Persuasive Essay: The College Basketball Wage Gap

Although technically in charge of all of the coaches, they are often far beyond well-compensated

Women athletes are often exploited by marketers and advertisers who want to increase their revenues and bottom line sales. Advertisers focus more on the women’s “skin” and sex appeal rather than women’s athletes, leaving the impression that woman are not as talented in the sports as male athletes (Roenigk 1). Many spectators and advertisers do not take female professional sports seriously and think that female athletes play more for fun. Therefore, female athletes do not receive as much attention for their talent. Advertisers exploit women athletes by focusing on their looks and appearances. Advertisers focus on the female athlete’s sex appeal rather than talent (Julius 2). Those who are more talented can be drafted to play professionally where they receive a salary. However, marketers still focus more on male sports. Therefore, increased revenue continues as spectators buy tickets to watch professional male athletes. The female athletes continue to generate revenues from sex appeal and looks over talent. This professional salary in no way compares to the pay received by professional male athletes.

     Instead of putting the money in the athlete’s hand, the majority of it goes to the coaches. In the past, Florida Gators coach, Steve Spurrier, signed a six-year contract for over $2.5 million a year, not including benefits. Also, the Iowa State basketball coach earned $1.1 million a year (Espn.com). A scholarship-athlete can’t receive $200 a month but his coach can get $2.5 million a year. Who is the one playing the game, the coach or the athlete? Without the players, coaches would not get paid as much as they do. Nobody goes to the college game to see the coach in action, they go to see the players. The players determine how good the coach is anyway. How well they play reflects the ability of the coach. In the NCAA the coach has complete control over the athlete due to the one-year grant-in-aid contract. “Placing the financial aid awards in the hands of the regular university financial aid committee

Many women professional basketball players work hard, are dedicated, and have a genuine love for the game; however, many of them are very underpaid when compared to the men professional basketball players. The difference between what men and women are paid for the same job is referred to as the gender wage gap. In the United States that gap is 78 cents, so a woman is paid 78 cents for every dollar paid to a man doing the same work. Lynx player Maya Moore said, "We’re not super rich like the guys … but money’s not everything when you’re talking about dynasties and legacies, and inspiring young women and men, and opening people’s minds." Obviously, they do not play for the money, they play because they love the game of basketball. The women basketball players work really hard and inspire more people everyday. They should be awarded and paid the equal amount just as any male basketball player.

“They need to have some real money to walk around with that they can live off of.” Student athletes are not allowed to work much under NCAA regulations, and those who are in favor of paying them often point to that rule as a reason college athletes need money. But that reason isn’t enough for all coaches to share O’Brien’s views toward paying student athletes. Wrestling coach Russ Hellickson answered the same question: Should student athletes be paid? He came up with a very different response. “No, but they should be able to get what, say, a Presidential Scholar gets,” he said in an e-mail. “This should be an educational experience.” Presidential Scholars receive full in-state tuition, room and board, book allowances and miscellaneous expenses — a total that OSU media relations estimates to be $12,483 per year for in-state students. That is nearly $2,000 more than an in-state athlete receives, even if they are awarded a full scholarship. Most of that $2,000 falls under the category of miscellaneous expenses, something athletes do not receive money for. The extra scholarship money is to be used for “athletic tickets, book costs, bus passes; anything that students need for living,” said Amy Murray, OSU spokeswoman. Some coaches are in favor of keeping things exactly as they are, without raising scholarship levels. Softball coach Linda Kalafatis said she did not feel well

For example at the University of Texas an in state tuition is worth around $4,000 while out of state tuition is worth around $11,000. Now as previously stated, Texas football players’ fair market value is at $578,000 per year. So at the very least there is $567,000 per player that we really do not know where it goes. I understand that college athletes do not deserve all the money they bring in but if one really thinks about it there is no where else in the world of economics is there a person that spends over forty hours a week and brings in $500,000 per year for their institution, yet they are only compensated $11,000. The numbers do not match up. (Frommer, 2013) These numbers definitely do not match up when one takes into account coaches salaries. The average coaching salary in NCAA division 1 basketball is a massive $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 are not being paid. In 40 of the 50 states in the United States of America the highest paid public employee is not a government official, but the head coach of a college football or basketball team. In North Carolina the average income per household $45,570 while the tax rate is 5.8%. What this means is that on average each person in

LeBron James makes 19.07 million dollars a year, Kobe Bryant makes 30.45 million a year, Peyton Manning makes 18 million dollars a year, the average college athlete makes no money at all. Why do college athletes that put in just as much work get paid differently? This is the way many people feel about NCAA's decision to not pay college athletes. There are always people who think teams should pay their athletes but there are just as many who people who disagree. Paying college athletes continues to be a huge debate in the sports world there are pros and cons for both and both need to be considered in the big decision that the NCAA has to make.

