Analysis: Should College Athletes Be Paid
Should college athletes be given legal payment for their contribution to the universities? Many colleges around the United States have given thought to paying the athletes that play at their schools, especially in Division 1 programs. Collegiate athletes believe they are the source of income for their school, and request to obtain a part of what they produce. Although lawmakers, and experts conclude that paying college athletes would remove the amateurism from the game, college athletes should be paid because they are making money for the college, they are dedicating countless hours of hard work, also they would stay in school longer. Some critics state that college athletes are defined as amateurs, meaning they are not aloud to receive payment
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for their athletic performance. In "Paying College Athletes: Overview," Tracy DiLascio a lawyer graduate of Boston University states "An NCAA policy that requires student-athletes to maintain their status as nonprofessionals. Among other provisions, it prohibits being paid a salary for participation in college sports." Therefore, many athletes are sometimes viewed as professionals by their playing abilities. The National Collegiate Athletic Association enforced rules to keep the players amateur status by prohibiting payment to their athletes. It is understandable why the opposition argues that college athletes should remain in their amateur status until the fortunate enter a professional organization. Though it is a valid argument, college athletes should not have to remain amateur's if they already show professional skills in the sport. College athletes should be paid for simple reasons, they are the working force for the athletic department, they risk themselves to injury that could prevent them from going to a professional league, they put in countless hours of work to go pro, and money from their sport. In most cases, the athlete is focused on sports rather than on school, which is supposedly the reason they were recruited to that college. The athletes in college sports should receive money for their service to their school, and the NCAA because they are bring in billions of dollars every year.
The NCAA manages everything in college sports, and is considered a non-profit organization, all of the money they make is redistributed to the colleges that are part of the NCAA. Just football, and basketball generates 6 billion dollars a year, and not one penny of that money would've been made if it were not for the student athletes. In "Pay To Play: Should College Athletes Be Paid?," Adele Birkenes and Akash Bagaria who have written six articles about student life states "It is only reasonable that student athletes have a share in the millions of dollars that their sports businesses bring in." The statements by the authors bring to light this one simple question, why can the athletes be rewarded for making the NCAA and colleges successful? Although paying college athletes is not an easy decision for the people in charge, many support paying student athletes. There has been many proposals dating back to the 1950's, but there are five proposals that have a very good chance of getting passed, and used. In the article "Point/Counterpoint: Paying College Athletes," Dennis Johnson states "...former NCAA President Miles Brand's suggestion and allocate athletes include a $2,000-$3,000 cost of living increase to full scholarships...This would provide the athletes with the needed income for clothes, laundry, sundries, travel, …show more content…
and other small item expenses." Also, Steve Spurrier created a proposal for the Southeastern Conference, that players could be paid 300 dollars a game, and was supported by seven other coaches. Many proposals would not be hard to manage with the NCAA bringing in close to a billion dollars at 912 million dollars last year. The college athletes making this business successful deserve a piece of the pie, which shouldn't be hard to pay athletes by the minute averaging out to 6 thousand dollars a year when the NCAA brings in billions every year. Another reason for college athletes to be paid is because they put in countless hours of hard work to make their schools athletic team successful.
