Essay Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid
One subject that has unarguably growing and fast in popularity and importance in our everyday lives is the subject of sports. Not only have athletics been growing in those ways, sports are growing profoundly in the amount of revenue they generate as well. Associations, leagues, teams, networks, and many others which are involved in sports are making loads of money of the success of these sports. One of the thousands of groups which are heavily benefiting from the growth of sports is the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA had made $989 million in the 2014 fiscal year. After counting the expenses, the NCAA made a net of $80.5 million (Upadhyaya and Mattison). This number doesn’t even include how much individual college athletic
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programs make themselves. Unfortunately, even though the NCAA and collegiate athletic programs are making all this money, there is a one specific group that are being left out, the players. That brings up the controversial question, should college-athletes be compensated? The NCAA should allow and require compensation for all student-athletes. This is because student-athletes take away many hours out of their lives for their sport, and millions are being made off of their performances. Despite many claims that scholarships and perks should be compensation enough, further compensation is necessary because of the factors involved in college sports.
Student athletes dedicate a large portion of hours a week to their sports in and out of season. “Being a D1 athlete includes hours of workouts, meetings, practices and competition each week, not to mention the exhausting workload of a college student.”(Procter and Bellford) The amount of things they do can be compared to professional athletes, and if they are taking that much out of their lives into for their sports, they should be compensated for it. Furthermore, an article stated that “The problem is it is unfair to assume that this is fair compensation for a job that requires many athletes to spend anywhere from 30 to 50 hours every week practicing, performing or traveling for their respective sports.”(Upadhyaya and Mattison) College athletes take out so much of their lives to contribute to their sport. If they take out that much time out of their busy college lives for their sport then they should be compensated more than only a scholarship. A typical work week is about 40 hours, and the fact that college athletes spend more than this time demonstrates how much these athletes put into their athletic programs, and do not receive fair compensation. Finally, another article stated that “NCAA rules restrict athletes to 20 hours of practice time a week, which fluctuates depending on which sport they participate in. However, according to Business Insider, it was reported that ‘[student-athletes] practice at least 30 hours a week on average, with some sports reporting weekly practice commitments of more than 40 hours.’”(Grossman and Garahana) Athletes are putting in more hours into their sports than they’re even allowed to, and the NCAA hasn’t taken any action on this at all. If they are putting in so much time into their sports, they deserve some of what is being made off of them. Millions of dollars are being made for the NCAA and individual college sports programs and the players are being left out, even though they are the ones creating the revenue. “The NCAA brought in $989 million in its 2014 fiscal year per an audited financial statement, according to USA Today. Approximately $547 million of this revenue was given to Division I conferences and schools in the same fiscal year, and since the NCAA’s expenses totaled $908.6 million, it ended up netting $80.5 million for the year”(Upadhyaya and Mattison) The NCAA generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and this amount continues to grow with each coming year. The NCAA is making so much money, but still do not allow those that mainly make the money to be involved. This is completely unfair to the players, who put in more to their sports than the NCAA and the athletic programs or anyone else involved. Furthermore, in a second article it states “The NCAA isn’t the only institution swimming in money. Twenty-four school athletic programs made more than $100,000,000 in the 2014-15 athletic year with Texas A&M University topping the list at $192,608,876.”(Grossman and Garahana) Individual athletic programs are making hundreds of millions of dollars as well. If the NCAA does not pay the students, they can allow individual schools to pay the student-athletes with some of the money that they are making off of the athletes. Finally, not only do college athletic programs bring in revenue from merchandise, concessions, and ticket sales, there are many other sources involved in their money making as well. For example, when companies like Chick-fil-A and Tostitos sponsor bowl games, tournaments, halftime shows, and even coin tosses.(Kronstadt) Athletics programs have the means to pay their athletes. There are many ways beyond ticket sales that athletic programs are generating revenue. College programs can designate one or two of these ways and use the money they receive from the designated sources specifically for the compensation of their athletes.
However, the NCAA has tried to justify student athletes not being paid by making claims that the scholarships and perks given by scholarships is proper compensation for student athletes.