(Attention Getter) What if I told you that for decades, students have worked over 40 hours a week and received absolutely no pay. College athletes are expected to balance the immense workload of school work and represent their school well in athletics.

As a nonprofit the NCAA is often not compared to large companies even it makes comparable revenue. All television and video game revenue, as well as ticket, jersey, and souvenir sales made from college athletics all go to the NCAA, the conferences, the athletic departments, and the coaches. In fact, one study suggests, “Men’s basketball and football combine for $6 billion alone” (Mondello, Piquero, Piquero, Gertz & Bratton, 2013). None of that revenue goes directly to the student athlete even though the NCAA surely has enough money to do so if it chooses. USA Today writer Bruce Horovitz states in his article, March Madness Evokes Marketer Madness that, “The NCAA men’s basketball tournament generated $1.15 billion in television ads in 2013, well beyond the revenue generated by the NFL and NBA playoffs, according to ESPN” (Horovitz, 2014). Marc Edelman, a professor at City University of New York takes it a bit farther in his article The Case for Paying College Athletes, and claims, “The college sports industry generates $11 billion in annual revenues. Fifty colleges report annual revenues that exceed $50 million. Meanwhile, five colleges report annual revenues that exceed $100 million” (Edelman, 2014). In contrast, during the 2014-2015 season the NBA grossed about $5.18 billion in revenues according to Forbes Magazine, which was a league record high. The NCAA revenue money is also not evenly distributed among the schools, as top tiered athletic programs tend to make more money

(Siebold) He is being paid for winning games that haven’t even been played yet! Harbaugh is being paid without needing to worry about injuring his body, losing a scholarship, or paying for housing and meals. He does not have to stress about paying his college tuition. His 38 million dollar contract is proof that college athletics are not equivalent to a sports club. College athletic programs are a massive industry that is designed to make money off talented strong young men and women who work just as hard if not more than those that are paid millions to exploit them. There is absolutely no reason why these hard working student-athletes should not be paid for their efforts. A barely discounted college education is simply not enough. And in most cases, if a player is injured and cannot return to play their sport, their scholarship is dropped and they are made to pay tuition that was originally promised to be free. The student-athletes are struggling deeply, while the schools, the TV networks, the vendors and the local communities thrive. Year after year, college athletes entertain, perform, and compete in front of the millions of fans who watch them religiously. Million dollar advertisements are played during their games by huge corporations and the coaches make millions of dollars to coach them in salary, bonuses and even

With the sudden retirement of rival Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops last month, Gundy, in his 13th season and armed with a new five-year contract that pays him $4.2 million this year, is the third-longest tenured coach in the Big 12. And in building a consistent winner — Gundy is both Oklahoma State’s longest-tenured and winningest coach — the hair isn’t the only thing that’s grown.

Not all the revenue is for the school to keep, it is shared along NCAA executives, such athletic directors and coaches. According to reports from USA Today, NCAA association president,Mark Emmert was credited with a salary of $1.7 million in the year 2011. All coming from an organization that forbids athletes with impressive talent to gain from their unique talent, yet he marvelously receives an annual check congratulating him for his work. Marc is not the only person benefiting, USA Today also states, that 40 out of the 50 states have the highest paid public employee being a head coach. It is not surprising that Nick Saban, head coach of the football team at University of Alabama, has recently picked a $7.1 million dollar annual salary, according to 2015 NCAAF coach salary report. His take home pay exceeding the average wage of a Tuscaloosa public teacher by over 160 times. Despite enormous revenues NCAA members continue to reject the distribution of the revenue with the athletes creating that revenue.

In today’s world, men’s sports seem to always be in the spotlight while women’s sports do not draw much attention, as if women who play sports are not taken seriously. This happens on all levels of sports, and I have personally experienced it myself through basketball in high school. While the gym would be full for any of the boys’ games, our games had very little support with almost empty bleachers. When it comes to the professional level, when women’s sports do get covered by the media, most people judge female athletes more on their looks rather than their athletic skill, which is negative and unfair.

For instance, Alabama head football mentor Nick Saban's agreement augmentation calls for him to make $45 million throughout the following eight years. His players, then again, get just a NCAA grant that does not in any case cover their essential living expenses.11 The circumstance is comparative for men's b-ball. USA Today reported that the normal pay for head mentors in the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament is $1.47 million.12 There is

According to an article by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, the head football coach of the University of Alabama, Nick Saban, earns over $7 million per year. This is over 70 times more than other teachers in universities. The author of this article claimed, “I was a high school theater teacher in Texas for several