The colleges as well as the NCAA are exploiting these athletes. Many believe that the NCAA is breaking the United States antitrust law. With athletes committing countless hours of work, they are falling back in school, and not working towards the degree they are supposedly at that college for. These athletes are devoting to their college sport in hope of going to the NFL, NBA or the MLB. If they don't make it to a professional level, most student athletes will not receive a degree. In the article "Point/Counterpoint: Paying College Athletes," by Dennis Johnson and John Acquaviva claims that "They come here and are treated like royalty. Until they break a leg or get put on the second string and they get set aside. Many don't earn a degree. They don't have the training or the skills to be independent after they leave the university." The quote pulled from the article shows that when a star athlete gets hurt on the field or court, they are pressed aside. Star high school athletes that are brought to a top college then pushed down the line, most don't earn a degree, even the athletes who get hurt don't earn a degree at the end of their college years. This problem all comes down to the athletes that are putting in hard work for their school, with the mindset that playing football, basketball or baseball will be their future job at the
pro level. Athletes should receive some sort of payment to help athletes of their situations, and encourage athletes to put more effort into their school work, and more importantly earn a degree. In the same article "Point/Counterpoint: Paying College Athletes," the author explains how the NCAA's definition of a "full-ride" is sadly not a full ride at all. "Today, the "full ride" scholarship can only include tuition, fees, room, board, and books." The high school athletes recruited are often offered a full ride scholarship, to a high school kid the full ride scholarships sound like everything is being paid for. Full ride scholarships used to actually mean what it is called, the NCAA changed this by making the full ride scholarship to not cover everything. In most cases, star athletes result to dropping out of college because of their financial fees. Paying our college athletes would help unfortunate college athletes pay their fees, and stay in school longer to complete their degree. In other words, athletes in Division 1 and 2 spend countless hours on their sport making them fall behind in their schoolwork. In an article written by Tracy DiLascio "Paying College Athletes: Overview," she states "...student-athletes devote many hours to their sport, risk career-ending injury, and sign away rights to be compensated for use of their name and likeness--all while completing their college studies--advocates question whether this compensation is sufficient and whether the NCAA rule against further payment is even legal." DiLascio makes his point, college athletes risk career injuries, and are their names are used to create revenue by jerseys, magazine covers, and mostly television networks. These athletes work too hard to be doing it for free, not when their work is bringing in huge amounts of cash into the NCAA, and the colleges pockets. College athletes are the workforce of the colleges athletic department. If you do not play good, you get replaced, eventually you do not play, then most athletes don't earn a degree or go professional, so the college accomplished nothing that they said they would. Which was to earn a degree, and give you the opportunity to go to professional. Many coaches, and professionals believe college athletes are not considered amateurs at the Division 1 level, and should not be treated like they are. The one way to do that is to give them what every college student needs which is money. College athletes should be paid because they would stay in school longer. College athletes are leaving school earlier, and earlier, and some skip college. In an article "Pay or Don't Play: Paying College Athletes Isn't Just Fair to Players; It Could Improve College Basketball," the author Louis Barbash states "And yet players from seven of the eight colleges, underclassmen with up to three years of eligibility left, won't be back this fall." In college basketball the amount of players leaving college early are the most in any sport. The NBA even put a guideline where players couldn't be drafted so young to try to stop this. Two teams from the NBA did not follow this rule, they drafted young players the following year. If athletes had a reason to stay in school they would. College basketball specifically is losing interest because the players are not going to college, and straight to the NBA. What if college athletes were paid for their skills? If we paid athletes it would keep them in school, and give them motivation to work harder in their school work to obtain a degree. If star athletes were paid, the competition to get on the court or field would be great, and would bring a different feel to the game. What if Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Kevin Durant stayed in school or went to college to play basketball instead of the NBA? The amount of money that would be made from just those three players in college basketball would have ignited the college basketball world. Kobe Bryant was drafted at 17 years old, and was a star ever since. Imagine if he went to college, how entertaining it would've been to watch. We should pay these athletes because simply, they need to be educated, they are getting used for their skills, and it is drawing athletes away from colleges, and straight to the pros. In the article "Paying College Athletes: Overview," DiLascio provides information that "The NCAA's estimated revenue in 2014 was nearly $1 billion, 80 to 90 percent of which came from the men's Division I basketball tournament." The fact that the NCAA makes that much money off of the college basketball tournament, the NCAA's revenue will drop just because of the loss of interest in the sport that is highly followed in college sports. If these college athletes were given a reason to attend college, and continue their education by paying them, the graduates would increase per sport, and the world of college sports would explode with talent, especially college basketball. College basketball is fading along with many other sports, we need to help save college sports by paying the athletes who make the sport so entertaining. The dedication, commitment, and passion athletes have for their sport is something truly special. Without colleges the world of sports would not be so popular, the excitement of watching players compete, work hard, and passion for their sport is what makes college sports something very special. College athletes need to be paid because athletes are getting better, and better, earlier, and earlier in their career, and many are skipping college or leaving early to go professional. If this continues the world of sports, especially college basketball, may slowly drift away, and will not be as popular, which would be absolutely devastating being that the United States are widely known for their sports, and are recognized in many other countries.
