Essay On College Athletes

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.

Scholarships are inadequate to fulfill the full cost of the college experience, As a result they find themselves struggling financially but do not have enough time to find a part time job as they are busy 80 hours a week between school and their sport. They bring in billions of dollars in revenue for the NCAA but they do not see one dime of it as it is distributed back to the schools to pay for the coaches and staff. Even though a coach has a significant impact on the success of the team , the players are the ones that actually risk their bodies day in and day out.These students are being pulled away from their homes to be exploited while their coaches are making a six figure salary. It is not fair that the star player of a university, can struggle to even afford to eat a piece of pizza outside of school. That being said division 1 college athletes, who are making millions of dollars for their schools should get an allowance teach them financial responsibility which can ultimately help the players more in their

As previously stated, Texas football players’ fair market value yields at $578,000 per year. At the very least there remains a total of $567,000 per player that remains unknown as to where it goes. College athletes do not deserve all the money they bring in, but if one really thinks about it, nowhere else in the world of economics does a person spend over forty hours a week and brings in $500,000 per year for their institution, yet they receive compensation of $11,000. The numbers do not match up. (Frommer, 2013) These numbers definitely do not match up when one takes into account coaches’ salaries. (Berkowitz, 2012) The average coach NCAA division 1 basketball acquires a salary of $1.47 million per year. With Duke’s head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, making the large sum of $7.2 million per year . While Duke’s athletic director, Kevin White, brings in close $1 million per year. After looking over these stats, one quickly realizes why college athletes do not get paid. In 80% of states the head coach of a college football or basketball team has the highest salary. In North Carolina the average income per household comes in at $45,570 while the tax rate comes in at 5.8%. This means that on average each person in North Carolina pays a little over $2,600 in state income taxes each year. Enough money goes into the officials of colleges and college athletics. The NCAA does not pay the people actually doing the service just so these high-ranking

College sports coming to an end with another emotional chutes and ladders match between the best teams within the NCAA. March Madness knocking at the door, along with a overwhelming “$11 billion for three weekends” that these teams pull in for NCAA (Michael). You have the best athletes in college competing in one of the most vigorous sports competitions in the USA. Now exactly how much do these athletes get paid for bringing in billions of dollars and putting on these shows for thousands if not millions to watch? Absolutely none of that is given to them not even a penny. There payment is the $5,000 to $10,000 scholarship that some of them have. Video games, ticket sales, advertising, and merchandise

College athletics have become popular over time over the past few decades. Student athletes need to be determined, committed, and focused. The biggest trait needed by the athlete is dedication. The amount of dedication needed to be a student athlete could be overwhelming. Between classes and workouts could exhaust even the best athlete mentally and physically. Students athletes should be proud to get free education and play sports, but education should be valued more than sports . As an athlete, time management is the key to surviving. Athletes need a balance, maintaining at least 40 hours of practice a week, 30 hours a week of class time, and getting some sleep into their schedule too. Maintaining all of these aspects deserves some more credit, more than just a free education. The NCAA can afford to pay athletes, the NCAA makes about 12 billion every year. The NCAA money comes mostly from TV and marketing and makes up less than 10% of all college athletics money. The rest comes from school ticket sales and student fees from the school itself. The NCAA since 2006 profit have doubled since time has gone by and is still increasing from tournaments and school funding. Athletes play an active role in the promotions of these activities,

Many people disagree on the argument whether or not college athletes should receive compensation. For starters college athletes shouldn’t be paid because there are no other scholarships or college activities that offer compensation. College athletes are not professionals they’re still just amateurs competing against other amateurs. “The NCAA’s position is that they are amateurs, people who play for the love of the game, not for personal gain. The players’ first priority, the NCAA says, is receiving a good education” (“Compensation for College Athletes”1). If a student goes to college their main focus should be on educating themselves and in a way college athletics is their lesson preparing them to make money with that profession. College athletes should not gain monetary compensation because they already receive

The NCAA argues that “student athletes shall be amateurs and should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises” (Should Athletes Get Paid?) However, paying athletes would benefit athletes who struggle with money issues. These “full ride” scholarships given to the best athletes do not actually cover all of their expenses. For example in 2010, “Duke Basketball players were valued at $1,025,656 while the players were living just $732 above the poverty line and a scholarship shortfall of $1,995” (“The Price of Poverty in Big Time College

