TJ White Ms. Heise Honors English III 14 May 2015 Paying College Athletes The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) makes over $871 million dollars a year on college athletics. Some studies estimate as much as one billion dollars each year. A college university can make anywhere from several million dollars up to $120 million from their athletic programs. A college athlete gets paid nothing and yet a majority of their time and schedule is dictated by the sport they play. In the book Student Athlete’s Guide to College, author Hillary Abramson says, “If you’ve gotten to the college athletic level, you 're accustomed to making sacrifices to benefit your athletic career. In college these sacrifices only get harder.” (Abramson 8). In Dominic Alessi’s 5 Reasons Why NCAA Athletes Should be Paid, he points out that student athletes schedules are much harder than regular students schedules. “By late afternoon they have already put in a 10 hour work day.” (Alessi). Even though they are considered student athletes, the NCAA actually has rules which allow the athletes to miss class in order to fulfill their team obligations. College athletes should be paid because they spend a majority of their time with their sport, many colleges in the NCAA make a large amount of income from the sports programs, and it would help many athletes learn to be financially stable and help them in the real world as only a small fraction of college athletes turn professional and make a career
College sports are a phenomenon that keeps viewers coming back for more. Stated in an article on Money Nation the NCAA makes an estimated $1 billion per year and this number is still growing. What really is insane is that all that money is made off of college athletes, who don’t get a penny from that total number. The debate on whether or not college athletes should be paid has been around for decades and probably will still be here for years to come. Paying college athletes would make the teams unfair, change how hard players will work to get better, affect the amateurism of college sports, and lastly influence the athlete's willingness to participate 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 ).
College athletic programs are among the most popular sporting events in America. With this rise in popularity, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its colleges have also seen a rise in revenue in recent years. In 2014, the NCAA made over 900 million dollars in revenue. Some collegiate coaches, such as Kentucky’s John Calipari, have yearly salaries in the millions, not counting incentives and endorsement deals. While, clearly, money is being made, NCAA regulations ban collegiate athletes from being paid. Many question this rule and argue that athletes at the college level earn and deserve pay for play. The debate to pay or not to pay college athletes rages on despite the latest court ruling supporting NCAA policies. Because colleges and universities earn such a profit from sporting events, many fans feel it is only fair to distribute some of the wealth to the players. Supporters of paying student athletes feel that these young men and women should be fairly compensated for the time demanded of the athletes and the stress put on the athletes, physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. Those in favor of paying college athletes contend that athletic and academic work ethic at both high school and collegiate levels will improve, as well as, fiscal responsibility in these young adults. The NCAA argues that paying athletes would negatively affect their
Some college athletic departments are as wealthy as professional sports teams. The NCAA has an average annual revenue of $10.6 billion dollars. College athletes should be paid because of the amount of revenue that they bring to their college. Each individual college should pay its athletes based on how much revenue they bring to the college in which they attend. The colleges that win their Division title, their Conference title, or the National championship, give bonuses to the Head coach of that team. If colleges have enough money to give bonuses to coaches, that means they have money that is left over for the athlete who gives them recognition to pay them. College athletes should be paid based solely upon the performance and success that they have.
College is one of the most important phases in your life. It determines your future and what you will be doing with your life whether you are an athlete or not. When the NCAA was first founded in 1905, the opposition to paying student-athletes was akin to the opposition to paying coaches. But coaches today get paid, and handsomely too. The typical Division I college football player devotes 43.3 hours per week to his sport- 3.3 more hours than the typical American
A major argument by those who oppose paying college athletes is that they are amateurs who are students first and athletes second. However, that is not nearly the case. Many athletes in college are there to compete and attend school simply because they have to in order to play for that particular team. The NCAA purposely schedules games for times in which players are guaranteed to miss class, for
Most student-athletes playing a sport in college are there on an athletic scholarship. The scholarship is granted to them by their respective schools and is worth anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000. According to Edelman, the football program alone at University of Alabama brought in roughly 143.3 million dollars of revenue. In perspective, that’s about 2 million per player. Even though Alabama is an elite program and brings in more than the average football program, the NCAA brought in nearly $845 billion in 2011 per Sonny. Now it is obvious there many ways a university brings in revenue, but it is safe to say that a player is worth more than that $100,000 scholarship. In fact, a substantial share of college sports’ revenues stay in the hands of a select few administrators, athletic directors, and coaches. Now think about what college athletics would be without the world class athletes it has today, or without any athletes at all. If a school didn’t “award” athletes these scholarships, there would be
The additional payment would make a college athletic scholarship even more valuable. Therefore, even more high school students would want to get one. Another argument is that the average college athlete works 43.3 hours per week on their sport. The athletes also spend about 10 hours per day on their academics. This adds up to over ninety hours a week (“Should”). There is another argument that suggests that athletes should share in the revenue that they help to bring in. The NCAA is an eleven billion dollar organization (“Should”). College sports are a business, every person that buys a ticket to go either to a football game or a field hockey game generates money (“Paid”). The athletes put their bodies on the line every time they go to practice or a game. Fitzpatrick said, “Players are entitled to some compensation because of the revenue they bring in and the risk of injury they