for their athletic performance. In "Paying College Athletes: Overview," Tracy DiLascio a lawyer graduate of Boston University states "An NCAA policy that requires student-athletes to maintain their status as nonprofessionals. Among other provisions, it prohibits being paid a salary for participation in college sports." Therefore, many athletes are sometimes viewed as professionals by their playing abilities. The National Collegiate Athletic Association enforced rules to keep the players amateur status by prohibiting payment to their athletes. It is understandable why the opposition argues that college athletes should remain in their amateur status until the fortunate enter a professional organization. Though it is a valid argument, college athletes should not have to remain amateur's if they already show professional skills in the sport. College athletes should be paid for simple reasons, they are the working force for the athletic department, they risk themselves to injury that could prevent them from going to a professional league, they put in countless hours of work to go pro, and money from their sport. In most cases, the athlete is focused on sports rather than on school, which is supposedly the reason they were recruited to that college. The athletes in college sports should receive money for their service to their school, and the NCAA because they are bring in billions of dollars every year.
The NCAA manages everything in college sports, and is considered a non-profit organization, all of the money they make is redistributed to the colleges that are part of the NCAA. Just football, and basketball generates 6 billion dollars a year, and not one penny of that money would've been made if it were not for the student athletes. In "Pay To Play: Should College Athletes Be Paid?," Adele Birkenes and Akash Bagaria who have written six articles about student life states "It is only reasonable that student athletes have a share in the millions of dollars that their sports businesses bring in." The statements by the authors bring to light this one simple question, why can the athletes be rewarded for making the NCAA and colleges successful? Although paying college athletes is not an easy decision for the people in charge, many support paying student athletes. There has been many proposals dating back to the 1950's, but there are five proposals that have a very good chance of getting passed, and used. In the article "Point/Counterpoint: Paying College Athletes," Dennis Johnson states "...former NCAA President Miles Brand's suggestion and allocate athletes include a $2,000-$3,000 cost of living increase to full scholarships...This would provide the athletes with the needed income for clothes, laundry, sundries, travel, …show more content…
and other small item expenses." Also, Steve Spurrier created a proposal for the Southeastern Conference, that players could be paid 300 dollars a game, and was supported by seven other coaches. Many proposals would not be hard to manage with the NCAA bringing in close to a billion dollars at 912 million dollars last year. The college athletes making this business successful deserve a piece of the pie, which shouldn't be hard to pay athletes by the minute averaging out to 6 thousand dollars a year when the NCAA brings in billions every year. Another reason for college athletes to be paid is because they put in countless hours of hard work to make their schools athletic team successful.