According to the NCAA, 81% of its money comes from televised games. This means that they are making 81% of all of their money because they signed a 10.8 billion dollar contract with CBS sports and Turner Broadcasting. All this to say that the NCAA is making billions of dollars to showcase their best athletes and they don’t share a single dime of that money with their “beloved” athletes. I believe that not only the schools should be paying the athletes, but the NCAA should be paying their athletes because they are the ones making all of their money and they aren’t even the ones who are giving scholarship money to the athletes. “The fair market value for the average FBS football player is $137,357 per year, and the fair market value for the average men's basketball player is $289,031 per year. Right now the average player earns just $23,204 in scholarship money” (Manfred). According to the official ESPN website, the university that brought in the most money in 2008 was the Alabama Crimson Tide bringing in a total revenue of $123,769,841 just from their athletics. This is including ticket sales, student fees, playing away games, donations, university subsidies, media rights, and branding deals. However, the average scholarship to an NCAA division 1 school is only worth $14,270 (Scholarship). So, according to those two sources, it is safe to say that college athletes are not getting paid what they deserve. The school are bringing in well over $100,000,000 and the athletes that are bringing in most of this money are making not even 1/100 of

One of the things to know is that there is plenty of money generated from colleges. They generated millions of dollars from sports and athletes. According to Forbes, the South East conference generated over $400 million last year. The author stated “last year the conference generated four hundred and seventy-six million between payouts from football bowl games, the NCAA

The multibillion-dollar industry that college sports has become has richly rewarded the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), university athletic programs and top football and basketball coaches. Athletes, however, continue to play under a decades-old system in which scholarships pay for tuition and room and board but fall short of covering the full cost of attending school. In return, players are expected to maintain a rigorous training and playing schedule while keeping up their studies. This falls very short to being fair for the student athletes, who are the ones putting their sweat, hearts, bodies and health on the line, day in and day out.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, or so they say. In this case the phrase holds true, as it would be foolish to change a wildly successful college athletics system. Currently, athletes are able to earn their degree for free, while playing the sport they love, in a harmonious reltionship between amatuer athlete and college sports. Nonetheless, critics call for colleges to pay athletes a portion of the profits generated off of their services even though college athletes are already paid in the form of scholarships, free housing and other benefits. Furthermore, changes, such as sharing profits with student athletes could ruin a system that sucessfully supplies us with the ameteur sports that we love, while providing athletes with a free college education.

College athletics are a huge part of the culture of the university and sports. The best of the best high school athletes go on to compete at an even bigger platform and competition through college sports. Universities put in money through recruitment to find the right kind of athlete for their school. These athletes, through all their hard work and commitment, are rewarded different scholarships to continue their sports. At the top level of college sports, athletes receive a plentiful scholarship of full tuition and room and board. That type of scholarship can range from $100,000 to even a $180,000 depending on the school. Other students at the same university, who are not playing sports, are expected to cover this tuition themselves. This large sum encourages athletes to put all their time and resources to the sport that they came to school to play. Even with the scholarship money that is given, some believe that college athletes should be paid to play their sports. This is a problem especially at the highest levels in NCAA football and basketball. NCAA sports have a unique competitive atmosphere that also encourages education; however, that would be lost if college athletes were being paid to play.

Only 30% of Division 1 basketball players who accepted scholarships will graduate college, and only 40% of football players with scholarships will get a degree. Just how well spent would the money be that college athletes were to receive if over half of these student-athletes do not care enough to graduate college even with scholarships? Schools would spend millions of dollars a year paying these athletes and it is very probable that much of it would be spent irresponsibly. We have seen many examples of college athletes spending money given to them in careless ways in the history of college athletics. Scholarship athletes competing at the collegiate level should not get compensated because they are amateur athletes, many of them are already receiving compensation in the form of scholarships, and paying every college athlete would ultimately be a costly burden to taxpayers and fans.

A college education is the most valuable education that most only dream of, a dream not made reality due to not being financially fit to pay for college. Instead of paying full tuition, students are able to pay for college with an athletic scholarship. Whether it be a full ride or the scholarship paying part of it students can play sports while their studies are being covered. But a scholarship doesn't cover necessities like living, food, and travel expenses, but the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) overlooks the problem that college athletes face everyday. “The governing body of big-time college sports, the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association], is caught in a huge contradiction—trying to reconcile a multibillion-dollar industry while claiming it is really an amateur activity. That it is a huge money making industry is beyond dispute” (Stanley).

To be an athlete, especially one of the three sport variety, is a huge undertaking, as it requires year-round commitment and a passion for hard work. Personally, I have played consistently in three sports since the fifth grade, and I believe this lifelong dedication has paid off for me. It’s impossible to put all of your energy into being an athlete, because while becoming successful in sports is one thing, it is an entirely more important matter to become a successful student. Balancing this can be hard and it is that balance which must be perfected in order to become a good athlete. An athlete to me isn't just someone who straps on their jersey and plays a game, it is a person who is dedicated to a sport on and off the field, and someone who exemplifies the best qualities in their environment.