Argumentative Essay: Should College Athletes Get Paid?
Shaw 1
Christian Shaw
Professor Amanda Childress
English 1301
19 November 2014
The College Athlete Fight: Should College Athletes Be Able to Take Profit for Their Likeness?
The NCAA profits over six billion($6,000,000,000) dollars annually(USnews.com).
However, college athletes never get to see any of that money. Though some may argue that they risk careerending injuries each time they come onto the field or basketball court, this still does not influence the mind of the NCAA to start paying the players in any way. But on the flip side the students do get a quality education from accredited schools and being a college athlete allows some of them to take the basic steps into the life of an NFL athlete. The up to date debate on …show more content…
college athletics is whether or not NCAA athletes should receive payment(s) for their quality performances and their likeness. College athletes should not be paid for their likeness because most of them have already received a full ride scholarship; the payments would also take money from University and athletic funding, and would also open the door for other organizations to petition for money.
Many athletes have already attempted to make money themselves from selling their likeness. For example, selling autographs, memorabilia, or other sports team items for their own profit. First of all it is against the NCAA rules for college athletes to accept profit for the above.
Though it is against the rules, many athletes have been investigated for proof and attempt to profit from their likeness. All of the athletes that have been put under an investigation have received punishments, some in fact did put the athletes at risk to lose their athletic career as they
Shaw 2
know it, and be less qualified for some awards; such as the Heisman Trophy which is presented to the best player in college football in December. This is becoming a huge problem today and is seen as a “growing pain”. For example, picture yourself as an athlete in college and some crazed fan is going to offer you two hundred dollars to sign his team football or another item. You know its the wrong thing to do but when you think about it, two hundred times ten is two thousand and this can put extra money in the bank and get you a head start in life after college. Some athletes have argued this example and it has never worked.
Athletes have been receiving illegal payments while in school for over twenty years. One of the most talked about examples was Reggie Bush, allegations that Bush and his family had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from two Californiabased marketing agents were first reported by Yahoo Sports in September 2006, months after Bush had already been drafted No.
2 overall by the Saints. Bush was not forced to, but gave up the 2005
Heisman Trophy, which is given annually to the best player in college football. The decision to forfeit the trophy was his, but with pressure from the NCAA. The NCAA put a lot of restrictions on the University of Southern California(USC) which is where Bush attended. Another popular example is Johnny Manziel, who was the quarterback for Texas A&M during the year of 2012 and 2013. While attending the College Football National Championship on January 7th 2012,
Manziel was caught signing autographs at a table, and was accused of profiting money off them.
It is rumored that he received over 7,500 dollars from autographs that night. As a result of his actions the NCAA suspended him for one game the following season. The most recent allegation is Todd Gurly, running back for Georgia University. In the 2014 football season Gurly was suspended for half of the season as a result of over 1,000 pieces of signed memorabilia being
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3
sold on a website. The NCAA and Georgia eventually lifted the suspension and while he was suspended, Gurly was knocked out of the Heisman Trophy race. On his first day back he tore his
ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season, how ironic!
The big question is should college athletes be paid? There is a huge ongoing debacle over this very controversial topic. The sides are pretty much even and there is no correct side, it is all just a matter of opinion, but it is the NCAA rules, so theoretically the correct answer as of right now is no! Most of the people who are arguing the topic are the ESPN sports analysts. Most of the analysts believe that since it is already being done, then it is okay. This however, is the wrong way to look at it. Just because a lot of athletes are breaking the rules does not mean it is okay. Very few brave analysts argue that it should not be allowed. One analyst whose name is
Lou Holtz, who was a coach at the University of Notre Dame in the 1960’s, even went as far to say that they should not receive a salary, or pay for their likeness, but maybe a stipend at completion of their graduation. He argues that the stipend can help pay the start of the athletes bills, and will also help graduation percentages because the stipend will motivate players to not care as much about going into the draft early. Athletes have said that they need payment for money, tuition, food, and living on campus. But most of the athletes that appear to play well enough to receive payment for their skill, have already been granted full ride scholarships which pay for all of the above.