The colleges as well as the NCAA are exploiting these athletes. Many believe that the NCAA is breaking the United States antitrust law. With athletes committing countless hours of work, they are falling back in school, and not working towards the degree they are supposedly at that college for. These athletes are devoting to their college sport in hope of going to the NFL, NBA or the MLB. If they don't make it to a professional level, most student athletes will not receive a degree. In the article "Point/Counterpoint: Paying College Athletes," by Dennis Johnson and John Acquaviva claims that "They come here and are treated like royalty. Until they break a leg or get put on the second string and they get set aside. Many don't earn a degree. They don't have the training or the skills to be independent after they leave the university." The quote pulled from the article shows that when a star athlete gets hurt on the field or court, they are pressed aside. Star high school athletes that are brought to a top college then pushed down the line, most don't earn a degree, even the athletes who get hurt don't earn a degree at the end of their college years. This problem all comes down to the athletes that are putting in hard work for their school, with the mindset that playing football, basketball or baseball will be their future job at the
pro level. Athletes should receive some sort of payment to help athletes of their situations, and encourage athletes to put more effort into their school work, and more importantly earn a degree. In the same article "Point/Counterpoint: Paying College Athletes," the author explains how the NCAA's definition of a "full-ride" is sadly not a full ride at all. "Today, the "full ride" scholarship can only include tuition, fees, room, board, and books." The high school athletes recruited are often offered a full ride scholarship, to a high school kid the full ride scholarships sound like everything is being paid for. Full ride scholarships used to actually mean what it is called, the NCAA changed this by making the full ride scholarship to not cover everything. In most cases, star athletes result to dropping out of college because of their financial fees. Paying our college athletes would help unfortunate college athletes pay their fees, and stay in school longer to complete their degree. In other words, athletes in Division 1 and 2 spend countless hours on their sport making them fall behind in their schoolwork. In an article written by Tracy DiLascio "Paying College Athletes: Overview," she states "...student-athletes devote many hours to their sport, risk career-ending injury, and sign away rights to be compensated for use of their name and likeness--all while completing their college studies--advocates question whether this compensation is sufficient and whether the NCAA rule against further payment is even legal." DiLascio makes his point, college athletes risk career injuries, and are their names are used to create revenue by jerseys, magazine covers, and mostly television networks. These athletes work too hard to be doing it for free, not when their work is bringing in huge amounts of cash into the NCAA, and the colleges pockets. College athletes are the workforce of the colleges athletic department. If you do not play good, you get replaced, eventually you do not play, then most athletes don't earn a degree or go professional, so the college accomplished nothing that they said they would. Which was to earn a degree, and give you the opportunity to go to professional. Many coaches, and professionals believe college athletes are not considered amateurs at the Division 1 level, and should not be treated like they are. The one way to do that is to give them what every college student needs which is money. College athletes should be paid because they would stay in school longer. College athletes are leaving school earlier, and earlier, and some skip college. In an article "Pay or Don't Play: Paying College Athletes Isn't Just Fair to Players; It Could Improve College Basketball," the author Louis Barbash states "And yet players from seven of the eight colleges, underclassmen with up to three years of eligibility left, won't be back this fall." In college basketball the amount of players leaving college early are the most in any sport. The NBA even put a guideline where players couldn't be drafted so young to try to stop this. Two teams from the NBA did not follow this rule, they drafted young players the following year. If athletes had a reason to stay in school they would. College basketball specifically is losing interest because the players are not going to college, and straight to the NBA. What if college athletes were paid for their skills? If we paid athletes it would keep them in school, and give them motivation to work harder in their school work to obtain a degree. If star athletes were paid, the competition to get on the court or field would be great, and would bring a different feel to the game. What if Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Kevin Durant stayed in school or went to college to play basketball instead of the NBA? The amount of money that would be made from just those three players in college basketball would have ignited the college basketball world. Kobe Bryant was drafted at 17 years old, and was a star ever since. Imagine if he went to college, how entertaining it would've been to watch. We should pay these athletes because simply, they need to be educated, they are getting used for their skills, and it is drawing athletes away from colleges, and straight to the pros. In the article "Paying College Athletes: Overview," DiLascio provides information that "The NCAA's estimated revenue in 2014 was nearly $1 billion, 80 to 90 percent of which came from the men's Division I basketball tournament." The fact that the NCAA makes that much money off of the college basketball tournament, the NCAA's revenue will drop just because of the loss of interest in the sport that is highly followed in college sports. If these college athletes were given a reason to attend college, and continue their education by paying them, the graduates would increase per sport, and the world of college sports would explode with talent, especially college basketball. College basketball is fading along with many other sports, we need to help save college sports by paying the athletes who make the sport so entertaining. The dedication, commitment, and passion athletes have for their sport is something truly special. Without colleges the world of sports would not be so popular, the excitement of watching players compete, work hard, and passion for their sport is what makes college sports something very special. College athletes need to be paid because athletes are getting better, and better, earlier, and earlier in their career, and many are skipping college or leaving early to go professional. If this continues the world of sports, especially college basketball, may slowly drift away, and will not be as popular, which would be absolutely devastating being that the United States are widely known for their sports, and are recognized in many other countries.