Decision Making Among Ncaa Autonomy Institutions

The article responds to the debate about if college athletes should be paid on top of their scholarships/benefits. Critics of college sports argue that these student athletes are being exploited because it is possible for schools to generate revenue from TV contracts and other beneficial arrangements. Ackerman and Scott, both commissioners of a conference/sport, respond by stating “College is a time from learning, and college sports provide young men and women alike a chance to learn, grow, graduate, and achieve great things in life.” The purpose of this article is to educate the audience, critics of

In his article “The Shame of College Sports,” Taylor Branch (2011) describes how universities are focused on advancing and receiving money from major athletics and having star athletes, but how the universities are not caring for the “student athlete.” The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made college sports into an unmerited business. However, as years progress more athletes are getting smart and are taking the NCAA to court. The more students that challenges the rules by the NCAA and take them to court, the secrets and undermining values of the NCAA come out and the closer the NCAA comes to an end.

The NCAA is an easy organization to make fun of. The governing body of college sports loves to wield its hammer of justice in the most uninformed, one-sided way as possible. That is true, although, sometimes we forget about the difficult terrain it has to navigate.

It was this realization that led, then President Teddy Roosevelt in 1905, to call a meeting with college faculty, alumni, and coaches to discuss a reform to the game of football. A meeting that initially focused on the liabilities of football as a collegiate sport led to a series of other meetings with increased input from universities across the nation to discuss the future of intercollegiate athletics, institutional accountability, and its regulation. Ultimately, a committee created to discuss the risks of football turned into a committee that was committed to the regulation of intercollegiate athletics, thus the National Collegiate Athletics Association was formed in 1906.( Evolution of Academic Services dissertation

With the universities pulling in more than twelve billion dollars, the rate of growth for college athletics surpasses companies like McDonalds and Chevron (Finkel, 2013). The athletes claim they are making all the money, but do not see a dime of this revenue. The age-old notion that the collegiate athletes are amateurs and students, binds them into not being paid by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). This pay for play discussion has been talked about since the early 1900s but recently large steps are being made to actually make a change. There are many perspectives on the payment of collegiate student athletes coming from the NCAA, the athletes themselves, and the university officials.

“Schools that offer athletic scholarships have embraced a form of professionalism, and have made a conscious decision to use paid performers to attract revenue and/or publicity to their schools,” (p.4). The main problem with professionalism in college sport is that what began as amateurs’ competing for the pure fun and pleasure of it, with a little bit of school rivalry, has turned into a multi-million dollar business. No longer is the focus on higher education, the focus is now on whether or

480,000 athletes; 19,000 teams; 3 divisions; 1 association (NCAA, n.d.) This is a description of the NCAA today. In the early 1900’s, President Roosevelt got together with Harvard, Princeton and Yale to ban the flying wedge (a very dangerous play in football that caused 18 deaths the previous year.) (Demars, 2016). This was the commencement of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, formally known as the NCAA. The NCAA is an organization that was created to improve collegiate sports, and while it has expanded and done so, there have been challenges and controversy along the way.

Originally the NCAA was established to address and rectify safety issues involving college sports, primarily football. However, since its creation the NCAA has developed to become the largest amateur athletic organization in the United States. Surely this rapid growth of the NCAA was unprecedented, and now they find themselves responsible for merely everything when it comes to dealing with college athletics. Safety used to be the main concern of the NCAA, and now it seems revenue distribution takes precedent in today’s NCAA. Also by being the main shareholders for

As college athletic revenues have skyrocketed over the past decade, the controversial question of whether college athletes should be compensated still remains. In the United States over 100,000 collegiate athletes participate in a variety of different sports across the country and do not receive financial compensation for their performances. Dating back to the 1800’s, intercollegiate athletics have played a very important role in American life, not only for the players but for fans as well. Ranked among the most popular sports in the United States, “College football alone attracted its third-highest attendance total ever with 48,958,547 fans in 2012” (National Collegiate Athletics Association, 2013). Intercollegiate athletics is defined as “involving or involved in competition between colleges”.

Since the 1950’s the NCAA has promoted an idea that student athletes that are given a full scholarships are receiving a free ride for their education. In this article Ramogi Huma, and Ellen Staurowsky highlight controversial issues about how college athletics are run. In the article it is noted that 45% of football, and 52% of basketball players do not graduate. The two programs that revenue the most money for an athletic program are Men’s Football, and Men’s Basketball. The article debates that the NCAA uses the money that athletes in men’s football and basketball generate from their play to assist in funding other programs in the athletic department. While athletes are generating millions of dollars for their universities, the athlete spends on average of $3,222 in out of pocket expenses. While attending these universities these athletes live at or under the poverty line. If these athletes were allowed access to the fair market like the professional athletes, the average FBS football and basketball player would be “worth approximately $121,048 and $265,027 respectively (not counting individual commercial endorsement deals)” (Huma). The NCAA maintains that these athletes are amateurs and to keep their eligibility to participate in college athletics they can receive zero compensation for their talent. By maintaining this view point the NCAA allows athletes to only receive grant-in-aid’s which reward the athlete with free tuition, and room and board and can receive no other

Americans have become consumed by the world of college athletics. This excitement can be seen all around us. Here at the University of Florida, we experience the energy of division I college sports every day. Whether we choose to participate on football game days, wear Gator athletic apparel, or make conversation every day revolving around topics such as “Tebow’s non-existent NFL career” or “that one basketball player that kept us out of the championship”, the star athletes of our universities become household names across the country. Although it seems to be a life of fame and fortune for these individuals that live the life of a star student athlete, it comes at a cost. Today, college athletes are exploited because of the lack of

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.

Not one of these answers will solve the monetary disparity in college sports. Rather, ideas must be combined to reach the most fair and attainable solution. There is no excuse for college athletes to be restricted from earning money from their name, image, and likeness, or for the athletes to be denied compensation for their hard work. Therefore, the solution that is not only the easiest but also the most just is to amend the NCAA regulations to better comply with the Sherman Act and allow college athletes to be compensated through the federal work study

There has been amplified debate on the treatment, education, training of the college athlete. To avoid exploitation of athletes, “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set bylaws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition” (Schneider n.p.). Intercollegiate athletics have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Currently, intercollegiate athletics generate tremendous amounts of revenue, remarkably in football and basketball. College sports in America is a

For the countless numbers of amateur athletes, college sporting events represent high quality competition, education about the sport, and shear excitement from cheering on your favorite team. Although TV networks pay dearly to film the games and observes invest extreme prices to watch, college sporting events do not make hefty profits. According to this document, “the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which has proposed a reform agenda for college sports, about 70 percent of major college programs now lose money.” As shocking as that may seem, expenses are accumulated by the search for revenues, which is extremely consumed with all of the entertainment we are provided with today. With the minuscule number of high school