So why won’t the Universities and the NCAA allow the athletes to be paid? Well for one, paying numerous athletes would take funding out of the Universities which would also take money from the NCAA’s profits. For example, say each athlete makes seventy thousand dollars per year played in college, multiply that by sixty for football and a lot more for other sports and
Shaw 4
organizations, then the Universities lose tens of millions of dollars each year! As a result of the
Universities and NCAA losing money from paying athletes, the memorabilia and concession stands would cost a lot more money, also ticket prices would go up by a lot so the programs can try to recuperate some of the money they lose. Not only will the Universities lose funding, but their athletics programs will also lose funding which means less money for the stadium, and employees, and a lot of employees may lose jobs and then we have unemployed janitors, coaches, referees, camera crew, and other gameday officials. Lack of funding for the athletics programs would also mean that the field might not be cleaned and repaired enough, and this could cause injury to players or fans during games and matches.
In addition to all of the funding problems, athletes receiving payments will open the door for many other college organizations to petition for money. Various clubs and teams such as the chess team, will expect payment when played against other colleges, for their efforts and their knowledge in their field. this will take even more money from University funding and eventually the whole thing will be corrupt and the schools will continue losing money and profits until they are forced to close. The NCAA does make six billion dollars each year, but as soon as all of the other teams and organizations come into play, the NCAA will end up losing or gaining little profit, because there are thousands of colleges in the United States, and all added up will cause profit loss. Whenever the athletes and other organizations are paid, the band must also be paid because they practice just as much and if not more than the football team and other college sports. In addition to all of their practice, the band is at every football event (games, pep rallies, championships, ect..). All in all, huge profit loss.
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College athletes should not be paid a salary for their likeness and ability, but maybe the
NCAA could make it possible for athletes to receive a stipend upon graduation which could be a good thing for not only the athletes, but may increase the graduation rate of Universities because the stipend would motivate athletes to complete school. In addition to the stipend, the athletes could be allowed to sign and sell autographed memorabilia and in return, the NCAA could receive a royalty, the Universities could receive a percentage, and the Government could tax each item sold. Therefore everyone receives something, and everyone is happy, which could profit millions more for the NCAA each year.
Works Cited
Daniel Uthman. USA Today Sports.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2013/08/04/texasamaggiesjohnnymanzielm oneyf orautographs/2617413/. 2013.. Web.
USA News Debate Club. http://www.usnews.com/debateclub/shouldncaaathletesbepaid 2014. Web.
NCAA Rules. http://www.ncaa.org/championships/playingrules . 2014. Web.
Other Source: My knowledge of college sports
Christian Shaw
Professor Amanda Childress
English 1301
19 November 2014
The College Athlete Fight: Should College Athletes Be Able to Take Profit for Their Likeness?
The NCAA profits over six billion($6,000,000,000) dollars annually(USnews.com).
However, college athletes never get to see any of that money. Though some may argue that they risk careerending injuries each time they come onto the field or basketball court, this still does not influence the mind of the NCAA to start paying the players in any way. But on the flip side the students do get a quality education from accredited schools and being a college athlete allows some of them to take the basic steps into the life of an NFL athlete. The up to date debate on …show more content…
college athletics is whether or not NCAA athletes should receive payment(s) for their quality performances and their likeness. College athletes should not be paid for their likeness because most of them have already received a full ride scholarship; the payments would also take money from University and athletic funding, and would also open the door for other organizations to petition for money.
Many athletes have already attempted to make money themselves from selling their likeness. For example, selling autographs, memorabilia, or other sports team items for their own profit. First of all it is against the NCAA rules for college athletes to accept profit for the above.
Though it is against the rules, many athletes have been investigated for proof and attempt to profit from their likeness. All of the athletes that have been put under an investigation have received punishments, some in fact did put the athletes at risk to lose their athletic career as they
Shaw 2
know it, and be less qualified for some awards; such as the Heisman Trophy which is presented to the best player in college football in December. This is becoming a huge problem today and is seen as a “growing pain”. For example, picture yourself as an athlete in college and some crazed fan is going to offer you two hundred dollars to sign his team football or another item. You know its the wrong thing to do but when you think about it, two hundred times ten is two thousand and this can put extra money in the bank and get you a head start in life after college. Some athletes have argued this example and it has never worked.
Athletes have been receiving illegal payments while in school for over twenty years. One of the most talked about examples was Reggie Bush, allegations that Bush and his family had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from two Californiabased marketing agents were first reported by Yahoo Sports in September 2006, months after Bush had already been drafted No.