One argument against the compensation of collegiate athletes is that scholarships and perks are compensation enough for college athletes. “Take the University of Utah for example. A freshman nonresident taking a full course load would pay $11,770.24 per semester. For a four-year degree, assuming tuition rates stay relatively the same, that is a value of $94,161.92. Throw in the free or discounted room and board, meals and cost of attendance awards from the NCAA typically ranging in the low thousands per year…” (Grossman and Garahana) This argument tries to justify not paying college athletes by saying they their scholarships cost thousands of dollars, not including the perks they receive and that is their compensation. However, this is still not close to what they are worth. “The average Division I player is worth $170,098 per year, with each of the 351 D1 basketball programs taking in more than $4.5 million in revenue on average each year.”(Procter and Bellford) Just one sports athletes are worth Hundreds of thousands more than their scholarships and perks offer, so it is unfair to assume that a scholarship is compensation enough for how much athletes are doing for their programs. Another argument claims that there are many children and adults who want to attend college, but cannot afford to do so. Athletes are able to go to highly accredited colleges for little to nothing for playing the sport they love. This is enough compensation for collegiate athletes.(Procter and Bellford) However it has been discovered that “Sometimes, athletes aren’t involved in academics at all. At the University of North Carolina, over 3,100 students, almost all of whom were athletes, enrolled in fake classes that never met and required no work, designed to boost their GPAs and allow them to focus more
on their athletic pursuits. Similar situations have been found at many other schools, such as the University of Michigan, Kansas State, and Stanford.” (Kronstadt) Some colleges do not even care about their students receiving an education, they only care about the revenue they being in from playing sports at their school. Although many people do not have a chance to go to college, some athletes will not even receive a proper education, so the advantage is completely wasted. Finally, the last argument that has been made is “Even if these athletes don’t end up playing at a professional level, they are often set up for futures in coaching, training or broadcasting when they are finished with their collegiate careers. This advantage afforded to college athletes sets them up on a career path for a bright future, something I would argue giving them lump sums of money would not necessarily do.”(Grossman and Garahana) This is still not sufficient compensation though because “The NCAA brought in $989 million in its 2014 fiscal year per an audited financial statement, according to USA Today. Approximately $547 million of this revenue was given to Division I conferences and schools in the same fiscal year, and since the NCAA’s expenses totaled $908.6 million, it ended up netting $80.5 million for the year.” (Grossman and Garahana) If these colleges and the NCAA is accumulating this much money from the student athlete, then it is unfair to assume that these job opportunities are fair compensation because many of these jobs will already be taken, and the ones that aren’t will never pay close to as much as the players deserve to be receiving.
Sports is a topic that has been exponentially growing in revenue and importance in a multitude of ways. The NCAA makes millions of dollars from college athletes, which goes all to them and not to the players at all. Even despite all the time college athletes put into their sports, they receive nothing. In conclusion, college football players deserve to be compensated because of what they put in into their programs, and the results of their hard work, and because there is no true substantial reason for them not to be paid.
programs make themselves. Unfortunately, even though the NCAA and collegiate athletic programs are making all this money, there is a one specific group that are being left out, the players. That brings up the controversial question, should college-athletes be compensated? The NCAA should allow and require compensation for all student-athletes. This is because student-athletes take away many hours out of their lives for their sport, and millions are being made off of their performances. Despite many claims that scholarships and perks should be compensation enough, further compensation is necessary because of the factors involved in college sports.
Student athletes dedicate a large portion of hours a week to their sports in and out of season. “Being a D1 athlete includes hours of workouts, meetings, practices and competition each week, not to mention the exhausting workload of a college student.”(Procter and Bellford) The amount of things they do can be compared to professional athletes, and if they are taking that much out of their lives into for their sports, they should be compensated for it. Furthermore, an article stated that “The problem is it is unfair to assume that this is fair compensation for a job that requires many athletes to spend anywhere from 30 to 50 hours every week practicing, performing or traveling for their respective sports.”(Upadhyaya and Mattison) College athletes take out so much of their lives to contribute to their sport. If they take out that much time out of their busy college lives for their sport then they should be compensated more than only a scholarship. A typical work week is about 40 hours, and the fact that college athletes spend more than this time demonstrates how much these athletes put into their athletic programs, and do not receive fair compensation. Finally, another article stated that “NCAA rules restrict athletes to 20 hours of practice time a week, which fluctuates depending on which sport they participate in. However, according to Business Insider, it was reported that ‘[student-athletes] practice at least 30 hours a week on average, with some sports reporting weekly practice commitments of more than 40 hours.’”