preview

College Footballs Overpaid

Decent Essays
Open Document

Twenty eight of the division one college football teams generated over 100 million dollars in revenue last year (Schroeder). The 65 universities that make up the Power Five conferences, plus Notre Dame, totaled $6.3 billion in revenue during 2014-15 as compared to the $11 billion brought in by the NFL. With the amount of publicity that the colleges and NCAA are receiving along with the money that they bring in from college football, the players deserve a portion of the money rather than just a scholarship. The revenue brought in by these colleges are often seen going to the coaching staff and the overpayment of their coaches as seen when Jim Harbaugh transitioned into being a college coach but received the same wage. The NCAA has hesitated …show more content…

Even “NFL-ready players” who are only one year out of high school have little choice but to play college football in order to maintain and showcase their skills until they’re “old enough” to play professionally. This process limits the players to have to play at the collegiate level where they won't receive any compensation other than a scholarship despite the potential they have (Mclaughlin). It is common in other sports such as soccer and basketball to see athletes straight out of high school playing at the professional level and receiving pay for their work (Neuhauser). These football players who are considered NFL ready should receive a salary to compensate for the money they could have been making in the NFL. The NCAA keeps member universities from offering players a salary in excess of room, board and tuition. The NCAA is effectively a cartel — an organization of independent entities that acts as a cohesive unit — to which all who want to play football professionally must donate three years of service …show more content…

While the NCAA may be making most of its money off of college football it would be unruly to not pay other sports such as soccer, lacrosse, and basketball for both men and women. A plan proposed for the payment of college players known as the “Free Market Plan” is the idea to let the market decide how much the players make (Dohrmann). Rather than allow schools to give stipends under the watchful eye of the NCAA, advocates believe athletes should be free to make as much money as they can on their own and accepting whatever lucrative inducements an agent might offer in the hopes of landing him as a future client . A problem with this plan is the NCAA’s approval due to the fact that the more affluent schools would be able to purchase the players that they want. This would leave schools with less money to essentially have worse teams which goes against NCAA’s policy of “one school should not, because of affluent boosters or rule-breaking coaches, have an unfair advantage over another” (Dohrmann). The only way to let the free market decide while maintaining some semblance of a level playing field is to have a clearinghouse for endorsement deals and payments from agents. It would also make sure that no deals are made just to give a program a competitive advantage and that none of a player's compensation is being facilitated by

Get Access