Essay On College Sports

With college basketball and football originating in the 1800’s, the game has had much time to adapt. Over the years, the sports have become more and more popular, gaining a bigger fan base, which has resulted in substantial profits from the sale of merchandise representing the teams and players. There is one thing that has not changed; all of the athletes are still not being paid. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, is an organization that regulates most aspects of

The NCAA has been around and evolved since the beginning of college sports. This organization is a non-profitable organization, but ironically makes more than millions of profit per year. Branch states “that money comes from a combination of ticket sales, concession sales, merchandise, licensing fees, and other sources—but the great bulk of it comes from television contract”(pg. 228). Meanwhile, the student-athletes do not receive any of this money. This is the start of an unsubstantial business between universities built around amateurism.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is an $11-billion-dollar industry that provides high school athletes the opportunity to continue their athletic careers while still getting an education. The NCAA is divided into three divisions; Division 1,2and 3. Between these 3 divisions the NCAA accounts for 72,788 football players. At the Division 1 level, athletes are awarded full athletic scholarships, also known as “full rides.” These athletes are in the top tier of their sport and some may even go on to play professionally. Division 2 athletes are looked at as 2nd best in comparison to Division 1 but nonetheless still have a lot of competition and offer partial athletic scholarships. The last of part of the NCAA is Division 3, where no athletic scholarships are awarded. One of the most controversial topics about athletic scholarships is why Division 3 schools don’t get any and this is best exemplified through the sport of football. In my opinion, all NCAA football players should receive full athletic scholarships regardless of division.

Every Saturday during the fall season, everyone will tune into watch the coveted college football games. Watching The Ohio State Buckeyes or The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, battle on the field to see who is the true victor. But no one every truly ask what the money is behind the programs. The Ohio State Football teams annual cost is $34,026,871 while the whole university annual budget is $5.7 Billon (). Just the football team is .59% of all the budget, even though this seems like a very minimal number it is quite huge mathematically. If the college would choose to make budget cuts the odds of the program being cut are so minimal, they would rather cut the English department even though it is way less beneficial for the college. College football is one of the few varsity level sports that all colleges have, most sports programs a black-holes money wise. Sucking in vigorous amount of funds while returning little to none. In 2014 out of the 130 DI Football teams only 24 teams actually made a profit from the sport (). Football being the number one sport in most colleges. The bigger the school the more money it will be able to produce from the football team but this is very rare. The whole subject about why college sports are even a thing is very controversial. One has to truly look at if the whole athletic programs are truly worth it. College athletic programs are very controversial and should be cut in some schools. College athletic programs cost way too much, are rarely

Collegiate athletics is a multibillion dollar business. Competition across basketball, football, and other popular sports generate just as much money as they do excitement and entertainment to sports fans and the casual viewer. The driving force behind this behemoth are the athletes that don the uniform of the competing universities. These athletes, the most of which are black, dedicated time synonymous to working a full time job on top of being student in order to serve this money machine. What is so damning about this system then? The truth is that the student-athletes do not see a penny of the millions they earn for their schools. On top of that, they are stretched beyond reasonable means in order to serve their athletic program. In return, they are compensated with scholarships to attend the college. However, what might seem like a coveted opportunity is not what it seems.

Colleges bring an incredible amount of money by their sport teams alones. According to John Brill, a sports journalist writer, “College football and basketball generate more than the National Basketball Association, a total of more than $6 billion yearly.” The money made from these sporting events are not being used correctly which is frustrating many college athletes. The money that is being

College football rules many regions of the United States of America, especially in the southern regions. Alumni of the certain colleges and other supporters pack respective stadiums every Saturday and passionately cheer for their teams in an attempt to ensure victory. Undoubtedly, there are few traditions in the United States that compare to College Football. The sport ensures that family members have something to relate to, brings communities much closer, and creates great moments shared around the country. Perhaps most importantly, there is one more thing that college football does quite well. The sport regularly and consistently creates the interest and demand required in order to make a considerable profit. However, the student athletes most responsible for the increased revenue enjoyed by the respective Universities around this country do not receive any of the money, despite the fact that they are the ones most important to the financial inflow. Many people believe that it is unjust to not financially reward the people most responsible for making the team money, and that college football players should be adequately compensated for their performances on the gridiron.

During the early 20th century college football played a bad role and influence on American culture by diminishing a good college education. I oppose the role that college football had on American culture because it took away from the main purpose of going to college, which was getting a good education for most Americans. Since the US was involved in World War 1, many veterans came back to the US with no jobs. College coaches were exploiting veterans by concentrating on making their team better rather than wanting them to focus on an education, so that they could get a good job in the future.