(Grossman and Garahana) Athletes are putting in more hours into their sports than they’re even allowed to, and the NCAA hasn’t taken any action on this at all. If they are putting in so much time into their sports, they deserve some of what is being made off of them. Millions of dollars are being made for the NCAA and individual college sports programs and the players are being left out, even though they are the ones creating the revenue. “The NCAA brought in $989 million in its 2014 fiscal year per an audited financial statement, according to USA Today. Approximately $547 million of this revenue was given to Division I conferences and schools in the same fiscal year, and since the NCAA’s expenses totaled $908.6 million, it ended up netting $80.5 million for the year”(Upadhyaya and Mattison) The NCAA generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and this amount continues to grow with each coming year. The NCAA is making so much money, but still do not allow those that mainly make the money to be involved. This is completely unfair to the players, who put in more to their sports than the NCAA and the athletic programs or anyone else involved. Furthermore, in a second article it states “The NCAA isn’t the only institution swimming in money. Twenty-four school athletic programs made more than $100,000,000 in the 2014-15 athletic year with Texas A&M University topping the list at $192,608,876.”(Grossman and Garahana) Individual athletic programs are making hundreds of millions of dollars as well. If the NCAA does not pay the students, they can allow individual schools to pay the student-athletes with some of the money that they are making off of the athletes. Finally, not only do college athletic programs bring in revenue from merchandise, concessions, and ticket sales, there are many other sources involved in their money making as well. For example, when companies like Chick-fil-A and Tostitos sponsor bowl games, tournaments, halftime shows, and even coin tosses.(Kronstadt) Athletics programs have the means to pay their athletes. There are many ways beyond ticket sales that athletic programs are generating revenue. College programs can designate one or two of these ways and use the money they receive from the designated sources specifically for the compensation of their athletes.
However, the NCAA has tried to justify student athletes not being paid by making claims that the scholarships and perks given by scholarships is proper compensation for student athletes.
One argument against the compensation of collegiate athletes is that scholarships and perks are compensation enough for college athletes. “Take the University of Utah for example. A freshman nonresident taking a full course load would pay $11,770.24 per semester. For a four-year degree, assuming tuition rates stay relatively the same, that is a value of $94,161.92. Throw in the free or discounted room and board, meals and cost of attendance awards from the NCAA typically ranging in the low thousands per year…” (Grossman and Garahana) This argument tries to justify not paying college athletes by saying they their scholarships cost thousands of dollars, not including the perks they receive and that is their compensation. However, this is still not close to what they are worth. “The average Division I player is worth $170,098 per year, with each of the 351 D1 basketball programs taking in more than $4.5 million in revenue on average each year.”(Procter and Bellford) Just one sports athletes are worth Hundreds of thousands more than their scholarships and perks offer, so it is unfair to assume that a scholarship is compensation enough for how much athletes are doing for their programs. Another argument claims that there are many children and adults who want to attend college, but cannot afford to do so. Athletes are able to go to highly accredited colleges for little to nothing for playing the sport they love. This is enough compensation for collegiate athletes.(Procter and Bellford) However it has been discovered that “Sometimes, athletes aren’t involved in academics at all. At the University of North Carolina, over 3,100 students, almost all of whom were athletes, enrolled in fake classes that never met and required no work, designed to boost their GPAs and allow them to focus more
on their athletic pursuits. Similar situations have been found at many other schools, such as the University of Michigan, Kansas State, and Stanford.” (Kronstadt) Some colleges do not even care about their students receiving an education, they only care about the revenue they being in from playing sports at their school. Although many people do not have a chance to go to college, some athletes will not even receive a proper education, so the advantage is completely wasted. Finally, the last argument that has been made is “Even if these athletes don’t end up playing at a professional level, they are often set up for futures in coaching, training or broadcasting when they are finished with their collegiate careers. This advantage afforded to college athletes sets them up on a career path for a bright future, something I would argue giving them lump sums of money would not necessarily do.”(Grossman and Garahana) This is still not sufficient compensation though because “The NCAA brought in $989 million in its 2014 fiscal year per an audited financial statement, according to USA Today. Approximately $547 million of this revenue was given to Division I conferences and schools in the same fiscal year, and since the NCAA’s expenses totaled $908.6 million, it ended up netting $80.5 million for the year.” (Grossman and Garahana) If these colleges and the NCAA is accumulating this much money from the student athlete, then it is unfair to assume that these job opportunities are fair compensation because many of these jobs will already be taken, and the ones that aren’t will never pay close to as much as the players deserve to be receiving.
Sports is a topic that has been exponentially growing in revenue and importance in a multitude of ways. The NCAA makes millions of dollars from college athletes, which goes all to them and not to the players at all. Even despite all the time college athletes put into their sports, they receive nothing. In conclusion, college football players deserve to be compensated because of what they put in into their programs, and the results of their hard work, and because there is no true substantial reason for them not to be paid.