Research Paper On College Athletes

These are all questions that need to be asked. The money given to an athlete is not just pulled out of a hat. It has to come from somewhere. Bigger budget universities say that they can use the excess money earned the profit of ticket sales and profit from sports networks for the team. In an U.S. News article, they say, “There is a misconception that athletic programs in general are profitable and institutions are making money hand-over-fist. The truth is that only a fraction of the programs are profitable and most operate at a cost to the university” (Mitchell). “Northwestern University football players have been trying to unionize” (Morganteen). This could possibly work out for a high budget Division-1 football team such as Northwestern yet hundreds of other universities could not make this possible. Nicholls State among hundreds more universities could make this possible. “They are not what some people are arguing they should become, unionized employees of the university” (Morganteen). Consequently, the idea of creating contracts and signing-deals with salaries for college athletes is not a smart move and should not be made.

Universities can sell sponsorships to various companies for advertising (at a minimum of about $300,000 per year) and have recently begun naming their stadiums after large corporations in exchange for large donations. Most large athletic departments have lucrative deals, worth about $1 million yearly, with shoe companies. Many colleges receive a substantial amount in royalties for college merchandise, which is sold under official license; some schools receive up to $6 million annually from this source. Coaches also stand to make a significant salary (including base salary from school as well as television, radio, and shoe company stipends) with the highest paid football and basketball coaches currently earning $1-$2 million a year (Eitzen 2000). Even among schools who don’t produce these extreme amounts of revenue,

Collegiate athletics is a multibillion dollar business. Competition across basketball, football, and other popular sports generate just as much money as they do excitement and entertainment to sports fans and the casual viewer. The driving force behind this behemoth are the athletes that don the uniform of the competing universities. These athletes, the most of which are black, dedicated time synonymous to working a full time job on top of being student in order to serve this money machine. What is so damning about this system then? The truth is that the student-athletes do not see a penny of the millions they earn for their schools. On top of that, they are stretched beyond reasonable means in order to serve their athletic program. In return, they are compensated with scholarships to attend the college. However, what might seem like a coveted opportunity is not what it seems.

Donald Delahaye, a kicker for UCF you may have heard of him. Lost his NCAA eligibility for making and profiting of his YouTube videos. Another name you may know LiAngelo Ball. Couldn’t profit or promote his family made business of Big Baller Brand (BBB) because of NCAA eligibility rules. His little brother LaMelo Ball could lose his NCAA eligibility for making and profiting off his own signature shoe. These athletes all have something in common. All these athletes, these people have either had their eligibility taken or in jeopardy because they were profiting off their image, content, or likeness. College coaches, programs, and schools make millions off their student athletes and the NCAA billions off the student athletes. As more people

A topic that is very controversial for everyone is, should student-athletes in college be compensated? There numerous evidence that supports in favor and many against the proposition of paying student- athletes who play sports for their university. As a college athlete, students are putting their bodies on the line each game they play. There’s possibility of suffering a traumatic brain injury or being paralyze after physical contact. These athletes are sacrificing their bodies and physical health at an opportunity to play a game which they love, and hopefully play it in the professional level. While that’s taking place, college football and basketball are big business that keep expanding. College sports bring in a large amount of revenues. The result is that many of them fail to graduate. Paying college athletes would not ruin amateur sport because even though most college athletes do get scholarship and should focus on their education it doesn’t help them if most of the time they are not attending classes to be in practice or games. College sports do make a high-income and athletes deserve a portion of the revenue they bring their programs.

Colleges bring an incredible amount of money by their sport teams alones. According to John Brill, a sports journalist writer, “College football and basketball generate more than the National Basketball Association, a total of more than $6 billion yearly.” The money made from these sporting events are not being used correctly which is frustrating many college athletes. The money that is being

College athletics for some schools are what brings in the most revenues in terms of category. These college athletes that attend these schools are able to generate millions to billions of dollars from viewers, sponsorships, and fans. “The 231 NCAA Division I schools with data available generated a total of $9.15 billion in revenue during the 2015 fiscal year. But while there are 24 schools that make more than $100 million” (Gaines,Cork). This data provides the evidence that the top generating schools has the capabilities to pay their athletes, yet they do not. John Bill an expert believes the NCAA should pay college athletes. Bill explains, “The promise of a free education is not enough anymore if the NCAA wants to act as a money making business, and not reward those who help make it profitable” (Bill,John). The NCAA has evolved to be a professional league on its own. For the amount of revenue they will be earning it is comparable to the

