Pay to Play
More than 460,000 student athletes compete in the NCAA alone, many of which are D1 athletes and participate in one the major sports (NCAA). With college athletics on the rise for popularity, March Madness basketball tournament generates more than $1 billion each year in ad revenue (Green). The last audited number for revenue released by the NCAA reported was a yearly revenue of $871.6 million (NCAA). Many think with all the money floating around these athletes should be paid in some way, others argue otherwise (Debate). There is strong controversy whether college athletes should be compensated other than scholarships. Many people believe that college athletes should be paid. One person that strongly believes so is Ed O’Bannon. Ed O’Bannon a former UCLA Men’s Basketball player and was one the first to sue NCAA in 2009 for using his name and image in video games (Breslow). Others followed after him ranging from football to even some baseball players asking for their share. In 2016 finally the players that had been in NCAA basketball video games or football in the past decade were paid a settlement on average of $1000 dollars (ESPN). The lawsuit also brought an end to EA sports making college games in 2013(ESPN).
Sizeable profits in large part is the reason why many believe these athletes should get paid. Some profits came from video games others from TV deals. ESPN employs over 8,000 worldwide (ESPN). On average a TV subscriber to ESPN is paying $6.04 in 2014
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) makes roughly $1 billion in income annually and the athletes do not receive any of it. This topic has been debated for many years and is still being debated. The debate dates back to the 1980s and now athletes are demanding that they deserve to be paid since profits are made off of them. Some athletes such as former and current basketball and football players came together with lawsuits to federal courts asking for rewards from profits NCAA makes gets of them. Research has opened several different opinions on this matter. There are many pros and cons for paying college athletes. College sports provide a huge source of the university’s income. The athletes, however, receive their scholarship
The popularity of college sports has risen tremendously throughout the years amongst Americans. The passion to watch college basketball, football, baseball, and other sports has generated billions of dollars to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and to various athletic programs throughout America. Even though, colleges are raking in millions of dollars from their sports teams. “Last year 's National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA") basketball tournament generated over $70 million in gross receipts” (Goldman).The NCAA prohibits payments, beyond educational scholarships, to athletes who are the source of these revenues. College athletes spend countless number of hours in their sport every day by attending long and tiresome practices, workout sessions, and film sessions whilst balancing their academics, but do not receive any payment for their efforts. Athletes are putting their lives and careers in danger during practices and games by being vulnerable to any type of injury that might end their careers, and many of these athletes are not provided any type of medical insurance to fund their injuries. Colleges need to realize that athletes often feel exploited because while they generate revenues, they are scrounging to meet their basic necessities and sacrificing their academic and professional careers. Many college athletes, professional lawyers, and sports analysts have taken various initiatives to help
University’s draft athletes to work within the NCAA, a, multi-billion dollar industry that regulates players to the point of management. All television revenue, ticket and jersey sales, promotions and other sources of income goes to everyone involved in the business except for the athletes creating the worth. According to USA Today Sports in 2014, the NCAA had total revenue of nearly 1 billion during its 2014 fiscal year, well beyond the revenue generated by the NFL, and NBA playoffs. (NCAA nearly topped $1billion in
College athletics are becoming more like the professional leagues except for one big issue, money. Student athletes bring in a vast amount of revenue for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) not to mention recognition and notoriety regarding the athlete’s university. However, the debate continues as to whether student athletes should or should not receive payment for playing college sports.
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 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
Today there are a lot of big questions in this world about one specific topic. The answer is even more important than maybe half of the questions, but there isn’t a correct answer to this question. It’s a belief and what you think question. This question is paid attention to by a lot of high school student athletes, but not only high school athletes but current college athletes. This question is maybe one of the reasons why a lot of college athletes leave college and go to the pros after just one year in college. The question is “should college athletes get paid?” A lot of people reading this right now have different opinions and views on this, and the question itself just pops. Well first I think college athletes getting paid would
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
players images are used in all kinds of magazines, to show off their strengths and to put a image in your head of what you should look like. Like Baker Mayfield who is on sports illustrated. During NCAA games broadcasted on live T.V., millions of dollars are generated from ads and could be used to help pay athletes. On average the NCAA generates almost a billion dollars a year. Teams will give players scholarships to try to get them to go to school their, which allows them to get a good education for free. When very talented athletes join schools, the school gets a higher
As the final four comes to a close and the two champions are presented with their trophies, the real winners in some people’s eyes are the sponsors, advertisers, the schools, and finally the NCAA. All of these groups are the ones who end up with the money generated as a result of the games in the tournament and college athletes who particiapte. “The NCAA basketball tournaments, or "March Madness," have become a huge business. As Forbes' Chris Smith wrote, CBS and Turner Broadcasting make more than $1 billion off the games” (US News- Forbes’ Chris Smith). Smith’s statement shows how much money these athletes’ skills and contributions are generating. In return for giving their efforts and producing all this money, the student athletes do not receive any of these proceeds. People think college athletes should also be paid because of the money the NCAA makes off using these athletes names and likeness, like jerseys with an athlete’s number being sold and even in video games being played. Because of this, a group of former players filed an
There has been on ongoing discussion between college athletes and the NCAA on whether they should be compensated for the work they do for their selective school. Student athletes deserve to be paid to invest in their needs, and the schools have the money to do so. College Athletes have made the case that they are no longer student athletes, but are on the clock workers. The NCAA accumulates around 11 billion dollars in revenue a year, more money than the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Many writers such as Joe Nocera, a sports business columnist for the New York Times, talks about how “The NCAA and college sports establishment exploit the players who generate the billions that the grown-ups pocket.” College Athletics’ is the school’s number one money
In my opinion, the answer to this question is that they should not be getting paid. Universities are dealing with college athletes not professionals. The money that the athletes would be receiving can unfortunately take away money from scholarships, material for class, and for the payment of the staff of the university. College athletes are getting school for free, as well as their food and rooms.
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
When it comes to college basketball, it is basically the same thing. This sport alone generates large amounts of money because it is a popular sport in the United States. The real money is made in the month of March when the most anticipated college basketball tournament is played. Multiple businesses work with the NCAA to have their commercials shown during nationally televised games, the deals are made between them for large amounts of cash. According to an article from the NPR website “ Our athletic program at the University of Miami is subsidized by the university - millions of dollars, in fact - and I would argue that most of the programs in this country are in the same situation she says”( “Staff”). When all of these factors are put together it is very possible to pay college athletes since it is proven that the NCAA and universities make millions of dollars with ease.
Here is a number for you, $814 million. That is the average amount of revenue the National Collegiate Athletic Association currently makes per year (Gerencer). How much are the NCAA athletes compensated for their hard work, sacrifices, and effort? That 's right, $0. NCAA events such as March Madness and the Football Championship Series (the college national championship), attract massive crowds, national TV coverage, and sold out venues. When is an athletic scholarship no longer enough to support and reward the athletes? Because division 1 athletics attract new students, excite alumni, and earn revenue for their schools and coaches, all without being able to secure a job, therefore, the athletes should be paid.