The National Collegiate Athletic Association

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 ).

The Intercollegiate Athlete Association of the United States, In May of 1910, became what is now known as the NCAA (Time Toast). “When the NCAA first began, there were no such things as Division I, Division II, and Division III colleges (NCAA.org)”. “The membership was divided into three divisions for competition and legislative purposes (NCAA.org)”. “Among the three NCAA divisions, Division I schools generally have the biggest student bodies, manage the largest athletics budgets and offer the most generous number of scholarships (NCAA.org)”. “With nearly 350 colleges and universities in its membership, Division I schools have more than 6,000 sports teams, and provide opportunities for more than 170,000 student-athletes

The NCAA is one of the largest sports organizations in the world, representing college athletics through three divisions and over twenty different sports. It is a multi billion dollar business that brings in revenue through ticket sales, television contracts, and sale of memorabilia. However, with none of the profits going towards the athletes themselves, the NCAA is using their students for personal gain within the organization. There are multiple ways the NCAA profits off its athletes, by undervaluing players and giving them less compensation because of it, as well as limiting their opportunities to make money on their own.

The NCAA is an organization, founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, led by a group of board members who’s goal is to have college players succeed both athletically and scholarly; coined the term ‘student athlete.’ The sport of football was having many problems in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s and President Roosevelt said, “reform the game or it will be abolished.” Thus, the birth of the NCAA was formed and rules were set to make the game safer to the athletes. The NCAA currently has three different divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III. Each division has its own set of rules on what restrictions are placed. Division I is said to be the most competitive division where the top talent goes and where a lot of professional teams pull from. The NCAA is the main headline for all college sporting events and “runs the show” telling what people can, and cannot, do. The

College athletics have become popular over time over the past few decades. Student athletes need to be determined, committed, and focused. The biggest trait needed by the athlete is dedication. The amount of dedication needed to be a student athlete could be overwhelming. Between classes and workouts could exhaust even the best athlete mentally and physically. Students athletes should be proud to get free education and play sports, but education should be valued more than sports . As an athlete, time management is the key to surviving. Athletes need a balance, maintaining at least 40 hours of practice a week, 30 hours a week of class time, and getting some sleep into their schedule too. Maintaining all of these aspects deserves some more credit, more than just a free education. The NCAA can afford to pay athletes, the NCAA makes about 12 billion every year. The NCAA money comes mostly from TV and marketing and makes up less than 10% of all college athletics money. The rest comes from school ticket sales and student fees from the school itself. The NCAA since 2006 profit have doubled since time has gone by and is still increasing from tournaments and school funding. Athletes play an active role in the promotions of these activities,

College coaches have a low-tolerance policy for players that will not attend practice or work hard while they are there. Practices are typically mandatory to all players and last over 50 hours a week (Nocera). Due to the high intensity practices, the players do not have time for even a part time job. This causes a problem to the players because they do not have a direct income source and only their school is paid for. Once a player graduates they start from scratch again, since athletics and studying take up all of a student-athlete’s time. The athletes do not have a fair opportunity to develop savings for a future. Due to the lack of time, the NCAA should present the players with a monthly allowance to support all expenses life offers, rather than only supporting the players’ education. College life is expensive, and the absence of income is not a smart path to take during a time of lonesome. Students transition from their home life, where most things are paid for by their parents, to an expensive college life, where most students are left with their own financial responsibility. Garda shows how the NCAA restricts the players from income, “Furthermore, many colleges and universities prohibit student-athletes from holding part-time jobs, because work could potentially diminish an athlete's energy and dedication towards his or her

As a college student, one must attend classes, complete work specific to their degree requirements and maintain a minimum grade point average as sanctioned by the NCAA to participate in athletics. The NCAA is an “organization dedicated to safeguarding the well-being of student-athletes and equipping them with the skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom and throughout life”. The NCAA has put in place a set of rules to assure fair and safe competition at the collegiate level. Arguably one the most debatable topics is the NCAA rule that states “College athletes are not to be paid, not to cash in on their prominence, never to cross any kind of line of professionalism.”

