Summary: Are College Athletes Employees?

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

For instance, In 1950 Bud Wilkinson earned $15,000 a season as the head football coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. During that same time period the football players were only given scholarships. This year Bob Stoops, who is the current coach of the Oklahoma football team, will earn $4.55 million (Doyel). That is three hundred times more money a season than just sixty years ago. “College football and men's basketball generate revenues of more than $6 billion every year. Yet not one penny goes toward paying the people who make the sports possible: the student athletes. It is only reasonable that student athletes have a share in the millions of dollars that their sports businesses bring in. If it weren't for them, college athletics would not even exist” (Birkenes and Bagaria). The universities, coaches, and sports companies are getting rich off these athletes and it is time for a change. It isn’t necessary that colleges begin to pay players thousands of dollars each week but just enough money so they do not struggle with finances. If someone was looking for another term for slave labor they could easily say college athlete. If universities truly care about the well-being of the student athletes then pay them what they deserve. Colleges should start reimbursing athletes for the millions of dollars the school makes off of their athletic abilities.

The NCAA is a money-generating monster that disregards college athletes’ financial well being. How can we stand back and let the NCAA steal money from the hard working athletes that provide it? Take this for example: Philip is a landscaper that works hard day in and day out mowing yards. He is not always perfect, and makes the occasional mistake. Even though he make mistakes, he is good at what he does. Now imagine if Philip earned a very small amount of the total money made. The rest of the money goes straight to his advisor who sits around and does nothing all day. This is what collegiate sports have come to. Collegiate athletes are working hard by earning money for the NCAA. The NCAA is

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.

Griffin, Geoff,  Should College Athletes Be Paid? Greenhaven Press. Farmington Hills, MI:    2008. Charles H. Hammer, Walter Byers. Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes.

Student athletes are not any type of employee or a professional athlete who get paid a salary with incentives for a career in sports. They are students who gain

Devastated, Joe returns to his dorm room and finds a letter from the university, informing him that he no longer has his full ride scholarship and must begin paying for his own room and board. Not able to pay for the $15,000 a year to attend the University, and his parents also unable to pay, Joe drops out of school and becomes a male dancer at the day and night dance club. Now the same thing would happen if Joe simply decided to no longer play for U. of A. in order to concentrate on his studies. Where’s the problem in this? Well, according to the NCAA’s rules, no athlete may be a professional and receive payment while in college and playing college sports. But doesn’t that sound like employment to you? Wasn’t Joe just fired from his job of Basketball? Wasn’t that athletic scholarship his salary? Look at the quote at the beginning of this paragraph and marinate on that for a minute, meanwhile I’ll discuss the issue of professionalism in sports.

Top collegiate athletes should be able to get paid. Schools are making millions in ticket sales, selling jerseys and other venues that help out of school. However, college athletes make all the money for the college. College athletes should deserve to to get paid. “The college sports industry generates $11 Billion in annual revenues.”(Text 1, line 1) the college sports industry generates so much money, that they need to share the money and that it's selfish. Scholarship athletes should be getting paid.

One argument supporting the payment of college athletes is that colleges bring in millions of dollars every year, yet the athletes see none of the money (Ford). People who support this argument say that these players work tirelessly throughout the season to win championships which then help the college receive money, and then the players receive no payment for their work. Kenneth Cooper, the author of Should College Athletes Be Paid? quoted Robert McCormick, an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board. McCormick argues that “there are more demands put on these young men than any employee of the university. They are laboring under very strict and arduous conditions, so

“SLAVES OF BIG-TIME COLLEGE SPORTS” by D. Stanley Eitzen explains that college athletes are not being treated fairly and we need to change for the athletes best interest. First off, it states that players are exploited economically, making millions for their teams, but provided only with a subsistence wage of room, board, tuition, and books; they are controlled with restricted freedoms; they are subject to physical and mental abuse by coaches. Later in the text, it explains how “These rules reek with injustice. Athletes can make money for others, but not for themselves.” (Eitzen 3) This source will be used to describe and give examples of the opposing views and skewed image of these college athletes lives and privileges.

Are student-athletes considered student-athletes or employees? The NCAA stands firm by the rules that student-athletes are not employees, therefore should not be

Using very crude terms, referring to athletes as workers Nocera mentions, “The workers are supposed to be content with a scholarship that does not even cover the full cost of attending college. Any student athlete who accepts an unapproved, free hamburger from a coach, or even a fan, is in violation of N.C.A.A. rules.”(Nocera,Ny Times). Nocera starts the article by appealing emotionally to the reader which is clever since, he can lure readers into his five element plan to reform the current collegiate practices by presenting all the issues first.

This is backed up by the fact that many athletes themselves deny that they were or are “exploited” in college (40). More importantly, college athletes receive an expensive education which, for scholarship players, is free. They also get perks, including preferential treatment from some professors who may tell athletes “just show up in class and you’ll get a ‘C’ grade.”

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,

Student athletes commonly go to school for one reason: their love for the sport they participate in. These student athletes get scholarships from large Division 1 schools, which means things such as schooling, board, and food will be paid for by the school so the student athletes do not have to pay for these benefits themselves (Patterson). If college athletes are to be paid, it will cause unfair compensation between players who are valued or played more than others. When student athletes are rewarded with a scholarship, they have nothing school related that they would need to pay for. This can lead them to blow all of their income on unnecessary or dangerous things such as drugs and alcohol which could get them removed from the team they