For the longest time, college athletes have poured their heart into their sport and worked very hard every day of every week. These athletes have proven themselves enough to able to show off their ability and talents at a university. These college athletes have a job and work too. Their job is to bring in money for the university they are playing for. In order for these athletes to play well enough to be considered able to bring in profit for the university, they must play a sport that they love to play and not a sport that they are forced to play. Over time, the main question that is on everyones mind is should students that play the sport they love for a university get paid simply because they are a college athlete that is displayed on television. My goal for this paper is to inform you of the reasons I believe they should get paid.

The primary sources for these revenues are from ticket sales, sponsors, broadcasting, apparel sales, and donations which all generate that money (Chait 1). Athletes are recruited to colleges because the coaches think they have the talent to help the team succeed in their sport. At Auburn University, Cam Newton received a full ride scholarship. He became the “star” quarterback for the team, which produced a lot of revenue for the football team and the university (Belson 1). The school thought of additional methods to create more profit, so they put Newton’s number on jerseys, sweatshirts, hats, and other wanted apparel. Those sales alone increased the profit margins enormously (Belson 1), and it all went to the team and the university. All the extra money that resulted from promotional efforts generated even more controversy. Questions arose, such as where to spend the additional funds, whether the school needed new athletic facilities, or even whether the star quarterback should receive a portion of the profits, and were debated. Both sides held passionately to their opinions, and the topic generated a strong response from people on both sides of the debate (Belson 2).

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

Generating profits from athletics is what drives a universities’ ability to keep their programs thriving. Football and basketball programs are one of the top money making sports in the United States. From the NCAA “college athletics as a whole pulls in about $12 billion annually,” (Gerencer). This revenue comes from ticket and merchandise sales, along with TV and marketing. The average annual revenue from a Division I football program is around $56 million and men’s basketball is around $23 million. These two college sports bring in the majority of the revenue while numerous others bring in the remainder.

How is it fair that college athletic programs rake in so much money from their respective sports and don’t have to pay for their labor? College athletics plays a major role in the sports world today and will continue to be as it is growing more and more popular. With this, is the ever-growing issue of athletes in their respective programs being paid as employees. This issue has been clouding college athletics for some time and it is becoming a much larger topic since athletes feel that they should be compensated for their services. Also, there have been several lawsuits filed against universities and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Even though colleges offer full scholarships to athletes,

College football rising to be one of the most popular sports has put a huge price tag on big game tickets. The athletes never see a dime of the millions made off the championships that they grinded a long season to get to. Under the management of the NCAA, there has been a drastic increase in how popular college football is. Today, College football is only second in popularity to the most popular sport in the country, the NFL. What makes the sport so popular is every single state has a college football team to root for and most states have a big-name division 1 team. The large supply of college football meets and equally large demand and the effect of every city having a home town team makes this sport extremely popular. If you look at the top ranked football teams of last year, none are in major cities. In the top five you have: Tuscaloosa, Columbus, Louisville, Ann Arbor, and Clemson. In most of the cities mentioned football on Saturday is king. In these five cities on Saturday night everyone stops what they are doing and watches their favorite team play. The fact that these small towns can have nationally recognized programs plays a role in the popularity of college football. TV contracts also boosts college football’s popularity and increases revenue exponentially. Games that are nationally televised gives national exposure to small town schools. TV are actually what makes schools so much money off athletics. TV networks pay ridiculous amounts of money for the rights to broadcast the schools football team, stuffing the pockets of the university. Marc Tracy of The New York Times writes, “Under the championship playoff format that began this season, ESPN is paying $7.3 billion over 12 years to telecast seven games a year” (Tracy). ESPN and other networks are willing to pay billions of dollars to see college athletes compete without any

The NCAA’s greatest fear about paying student athletes is the money itself. They worry it will be spread thin between all the sports departments, but with all the money circulating around the college sports industry, they should not have any concerns. The two most popular college sports, football and men’s basketball, generate over $6 billion in annual revenue combined; more than the amount the National

When it comes to wanting a career in sports, there are multiple professions and paths that lead to your destination. However, of all the options, you better expect to work hard while keeping an open mind if you want to succeed in reaching your goal.