2 overall by the Saints. Bush was not forced to, but gave up the 2005
Heisman Trophy, which is given annually to the best player in college football. The decision to forfeit the trophy was his, but with pressure from the NCAA. The NCAA put a lot of restrictions on the University of Southern California(USC) which is where Bush attended. Another popular example is Johnny Manziel, who was the quarterback for Texas A&M during the year of 2012 and 2013. While attending the College Football National Championship on January 7th 2012,
Manziel was caught signing autographs at a table, and was accused of profiting money off them.
It is rumored that he received over 7,500 dollars from autographs that night. As a result of his actions the NCAA suspended him for one game the following season. The most recent allegation is Todd Gurly, running back for Georgia University. In the 2014 football season Gurly was suspended for half of the season as a result of over 1,000 pieces of signed memorabilia being
Shaw
3
sold on a website. The NCAA and Georgia eventually lifted the suspension and while he was suspended, Gurly was knocked out of the Heisman Trophy race. On his first day back he tore his
ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season, how ironic!
The big question is should college athletes be paid? There is a huge ongoing debacle over this very controversial topic. The sides are pretty much even and there is no correct side, it is all just a matter of opinion, but it is the NCAA rules, so theoretically the correct answer as of right now is no! Most of the people who are arguing the topic are the ESPN sports analysts. Most of the analysts believe that since it is already being done, then it is okay. This however, is the wrong way to look at it. Just because a lot of athletes are breaking the rules does not mean it is okay. Very few brave analysts argue that it should not be allowed. One analyst whose name is
Lou Holtz, who was a coach at the University of Notre Dame in the 1960’s, even went as far to say that they should not receive a salary, or pay for their likeness, but maybe a stipend at completion of their graduation. He argues that the stipend can help pay the start of the athletes bills, and will also help graduation percentages because the stipend will motivate players to not care as much about going into the draft early. Athletes have said that they need payment for money, tuition, food, and living on campus. But most of the athletes that appear to play well enough to receive payment for their skill, have already been granted full ride scholarships which pay for all of the above.
So why won’t the Universities and the NCAA allow the athletes to be paid? Well for one, paying numerous athletes would take funding out of the Universities which would also take money from the NCAA’s profits. For example, say each athlete makes seventy thousand dollars per year played in college, multiply that by sixty for football and a lot more for other sports and
Shaw 4
organizations, then the Universities lose tens of millions of dollars each year! As a result of the
Universities and NCAA losing money from paying athletes, the memorabilia and concession stands would cost a lot more money, also ticket prices would go up by a lot so the programs can try to recuperate some of the money they lose. Not only will the Universities lose funding, but their athletics programs will also lose funding which means less money for the stadium, and employees, and a lot of employees may lose jobs and then we have unemployed janitors, coaches, referees, camera crew, and other gameday officials. Lack of funding for the athletics programs would also mean that the field might not be cleaned and repaired enough, and this could cause injury to players or fans during games and matches.
In addition to all of the funding problems, athletes receiving payments will open the door for many other college organizations to petition for money. Various clubs and teams such as the chess team, will expect payment when played against other colleges, for their efforts and their knowledge in their field. this will take even more money from University funding and eventually the whole thing will be corrupt and the schools will continue losing money and profits until they are forced to close. The NCAA does make six billion dollars each year, but as soon as all of the other teams and organizations come into play, the NCAA will end up losing or gaining little profit, because there are thousands of colleges in the United States, and all added up will cause profit loss. Whenever the athletes and other organizations are paid, the band must also be paid because they practice just as much and if not more than the football team and other college sports. In addition to all of their practice, the band is at every football event (games, pep rallies, championships, ect..). All in all, huge profit loss.
Shaw 5
College athletes should not be paid a salary for their likeness and ability, but maybe the
NCAA could make it possible for athletes to receive a stipend upon graduation which could be a good thing for not only the athletes, but may increase the graduation rate of Universities because the stipend would motivate athletes to complete school. In addition to the stipend, the athletes could be allowed to sign and sell autographed memorabilia and in return, the NCAA could receive a royalty, the Universities could receive a percentage, and the Government could tax each item sold. Therefore everyone receives something, and everyone is happy, which could profit millions more for the NCAA each year.
Works Cited
Daniel Uthman. USA Today Sports.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2013/08/04/texasamaggiesjohnnymanzielm oneyf orautographs/2617413/. 2013.. Web.
USA News Debate Club. http://www.usnews.com/debateclub/shouldncaaathletesbepaid 2014. Web.
NCAA Rules. http://www.ncaa.org/championships/playingrules . 2014. Web.
Other Source: My knowledge of college sports