Many athletes spend lots of hours dedicated to their sport of choice. They do this by practicing in their free time, team practice, team meetings, and traveling. Then, they have to study for their classes. This to me is like working a full time job with a heavy load ofn classes you have to attend to and do well. Dave Anderson stated, “College athletes spend an average of 43.3 hours per week dedicated to their sport” (Anderson 1). Also, Anderson stated, “This means that college athletes have to work 90 hours per week just to remain in school on their scholarship. This is the equivalent to working two full time jobs with a side job on the weekends just to pay their bills” (Anderson 2). Sports can put a lot of stress on a student’s school work achievement goals. People should know that college for student athletes demands a lot out of them and basically drains them physically as well as mentally. This is based on all the time they spend on sports and

While football players at the University of Illinois are working at their sport or performing their sport nearly 32 hours a week, which is all right after coming from a full class schedule. The NCAA wants to treat student athletes like regular students, when these athletes are the farthest thing from being regular students. These athletes are expected just like the rest of the student body to perform at their highest capability in the classroom, but as well at their peak athletic ability in practice or in a game right after they have spent the day draining themselves into their school

Every year the NCAA helps Universities provide more than 2.7 billion dollars in athletic scholarships to more than 150,000 students. Full scholarships cover tuition and fees, room and board, course related books, and a full meal plan. The majority of each scholarship allotted per student is taken care of through the schools income rather than the NCAA themselves. The National College Athletic Association acknowledges twenty four different sports and over 460,000 athletes that compete in the organization. In the 2014 fiscal year the NCAA had a total revenue of over one billion dollars, with nearly eighty point five million in surplus. Since 2008 the NCAA’s total revenue has already doubled and is still on the rise yet the NCAA claims to be a non-profit organization. With all this profit going to the NCAA people fail to recognize where the money is coming from, and not necessarily where the proceeds are going but where they are not. Every athlete that competes in a collegiate sport, whether on scholarship or not help supply the NCAA’s income; every athlete that helps supply the NCAA’s billion dollar industry is not allowed to receive one cent in payment for their service. Although this may seem fair to many, 460,000 hardworking athletes believe different.

In reality, though, this is not the case. Many athletes, although not “required”, feel as though it is necessary to double or even triple the amount of time spent training and practicing because if they did not, they may not be able to keep their starting position or their amount of playing time on the team (Pope, Justin). Not only do the amount of hours determine their place on the team, but they can also negatively affect their studies.

Imagine that you are a full-time college athlete; your daily routine would entail an early wake up and a practice. After your morning practice, you have to go your classes for the day. Then, since you are crunched for time and do not have much time in the class room while on the road, you have a tutoring session. Lastly, you have another practice and a weight lifting session that could end at 10 o’clock or later at times. Players also have to work hard on their own time to keep their spot in the lineup. Athletes follow this schedule the whole year. With all of an athletes’ time being put toward their sports and studies, they do not have time to hold even a

The National Collegiate Athletic Association also known as the NCAA is one of the most popular Athletic Associations in the entire nation that regulates over 1,281 universities, conferences, and organizations. Some of the top conferences in the NCAA are the SEC, ACC, PAC 12, and Big Ten (Tomlinson,2010.) The NCAA is a non-profit association that brings in over 871.6 million dollars in revenue a year. The NCAA also awards 89 national championships a year in football, basketball, softball, gymnastics, swim and dive, soccer, and tennis to name a few. The NCAA 's most dominant competitions are college basketball and college (American) football, and it was estimated in 2000 that 75 per cent of US colleges made profits from these sports,

NCAA is the National Collegiate Association. This organization is a non-profit. Its primary goal is to look over the well-being and strives for achievement from the athletes. Just like other organization NCAA has guidelines that the student body has to get as members. To be apart of the organization the potential member has to fill out an application (U.S. students it cost them $70 and non U.S. citizens $120). They have to answers a series of questions and pass a physical test. They have three divisions. Only 2% of high school students who apply actually get accepted. It has shown in their statistics that more athletic students who are apart of this organization had graduated in the student body than others. Upon acceptance all athletes shall be certified as amateurs.

“The Chronicle of Higher Education recently estimated that college athletics is a $10-billion marketplace” (Suggs). With huge sums of revenue generated from college sports teams, players for the successful teams appear to be very marketable. “The National Collegiate Athletic Association, the largest collegiate sports organization in the United States, oversees much of the business of American college sports. For 2011-12, the NCAA reported $871.6 million in revenue-- 81 percent of which came from a broadcast rights agreement with Turner/CBS Sports. Another 11 percent came from sponsoring championships, such as the annual March Madness basketball tournament. No college sport generates more money every year than football. In 2012, Business Insider reported that the University of Texas ' football program generated more than $95 million the previous season, the most of any college in the United States. These revenues come largely from broadcast rights, ticket sales and merchandising” (Morgan). With all the grand amounts of money dealt and discussed through college athletics, student athletes being to wonder if they should be paid or not.