Compare And Contrast Ncaa Vs College Athletes
Student athletes vs. NCAA College athletics has grown into an integral part of universities across the nation. It has become an enormous industry that draws in a whopping load of finances to the universities. Many people may ask, where does all of the money go made by ticket sales and school merchandise? School officials will say to fees, athletic equipment, and travel costs. On the other hand; athletes may say, they have no idea. The debate about whether or not college athletes should be paid has been an ongoing discussion. In my essay, I will be analyzing the various perspectives as to why college athletes should be paid by participating in collegiate sports. Athletes and many others may argue that the hard work and dedication put into
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the school deserves a financial reward. Athletes all over the nation are demanding to be paid by being involved in college athletics. Athletes want to be paid because they feel as if they're services are under appreciated. Having to work out, practice and play games during the week is extremely time consuming. Let alone, they are sacrificing their time for the benefit of the school. Athletes argue that putting themselves on the line for their school deserves some sort of financial compensation from the university. According to the NCAA, “for 2011-12, the most recent year for which audited numbers are available, NCAA revenue was $871.6 million dollars.” The question then arises, where does all this money go if the NCAA is a non-profit organization? An article posted in the New York Times magazine, tries to figure out where does the huge profits of college athletics go.
One quote in the article follows, “the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) gets a cut; universities get a cut; coaches get a cut. The only ones not cashing in, it seems, are the players themselves” (Majerol 1). This is an interesting scenario because the ones who are doing the work are not being paid. But why? The NCAA considers collegiate athletes “amateurs”. However, how can a collegiate athlete be an amateur if they are working almost 40 hours a week and competing nationally? Sounds like a professional to me. In the world of video games, Madden (professional football video game), NBA 2K (professional basketball game) and NCAA (collegiate football/basketball video game) are very popular games. Every player’s name is displayed on the back of their jerseys and in more modern games, each player facial features resembles the players face in real life. The NFL and NBA (National Basketball Association) allows this because their professional athletes are paid by the game makers for the marketing usage of their names. On the other hand, college athletes were not being paid for the usage of their names in the video games; therefore, discontinuing the production of all NCAA football and basketball …show more content…
games.
Greg Lush, of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, makes some really good points as to how the NCAA basically sets student-athletes up from the beginning without even realizing it. When reading this article, it feels almost as if the NCAA prevents athletes from being paid anyway, despite the millions of dollars the NCAA makes every year. Each year, student athletes have to fill out a series of forms that enables their eligibility to play in the upcoming season. One of the most important forms is the 14-3A form, which is the drug testing consent form. There is no negotiation with this form. Every athlete has to complete this form and if not, they cannot participate in any collegiate sports. Since the athletes are eager to finish the paperwork and start playing, “they have little bargaining power and thus little incentive to argue the form’s terms and will simply sign it” (Lush 767). This is where athletes mess up. By signing the form it was assumed that “he or she was given the thirteen page Summary of NCAA Regulations (―Summary), 5 which is a handout that attempts to summarize the nearly 500 page Division I Manual 6 that contains all of the rules a student athlete must abide by” (Lush 767). Now when would a student athlete had the time to read all 500 pages of the handout? Basically student athletes are robbed from the beginning and it is time for a change.
Mr. Lush describes the form in that “Part IV simply stated, ―You authorize the NCAA [or third party acting on behalf of the NCAA (e.g., host institution, conference, local organizing committee)] to use your name or picture to generally promote NCAA championships or other NCAA events, activities or programs” (768). However, “ the term ―generally promote‖ had no definition or limitation, thus allowing the NCAA wide discretion in using a student athlete’s name or image” (Lush 768). This is why NCAA video games had to be discontinued. Players were angry because they could not be paid for their names in the video games. Therefore, NCAA shut the video game makers down so that it would end everything but still prevent the athletes from being compensated for the marketing of their names and images. Athletes put their lives on the line every day in their sport.