College athletics assume a large role in the entertainment industry of America. Each week, millions of people tune in to watch their favorite team, buy tickets to go to the games, or spend money on university athletic merchandise to show their pride. The NCAA and universities benefit enormously from college sports. The top 10 total revenues generated by universities were all well over the $100,000,000 mark in 2012 (“College Finances 2012”). The University of Texas tops the list with $163,295,115 total revenue from athletics (“College Finances 2012”). Last football season, Texas A&M University quarterback Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy. As the first freshman to ever win the trophy, he propagated over 1.8 million media impressions which translated to $37 million of media exposure (Cook). The University’s licensing revenue jumped 23% this past year due to the success of one player (Cook). The NCAA itself generated $871,600,000 in revenue from the championship games (“College Finances 2012”). All of this revenue is impossible without the student-athletes. The NCAA is strict on making sure that athletes should be treated no different from any other student (Blias). However, the athletes are involved in a heavily commercialized multi-billion dollar industry. As amateurs, athletes remain restricted solely to scholarships as the only form

What college teams are not anymore, are sports teams that represents their schools. As stated by Dan Wetzel “they are profit points that command their own cable television networks, massive stadiums, huge media rights, national tournaments and billions and billions in revenue” (Wetzel, 2014). As identified previously, both basketball and football are referred to when discussing college sports that generate the large revenue. The transformation of what college sports has become cannot be more evident, especially during March Madness for the NCAA. With these factors in mind, Division I football and men’s basketball players do not merely play a sport of leisure. According to Edelman, “rather, they are core members of their university’s marketing team, as well as the labor force behind a lucrative

The author said, “according to the NCAA, 43% of the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision lost money on their programs.” This really emphasizes how detrimental the football program can be for a school. It also affects the other students attending the college or university. Bissinger writes, “the athletic department in 2008-2009 took in over $13 million in university funds and student fees, largely because the football program cost so much” (26). This means that people not involved in football, or even not any sport at all are paying for something that doesn’t even pertain to them.

Personally, I think there is a lot of problem with NCAA, at first I agree with the NCAA why they don’t want to pay the students athlete. Like the NCAAn says their student because they students they shouldn’t get pay like professional cause they still amateur, but the more I watch the video the more my mind started to change. They call the student athletes armature because of that they can’t get pay. Another word, they saying their students if they pay them that would take away they tittle as students and be professional not as students’ athlete. But That confuse me a lot if they see them as student, why don’t they let them be students first? If they not paying them because their student than they should let them be student first. I know They

The “contradiction at the heart of big-time college football,” as Michael Oriard describes it, is the competing demands of marketing and education. The 1890s proved to university administrators that there was an enormous market for collegiate football, which postulated opportunities for university building. Since this ubiquitous realization, there has coincided this blatant, yet unchanging contradiction that academic institutions are permitted to profit off of the services provided by its student-athletes while the athletes must idly accept that they are amateurs, donating their efforts to their respective schools. The schools then direct this revenue toward strengthening their athletic departments, and thus continues this seemingly endless growth of big-time college sports, all while athletes remain uncompensated and academics continue to take a backseat.

Jacksonville University was founded in 1934. It started out a college that only offered night classes, but it is now a four-year higher learning institution and moved to its present location in the Arlington area of Jacksonville in the early 1950s.

It’s Saturday. Everyone is gearing up for the big game. The alumni are out in the parking lot firing up the grills for tailgating. The students are waiting in long lines to make sure they can get a ticket into the student section. Kids are running into the team store, eagerly looking for their favorite jersey, or perhaps a cool hat and a foam finger. The concession lines go around the stadium. The stadium is sold out beyond capacity, stuffing people into the luxury viewing booths and overcharging the seats way up in the nosebleeds, up in the spots where you can hardly see what’s happening. After the game ends, students and families alike head toward the fan shop again, rushing to find something they can get autographed by the star quarterback. Perhaps one of the biggest facets of the American culture that can’t be found anywhere else in the world is the concept of college sports. The United States is the only country on the globe where students at institutions of higher learning compete in collegiate athletics against each other. Every year, college sports captivate the entire nation; people want to cheer on their school or alma mater and showcase the pride they have in their program, and universities look on with glee as they rake in the benefits of such a lucrative market. Here’s the catch: the players, the ones who work tirelessly, who shed blood, sweat, and tears for their schools, don’t see any of it. Who are the ones whose names are chanted religiously by the fans?