First of all, college athletes work countlessly to help their team. According to www.listland.com, NCAA athletes spend an average of 43.3 hours on their sport, when the average american works only 34.4 hours per week. NCAA athletes work harder and longer than the average american but don’t have a salary. NCAA’s own tournament schedule require students to miss class for nationally televised games. If students were to miss class, it should be important if they were making money. Also, they are missing out on what they paid for, an education. How the NCAA can repay them is by actually paying the athletes. This why college athletes deserve to be paid, because they work hard for no apparent reason
The purpose of going to college is to get an education, regardless of playing sports. According to D. S. Eitzen, “The universities and the NCAA claim their athletes in big-time sports programs are amateurs and, despite the money generated, the NCAA and its member schools are amateur organizations promoting an educational mission” (n.pg.). If college athletes were paid, they would be more focused on excelling in their sport than school. It is important that college athletes focus on their education to prepare themselves for their future career, since most will not become professional athletes. While it is essential for athletes to focus on their education, they also need to focus on their sport because they are student-athletes, not strictly students. The most successful student-athletes keep the perfect balance between athletics and academics. If the NCAA added a salary to these student-athletes lives’, the balance in their lives would be disrupted and they would be less successful. In March of 2016, the NCAA President, Mark Emmert, stated, “‘Our view is that this is about student-athletes playing other student-athletes, not employees playing employees’” (Karaim “College Athletics”). College athletes are not employees, therefore their sole focus should not be on earning a salary for playing their sport. The NCAA does not want to pay athletes because it believes that by paying college athletes they will be taking the focus away from balancing academics and athletics. Even though the NCAA should not pay college athletes, they should be compensated for dedicating their time to the university in both academics and
In the U.S., on average, 24 schools make over 100 million dollars off NCAA sports per year. According to the NCAA rules & regulations…”student athletes may not be paid for the use of their image or likeness or they would forfeit their amateur status (commercials, endorsing their own products) and their collegiate eligibility could be affected”. Along with that, no athlete is paid for the athletic success they bring to their school. College athletes should be paid, in order to avoid exploitation that takes place when Universities profit, but fail to compensate the student athlete.
When the topic of college comes up, many things come to mind. Those are the glory days for most of us. The college parties, the struggle to find a balance between having fun and maintaining a good GPA, and not to mention the amazing athletic departments that colleges offer. Everyone enjoys sports but does anyone ever stop to wonder how much goes into the preparation for those games? There’s much more effort that’s put into it other than just showing up for practice. It’s definitely a lot more work than your average college student which is why the question of whether or not college athletes should get paid comes up. Football alone brings in millions of dollars a year; and with all of that money floating around, it comes as a surprise that the athletes that put in the work are receiving nothing. Many people think that a scholarship at a high end university is more than enough compensation for playing a simple sport.
Those who argue for paying college athletes all point to a common reason: the hypocrisy of the term “student-athlete”. Although the NCAA repeatedly states that they are students first, this is simply not the case in Division I athletics. As an NCAA Division I athlete—especially in the “big” sports like basketball and football—a student-athlete has to schedule everything around their sport. It is difficult for the athlete to schedule the necessary classes for their major, because they have to find class times that do not interfere with their practices, workouts, and meetings throughout the day. On top of that, Division I athletes often have to miss classes because of games, especially games that are far away and require an overnight stay. Consider the famed “March Madness”. Those basketball players are hardly ever in class during that time. Imagine the players on the teams who make it all the way to the Final Four or championship. They are gone for three straight “weekends” from Thursday through Sunday, not including travel times, and the rest of the days are filled with intensive practices to prepare for the next rounds of the tournament. Too often, they are hardly students at
College athletes make plenty of money for the NCAA and they don’t receive as much as they deserve. Without the athletes, the NCAA would not be able to make TV deals nor generate any money at all. The NCAA made $770 million in TV right deals alone off of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, “March Madness”. How much of that money went to the athletes? None at all. The NCAA makes money off the athletes in many other areas. John Brill, in his article “Should College Athletes be Paid?” informs us that, “The NCAA defies its own devotion to amateurism are the sale of video game licenses, game merchandise, footage, etc. that provide direct profit for the association.” The NCAA is taking advantage of the gifted athletes for a couple years at time to create a large amount of money that only benefits the NCAA and schools. Besides the NCAA using the athletes to make money, the college athletes must put a lot of their time into the sport.
Whether it be football, swimming, basketball, or soccer, many sports have college scholarships available to the athletes that participate in them. These student athletes believe that, in addition to their scholarships they receive, they should be paid for the long hours they put into doing their sport. The National Commision for Certifying Agencies (NCAA) has repeatedly debated over whether or not to pay student athletes like professional players. Many people agree with the athletes, saying that the athletes deserve to be paid salaries as a result of their hard work. However, college athletes already get their school tuition paid for in scholarships, and they are not employees of the school. Additionally, having to pay all the athletes would hurt the overall amount of money the schools make. For these reasons, college athletes should not get paid.