Injury risks get higher as the level of play increases. Concussions, broken bones, torn ligaments are common injuries seen in college athletics and the players have to go through the pain of these injuries. In the workplace, if someone gets hurt on the job, they can receive workers compensation. However, being that college athletics is a job, why are the players not paid for getting hurt on the job? According to the NCAA, when only analyzing football injuries, “the overall injury rate in NCAA football is 8.1 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures (games and practices combined). There were more than 41,000 injuries and 25 million athlete exposures from 2004 to 2009.” That is a lot of athletes getting hurt year by year and not getting compensated. As previously stated, this is only a statistic for football. In an extreme case, Devon Gales of Southern University football, took a very bad hit at their game versus the University of Georgia and has become paralyzed from the waist down. Now the University of Georgia did take very good care of him as if he was on the UGA team; however, he did not receive compensation for now potentially being in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Anything can happen in the world of sports, especially collegiate sports. Men and women’s basketball, soccer, track and field, all have high rates for serious
injuries.
Critics may argue that athletes do not need to be paid because it is unnecessary. According to Tyson Hartnett of the Huffington Post, the opponents may say "They're already getting a scholarship! That's more than anybody else! Don't be greedy!" They suggest that if free housing and free food is provided; what more could athletes ask for. Being a former athlete, Mr. Hartnett elaborates on his point of view that college athletes deserve to be financially compensated for their commitment. He describes how being a part of college athletics is like having a full time job. Practice, conditioning, study hall, class, and then homework at the end of the day is very time consuming and can add up to 40 hours a week. He also recognizes the counterargument that athletes get paid by their scholarship; however, scholarships do not “equal cash in the player’s pocket”. Though athletes may be on scholarship, financial issues still remain.
Full athletic scholarships can cover tuition, housing, meal plan, books and university fees. However, there are plenty of other expenses that scholarships do not cover. Furthermore, some schools can only offer partial scholarships that only cover tuition and maybe housing or a meal plan. Darren Heitner, of Forbes magazine, specializes in discovering the facts between money and sports. He wrote an article analyzing that college athletes are not immune to the disease of coming out of college with debt. He interviewed a former college football player Brad Jones, of the University of Cincinnati. Brad stated that, ”for full scholarship athletes at UC, taking out student loans was a common practice. Most guys borrowed less than $10,000” (Forbes). As previously stated, there is still money that needs to be paid by athletes who are even on scholarship. Jones illustrates that even though he was on scholarship, he still had to take out money to live “comfortably”. Some athletes have to take out even more because they might have to provide for their family as well as themselves in school.
Millions of students come out of school with thousands of dollars of debt each year. Wall street journalist, Jeffrey Sparshott, stated that "the average class of 2015 graduate with student-loan debt will have to pay back a little more than $35,000." The opponents will say that athletes are lucky because they will not have to pay this. This is false because as Brad Jones stated earlier, most of his teammates still had to take out tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of loans. Furthermore, at more expensive state schools, the loan debt could be close to the national average.
If an athlete has a car on campus, that is a huge expense because most universities do not have free parking. Parking fees can vary greatly but, at Georgia state, according to the auxiliary and support services, “$215.00 per semester in the M Deck” and “$215.00 per semester in the Loft Deck.” Then, the athlete has to make sure they can provide for gas money, maintenance, insurance and registration. Accidents can happen and if the driver does not have insurance, that can be another large expense on top of the repair for the car. Now the athlete is in debt even more than they were because they do not have the money to pay for insurance, the repair nor the legal fees.
Also, the dining hall's food can become tiresome and the athletes may want something else to eat but cannot afford to go elsewhere. On top of that, the dining halls eventually close and athletes have to go through the night hungry if they cannot afford snacks or even food to cook for themselves. It is not good to miss meals being an athlete because eating habits are very important. Staying healthy and maintaining weight is critical in college athletics. Losing weight can cause a significant disadvantage for a person because they could get hurt weighing significantly less than their opponent. Some sort of allowance should be given to athletes in order for them to eat outside of the university's dining facilities.
