The National Collegiate Athletic Association

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.

Capitalism, a system dealing with both political and economical aspects in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by an individual for profit, rather than by the state. One of the largest “money-making” industries in the nation is known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) (Gregory). College sports have become more popular than ever before, especially with the help of television and modern technology. Making over $700 million a year, this industry has been introduced numerous times over the years to the debate of prohibiting payments to athletes other than athletic scholarships (Goldman). Currently, in order to meet the demand of sports, especially at a Division I University, high school athletes are recruited, and make a decision to play for their team of choice, while giving the schools national exposure. However, many consumers are wondering if athletes in college sports are being properly compensated for the money they bring into the university, for the show they put on for the general public (Johnson).

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

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is better known as the the NCAA, is an organization that regulates intercollegiate athletics. The NCAA not only is the administrator for all intercollegiate athletics, but also “formulates and enforces the rules of play and the eligibility criteria for athletes.” Being a student-athlete, I know the responsibility that one has not only in the classroom but also on the athletic field. There is a big standing problem in front of the NCAA and is a serious issue and that is the paying of student-athletes. According to an article written the the U.S. News. “the college sports industry generates over $11 billion in annual revenues” (Edelman). The problem is that the student-athlete who goes to

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) revenue for the 2011-12 season was $871.6 million, most of which came from games and media agreements (NCAA n.p.). However, the student-athletes who actually put on these games are not paid a single dime. These athletes put their blood, sweat, and tears into their game and aren’t legally paid for something that creates such a huge revenue for the school as well as the NCAA.

Over the years, the popularity and marketability of victorious teams have brought enormous sums of money to their colleges. College athletics, especially the so - called “revenue sports” of men’s basketball and football, is now a multimillion-dollar business that is marketed, packaged, and sold in the same way as other commercial products.

Not only are coaches making unbelievable amounts of money off of the exceptional student athletes, but the National Athletic Association is as a whole. “The college sports industry generates $11 billion in annual revenues. Fifty colleges report annual revenues that exceed $50 million.” (Edelman 2014). Now compare those revenues to a professional league, and the numbers are staggering.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is charged with the regulation of athletes, and all athletic programs in affiliated universities and colleges across the United States. The N.C.A.A. is the association charged with developing and implementing policies regarding athletics in colleges and universities. With such a role, the association is mandated to specify the minimum academic requirements for a student to participate in any sporting activity. The association claims that it aims at creating a balance between sport and education. The heart of the association 's mission is student-athlete success in classroom and on the field. N.C.A.A. comes up with policies that provide a student-athlete with the opportunity to learn through

The reality is that college sports programs, namely the "big name" programs such as football and basketball programs at marquee schools, are businesses that stand to make a large amount of money for their respective schools. According to an article in the Harvard Journal on Legislation, "[i]n the past twelve years, the amount of money generated by these two sports has increased

The NCAA has become a revenue generator as college athletics have become a multi-billion dollar sports entertainment enterprise. The most prominent contradiction with the NCAA is that amateur rules are applied to the athletes, while the rules of the market apply to the university’s athletic departments. By classifying athletes as “amateur student athletes” the college athlete labor market does not fall under federal or state antitrust laws or state workers compensation laws. The NCAA member schools are allowed to set the wage for the student athlete and not give benefits to players who suffer injury. Due to the rewards being bestowed onto the NCAA member schools and not the student athletes who produce the product, this system can be described as exploitative.

The seven most popular sports (in order) in the United States are: NFL, MLB, NCAAF, auto racing, NBA, NHL, and NCAAM (Rovell, 2014). Five of the sports included are professional where the athletes are paid. However, two of them--NCAAF and NCAAM--are amateur sports headed by student-athletes who are not paid. When these college sports are on par with professional organizations that are worth billions of dollars, then the amateurism behind the NCAAF and NCAAM is questioned. In fact, the NCAA generates almost a billion dollars annually. Since the athletes in question are amateur student-athletes, paying them might damage the integrity of the sports. Therefore, there is an ongoing contested debate over whether student athletes are deserving of

In the past few decades college sports have grown immensely in popularity nationwide, especially when the bigger events such as March Madness and the College Football National Championship arise. Even though the NCAA considers themselves to be a non profit organization, March Madness is such a huge event that in 2011 the NCAA made an agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting System to let them broadcast the games until 2024 for $10.8 billion, but during March Madness they make almost $800 million every year from jersey, ticket, and product sales ("Revenue"). Depending on how far some of the colleges go these universities could make an extra few million also. None of the money the colleges or the association makes is given to the student athletes. They are the ones that work so hard to help bring in all of the revenue for their schools and the NCAA but get nothing in return. Besides bringing in revenue for their school if they prove that they are a good collegiate school it will make high school students look further into their school and potentially attend that university. According to the NCAA for any student athlete to be eligible and still be considered amateur they are not allowed to receive salary for participating in any athletic program nor are they allowed to be given prize money above necessary expenses, ("Amateurism") However a common view is that college athletes should not be paid because most of them already receive a free education and get

This case study involves the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and it talks about how it is a big business and that it is growing. With that growing business there is a lot of money being profited NCAA spends $6.7 billion a year with their athletic programs, CBS and Turner Broadcasting signed a $10.8 billion deal with NCAA to cover its Division 1 basketball tournament, ESPN will pay $608 million annually to broadcast the NCAA football championship play-offs, schools generate $4 billion each year through the sale of licensed merchandise associated with their sports team. Head coaches make $1.64 million and that does not include benefits such as broadcast

The National Bureau of Economic Research found that a successful football season can boast donations to the school by as much as twenty-eight percent. A 2014 studied titled effects of Intercollegiate Athletics on Private Giving in High Education found that a one percent increase in football winning was associated with $452,000 in athletic giving. Some donations may be restricted to athletics, but the University can use restricted funds to balance the University’s athletic program’s budget, opening up money elsewhere in the University budget.

In 2014 the NCAA reported 11 billion dollars in profit, not to mention their deal with CBS/ Turner Sports for March Madness running from 2011 through 2024 worth an estimated 11 billion dollars. In the 2014 academic year the University of Alabama reputed 140 plus million dollars in annuity, which is more than the entire NHL as a whole and more than ninety – five percent more than most teams in the NBA. As a former collegiate athlete, to see this outlandish amount of money being made while majority of the athletes on the playing field or arena come from poverty and live in poverty is disturbing. Majority of collegiate athletes have aspirations of making it to the professional ranks, but don’t whether to injury or difficult breaks in their career. Playing a collegiate sport is voluntary, which includes risking injury to your body during practice and competition or possibly even death to an unforeseen health circumstance. For example, Kevin Ware a former Louisville basketball player fractured his tibia during a basketball game in the NCAA tournament, a once promising future in