 17 Mar. 2000
Another reason that college athletes should not be paid is because they are, under NCAA rules, to be considered amateurs. In the National Collegiate Athletic Association Rules it states, “College athletes are not to be paid, not to cash in on their prominence, never to cross any kind of line of professionalism.” Steve Wieberg, of the USA Today, studied the rules that the NCAA has placed on paying college athletes. He concludes that, “Athletic programs are meant to be an integral part of the educational program” (Weinberg). The reoccurring theme here should be obvious now —education is the most important part of the student’s time in college and being an athlete should come second.
Johnson, Dennis A., and John Acquaviva. "Point/counterpoint: Paying College Athletes."The Sport Journal 15.1 (2012). Questia School. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
...College Athletes Be Paid to Play? Michigan State Law Professors Robert and Amy McCormick Say Division I College Athletes Qualify as 'Employees' under Federal Labor Laws." Diverse Issues in Higher Education 23 June 2011: 12. Questia School. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
The college athletes of their respective sports today, have the opportunity of showcasing their talents in competition on local and national programming on a regular basis which has lately brought attention this controversy, paying college athletes. The issue was brought on by the athletes over time, then caught onto coaches, sports columnists, and fans. The athletes dedicate themselves to the sport to a caliber comparable to the professional tier. The idea of paying the athletes could be considered as they play major factor in reputation of their schools, as well as funds for their schools. However most colleges do not have profitable sports teams. Thus, paying athletes would prove to be a very difficult endeavor and this could destroy college athletics as we know them today.
Mitchell, Horace, and Marc Edelman. "Should College Student-Athletes Be Paid?." U.S. News Digital Weekly 5.52 (2013): 17.Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Despite the strength of the reasons as to why student-athletes should not be paid, there are certain problems with the current NCAA system which can and should be cured. The gap between a full scholarship and the cost of attendance should be covered by the academic institution, especially when a student athlete does not qualify for a loan. Such a policy will go a long way in ensuring that student-athletes are not leaving school to become professional athletes because they cannot pay their bills. Academic institutions should be able to provide at least that much for their athletes. Ultimately, this is a form of payment, but it is not the type of payment that some individuals are advocating. The primary purpose of these institutions is to educate; it is the coach's job to teach, and not just in terms of the sport a student athlete plays. These schools should facilitate the educations of student-athletes through scholarship grants, but not through a system of salaries dependent on supply and demand, which ultimately detracts a student-athlete from picking a school, and detracts them from attending a school, for the right reasons.