In conclusion, the debate about whether college athletes should be paid is ongoing. The decision could go either way whether they should be paid or not. Both sides of the "ball" have valid reasons that can be taken into consideration. Protagonists argue that athletes are under appreciated for their commitment and hard work for the school and that scholarships do not take care of all of the expenses that athletes need. Meanwhile, antagonists argue that paying for tuition and other mandatory fees is enough for athletes. They argue that the athletes’ debt, if any, will be significantly lower than a normal student attending the university. Lastly, major legal work needs to be done by the NCAA. Athletes are not lawyers and they deserve to be notified of legal ramifications they are about to encounter. But in the meantime, college athletes will continue to work hard until the decision is made for financial compensation.
the school deserves a financial reward. Athletes all over the nation are demanding to be paid by being involved in college athletics. Athletes want to be paid because they feel as if they're services are under appreciated. Having to work out, practice and play games during the week is extremely time consuming. Let alone, they are sacrificing their time for the benefit of the school. Athletes argue that putting themselves on the line for their school deserves some sort of financial compensation from the university. According to the NCAA, “for 2011-12, the most recent year for which audited numbers are available, NCAA revenue was $871.6 million dollars.” The question then arises, where does all this money go if the NCAA is a non-profit organization? An article posted in the New York Times magazine, tries to figure out where does the huge profits of college athletics go.
One quote in the article follows, “the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) gets a cut; universities get a cut; coaches get a cut. The only ones not cashing in, it seems, are the players themselves” (Majerol 1). This is an interesting scenario because the ones who are doing the work are not being paid. But why? The NCAA considers collegiate athletes “amateurs”. However, how can a collegiate athlete be an amateur if they are working almost 40 hours a week and competing nationally? Sounds like a professional to me. In the world of video games, Madden (professional football video game), NBA 2K (professional basketball game) and NCAA (collegiate football/basketball video game) are very popular games. Every player’s name is displayed on the back of their jerseys and in more modern games, each player facial features resembles the players face in real life. The NFL and NBA (National Basketball Association) allows this because their professional athletes are paid by the game makers for the marketing usage of their names. On the other hand, college athletes were not being paid for the usage of their names in the video games; therefore, discontinuing the production of all NCAA football and basketball …show more content…
games.
Greg Lush, of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, makes some really good points as to how the NCAA basically sets student-athletes up from the beginning without even realizing it. When reading this article, it feels almost as if the NCAA prevents athletes from being paid anyway, despite the millions of dollars the NCAA makes every year. Each year, student athletes have to fill out a series of forms that enables their eligibility to play in the upcoming season. One of the most important forms is the 14-3A form, which is the drug testing consent form. There is no negotiation with this form. Every athlete has to complete this form and if not, they cannot participate in any collegiate sports. Since the athletes are eager to finish the paperwork and start playing, “they have little bargaining power and thus little incentive to argue the form’s terms and will simply sign it” (Lush 767). This is where athletes mess up. By signing the form it was assumed that “he or she was given the thirteen page Summary of NCAA Regulations (―Summary), 5 which is a handout that attempts to summarize the nearly 500 page Division I Manual 6 that contains all of the rules a student athlete must abide by” (Lush 767). Now when would a student athlete had the time to read all 500 pages of the handout? Basically student athletes are robbed from the beginning and it is time for a change.
Mr. Lush describes the form in that “Part IV simply stated, ―You authorize the NCAA [or third party acting on behalf of the NCAA (e.g., host institution, conference, local organizing committee)] to use your name or picture to generally promote NCAA championships or other NCAA events, activities or programs” (768). However, “ the term ―generally promote‖ had no definition or limitation, thus allowing the NCAA wide discretion in using a student athlete’s name or image” (Lush 768). This is why NCAA video games had to be discontinued. Players were angry because they could not be paid for their names in the video games. Therefore, NCAA shut the video game makers down so that it would end everything but still prevent the athletes from being compensated for the marketing of their names and images. Athletes put their lives on the line every day in their sport.
Injury risks get higher as the level of play increases. Concussions, broken bones, torn ligaments are common injuries seen in college athletics and the players have to go through the pain of these injuries. In the workplace, if someone gets hurt on the job, they can receive workers compensation. However, being that college athletics is a job, why are the players not paid for getting hurt on the job? According to the NCAA, when only analyzing football injuries, “the overall injury rate in NCAA football is 8.1 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures (games and practices combined). There were more than 41,000 injuries and 25 million athlete exposures from 2004 to 2009.” That is a lot of athletes getting hurt year by year and not getting compensated. As previously stated, this is only a statistic for football. In an extreme case, Devon Gales of Southern University football, took a very bad hit at their game versus the University of Georgia and has become paralyzed from the waist down. Now the University of Georgia did take very good care of him as if he was on the UGA team; however, he did not receive compensation for now potentially being in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Anything can happen in the world of sports, especially collegiate sports. Men and women’s basketball, soccer, track and field, all have high rates for serious
injuries.
