Ethical Issues In College Sports

Collegiate sports have turned into a billion dollar industry and are probably just as popular, if not more popular than professional sports. College athletes put their bodies on the line to play a sport they love, many with hopes and dreams to one day make it to the professional leagues. Athletic facilities are the major money makers for all universities. Colleges bring in billions of dollars in revenue annually, yet athletes do not get paid. Some fans believe athletes should not get paid due to their sports level being “amateurish.”; however, this is far from the truth. There is much more to being a college athlete than just practicing and playing games. These student-athletes must practice, weight lift, go to meetings, travel, go to tutoring and study groups, all the while maintaining sufficient grades. This is very tedious work and is very time consuming. College athletes have a high standard to live up to (Frederick Web; Huma Web; Patterson Web ).

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.

Student athletes at division I schools, where an immense amount of revenue is generated at games and events, are not being paid for their work. This is immoral because the NCAA uses the athlete’s likeness and then the athletes get no direct (monetary) compensation. We should approach evaluating the morality of student athletes using the normative theory of Utilitarianism that supports the claim that student athletes are exploited in their work and on the other hand, Kant Ethics that claims the results of the athletes do not matter, because consequences do not matter.

Student athletes face a major problem that the NCAA holds them accountable. If any student athlete commits what is held as an NCAA violation they are forced to miss playing time or other consequences as well. NCAA violations have become a chronic problem in collegiate sports. When students violate the NCAA rules it can jeopardize their future career in whatever sport they are playing. Some of the rules don’t even make sense they are just useless. These rules need to be dealt with in order for the students to just be able to go along with their lives.

In 1995, several years after he stepped down as the NCAA’s executive director of 36 years, Walter Byers published Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes. The title didn’t belie the book’s content. Among Byers’ confessions was the deception he sought in coining the well-worn phrase “student-athlete” to describe college athletes.

In the article Athletes and Education, Neil Petrie argues, that some colleges let student athletes get little to some amount of homework or projects in classes, while other students have to

This paper explores the novel Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man’s Fight for Justice written by B. David Ridpath, who published the novel in March 2012. This novel is about how Ridpath began working in compliance in intercollegiate athletics and his struggles while trying to create a strong and effective program. Under his program, he worked to make sure that the coaches and athletes at Marshall University would follow the compliance rules, but later he learned that many coaches and athletes did not understand or want to follow the rules of the NCAA. This novel recounts the struggles that Ridpath had to endure as he attempted to educate the coaches and athletes about the rules and regulations, but it also shows that some

The ugly truth behind the money machine that is college sports is that, every year, college athletes are deceived by the institutions the compete for into making them millions of dollars, with relatively little in return. Athletes are said to be given a chance to attend college and to attain a free college degree. However, research has shown that this is not completely true for two reasons. For one, the student athlete will spend most of their time in preparation for competition. Secondly, what education the student athlete does receive hardly serves them outside of maintaining eligibility just so

Robert and Amy McCormick, law professors at Michigan State University, believe that some student-athletes attend college to play sports and that due to scheduling conflicts between class and practices they do not have full choice as to what major they would like to take (Cooper, 12 – 13). “The way football and basketball players in Division I programs manage juggling sport and school, the McCormicks maintain, undermines the NCAA’s contention they are student-athletes.” (Cooper, 12-13).

In the op-ed “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid,” written by Warren Hartenstine analyzes the issue on college football players being paid for their performance on the field. This op-ed article was published in The Baltimore Sun, which is a major newspaper in Maryland. Warren Hartenstine was an assistant dean at a large East Coast school and was playing Division I football while attending one of the Big Ten institutions. While playing football he was also very involved in extracurricular activities with school, such as being in a fraternity, Kappa Sigma. Warren Hartenstine was involved in his school and the schooling system majorly, he believes in having self discipline and dual success in a student’s favorite institution and their higher education.

There are these ongoing stereotypes that student athletes are “dumb,” “lazy,” and “privileged.” It’s understandable that people believe these stereotypes, news magazines and reports are always talking about how athletes are “coddled” and “cheat” their way to success. Though it is nowhere near true for the majority of student athletes, a select few situations encourage this negative categorization of us, thus putting student athletes under even more pressure to perform. Student athletes are constantly misjudged and the assumptions are affecting us.

Whether it be baseball, football, soccer, or basketball, sports are appreciated not only in America, but all over the world. One of these sports that is particularly popular in America is Football. The immense crowds of people who sit at a stadium or on the couch to watch a game never fail to recognize every single play on the field; however, many fans pay little to no attention to one of the most important components of the game, the player-association relationship. When signing a contract with an NFL team an NFL player is effectively dedicating his life to his new organization. His duty is to play for his team in order to make the organization money, and money they make. In the NFL last year “each team received $226.4 million” (Brady 1).

If there’s no contract, does a promise matter? This is a question that many in all kinds of environments might ask. Some say that people are not as honest as they used to be, while others hold out hope that there is some code of honesty in this world. Often a written contract is the safest way to ensure that what is said becomes an actuality. This paper explores both sides to the ethical dilemmas athletes and colleges face in the recruiting process.

A current ethical issue I collegiate athletics would be athletes not being paid. Specifically to revenue generating sports (i.e. basketball and football), I think current rules and regulations are hovering an unethical boundary. There are concerns from societal, organizational, and individual standpoints. From a societal and individual perspective, it would be difficult to find a workforce who generates a billion dollars without having to pay their primary employees (student-athletes). From a teleological approach, a leader drives to find the course of action that will result in the most good. As an organization, the NCAA should follow this approach when analyzing the current set-up of the industry. I’m not sure if paying them directly in relation

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