Should College Athletes Get Paid?

Billy Scumaci Due – Thursday Feb. 21st
Professor Johnson BUAD367

Current Issues Paper

In my opinion, I think that Division 1-A basketball and football players should be getting paid a certain amount on the side for all the good they bring into a school. The proposal that I would like to propose is to pay the students on a per minute basis due to the fact that there are some superstars on a team that play most of the game and other players who do not play at all. I feel as if the better players on a team deserve more than a player who doesn’t play at all. Furthermore, I would pay the players on a $20-$25 dollar per-minute basis. For example, if a star basketball athlete played 30 minutes in a game, he would bring in about 600-750 dollars per game. For the players who receive minimal (6 mins and under) playing time during a game to no playing time at all will receive a minimum of $120. The same would go for the football players at a Division-1A school, as they will be paid on a per-minute basis as well. I have many reasons as to why I feel this proposal is correct route to take and will clearly explain my reasoning in the upcoming paragraphs One reason why I think that these Division-1 student-athletes in men’s basketball and football should be paid is due to the fact that most of these “full rides” aren’t really exactly full rides. The full rides usually cover tuition, fees, books and room and board but do they take care of things like laundry, food, traveling expenses, etc.? Probably not, and most of these kids in school may not be able to afford these types of things due to financial problems. This can cause some of these kids to be suffering off the basketball court and by not being able to receive any sorts of money and/or gifts from anybody puts them in a major hole. By paying these kids on a per-minute basis, it will allow them to at least be able to afford these daily expenses and not have to suffer through their time at college. According to the Collegiate Athletes Coalition, they estimated that NCAA scholarships are worth about 2,000 – 3,000 less than the cost of attending a university, as it doesn’t account for the other daily expenses that are a necessity. With my proposal some star athletes will even make up to about $7,000 dollars during a year, which still isn’t a very big number considering all the good that they are bringing into the university and the fact that they probably don’t have enough time for a part-time job during the season. I think that this will still allow these athletes to maintain their amateurism, while at the same time provide them with a necessary amount of spending money on the side in order to easily get by through every day life. In addition, I feel as if these college athletes in these two sports are bringing in so much revenue to these schools that it would be absurd not to give them some sort of compensation. In 2012, CBS and Turner Sports recently signed a 14 year deal with the NCAA for 10.8 Billion for the TV rights for the event, which is an average annual rights fee of $771 million dollars! Anytime when you see the word billion dollars you know that you are dealing with big business and that’s what college basketball is all about! All this money is involved with these sports but do the athletes, who are the people who run the show, get to see any of it? The answer is no, and due to that fact right there I believe that they should be rewarded in some sort of way for what they are doing for the NCAA and these schools. My proposal isn’t saying that these student-athletes should be making millions of dollars per year for what they are doing; it just is compensating these athletes with a few thousand dollars just to meet their everyday needs. Moreover, I feel as if it is crazy that some of these coaches are getting paid millions to coach but these kids aren’t seeing any money at all. According to the, Let’s Start Paying College Athletes by Joe Nocera, coaches like Urban Meyer will be making $24 million over the next 6 years, which is even more than some NFL coaches. Therefore, some of these coaches in college are millionaires, while these college athletes are just struggling through everyday life! Furthermore, due to the struggle off the court for some of these athletes brings about money abuse scandals that just bring about a bad name for some of these schools. For example, the financial scandal at the Fiesta Bowl that led to the firing of its chief executive and the indictment of another top executive just brings a bad name to the NCAA. I’m not saying that my proposal will end these abuse scandals but hopefully it will have a positive effect on them and somehow limit the amount that have been going on. As you can see, I feel as if the Division-1 student-athletes in Men’s basketball and football should be paid on a per minute basis with a minimum of $120 dollars per game for the players who do not play at all. This will allow the athletes to make up to about $7,000 dollars per year and will help them off the court with the necessary daily activities that every college student needs money in order to do. I feel as if these college students are the ones that are bringing in the money, fans are wearing their jerseys in the stands, and they should be compensated in some way that will show the NCAA that they truly care about their Division-1 athletes, while also allowing these athletes to maintain their amateurism.

Bibliography 1. http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/pointcounterpoint-paying-college-athletes 2. Let’s Start Paying College Athletesby Joe Nocera (Dec. 30th 2011, NY Times)

Bibliography: 1. http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/pointcounterpoint-paying-college-athletes 2. Let’s Start Paying College Athletesby Joe Nocera (Dec. 30th 2011, NY Times)