Critics may argue that athletes do not need to be paid because it is unnecessary. According to Tyson Hartnett of the Huffington Post, the opponents may say "They're already getting a scholarship! That's more than anybody else! Don't be greedy!" They suggest that if free housing and free food is provided; what more could athletes ask for. Being a former athlete, Mr. Hartnett elaborates on his point of view that college athletes deserve to be financially compensated for their commitment. He describes how being a part of college athletics is like having a full time job. Practice, conditioning, study hall, class, and then homework at the end of the day is very time consuming and can add up to 40 hours a week. He also recognizes the counterargument that athletes get paid by their scholarship; however, scholarships do not “equal cash in the player’s pocket”. Though athletes may be on scholarship, financial issues still remain.
Full athletic scholarships can cover tuition, housing, meal plan, books and university fees. However, there are plenty of other expenses that scholarships do not cover. Furthermore, some schools can only offer partial scholarships that only cover tuition and maybe housing or a meal plan. Darren Heitner, of Forbes magazine, specializes in discovering the facts between money and sports. He wrote an article analyzing that college athletes are not immune to the disease of coming out of college with debt. He interviewed a former college football player Brad Jones, of the University of Cincinnati. Brad stated that, ”for full scholarship athletes at UC, taking out student loans was a common practice. Most guys borrowed less than $10,000” (Forbes). As previously stated, there is still money that needs to be paid by athletes who are even on scholarship. Jones illustrates that even though he was on scholarship, he still had to take out money to live “comfortably”. Some athletes have to take out even more because they might have to provide for their family as well as themselves in school.
Millions of students come out of school with thousands of dollars of debt each year. Wall street journalist, Jeffrey Sparshott, stated that "the average class of 2015 graduate with student-loan debt will have to pay back a little more than $35,000." The opponents will say that athletes are lucky because they will not have to pay this. This is false because as Brad Jones stated earlier, most of his teammates still had to take out tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of loans. Furthermore, at more expensive state schools, the loan debt could be close to the national average.
If an athlete has a car on campus, that is a huge expense because most universities do not have free parking. Parking fees can vary greatly but, at Georgia state, according to the auxiliary and support services, “$215.00 per semester in the M Deck” and “$215.00 per semester in the Loft Deck.” Then, the athlete has to make sure they can provide for gas money, maintenance, insurance and registration. Accidents can happen and if the driver does not have insurance, that can be another large expense on top of the repair for the car. Now the athlete is in debt even more than they were because they do not have the money to pay for insurance, the repair nor the legal fees.
Also, the dining hall's food can become tiresome and the athletes may want something else to eat but cannot afford to go elsewhere. On top of that, the dining halls eventually close and athletes have to go through the night hungry if they cannot afford snacks or even food to cook for themselves. It is not good to miss meals being an athlete because eating habits are very important. Staying healthy and maintaining weight is critical in college athletics. Losing weight can cause a significant disadvantage for a person because they could get hurt weighing significantly less than their opponent. Some sort of allowance should be given to athletes in order for them to eat outside of the university's dining facilities.
In conclusion, the debate about whether college athletes should be paid is ongoing. The decision could go either way whether they should be paid or not. Both sides of the "ball" have valid reasons that can be taken into consideration. Protagonists argue that athletes are under appreciated for their commitment and hard work for the school and that scholarships do not take care of all of the expenses that athletes need. Meanwhile, antagonists argue that paying for tuition and other mandatory fees is enough for athletes. They argue that the athletes’ debt, if any, will be significantly lower than a normal student attending the university. Lastly, major legal work needs to be done by the NCAA. Athletes are not lawyers and they deserve to be notified of legal ramifications they are about to encounter. But in the meantime, college athletes will continue to work hard until the decision is made for financial compensation.