In 1905, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (IAA) set bylaws requiring college athletes to be amateurs at the time they play their respective sport in order to play in intercollegiate athletic competitions (Schneider 1). One year later, in 1906, the IAA …show more content…
“...there is an obvious lack of appreciation of a college degree from those in favor of paying athletes,” quote by Dennis A. Johnson (Johnson 3). Athletes are supposed to focus on being a student first and an athlete second, and the payments would put the focus on athletics over academics (Terp 33). Finding a strategy to pay all college athletes would be very difficult, whereas the amount and method would be highly debatable. College athletes are provided with “...remarkable opportunities to get an education at the finest universities and to go professional if they want to,” stated by NCAA president, Mark Emmert (“Should” 3). Statistically shown, less than 2 percent of college athletes carry their athleticism into an actual career (“Should” 2). Football and basketball, being the most popular of college sports, have an inconsequential amount of players continue on into the NFL or NBA, respectively. In men’s football, out of 73,660 NCAA participants, only 1.5 percent of said participants make it to the NFL. Men’s basketball has a slight decrease of players going professional, having 16,593 NCAA participants and 1.1 percent going professional (Terp …show more content…
An estimated 48 percent of the players knew of others that had been secretly compensated (Johnson 8). This goes to show that athletes are sometimes paid even against the rules and regulations of the NCAA. Tim Tebow, former Denver Broncos quarterback, current outfielder for the New York Mets, once joked with his college coach prior to the national championship game, saying he should receive a portion of the coach’s bonus money to ensure he led the team to victory (Johnson