The Pros And Cons Of College Athletes

In today’s society professional sports play a significant rule. Not only are they entertaining to play but with them come values learned such as teamwork, playing fair, integrity as well as many more. Sports are by far one of the most sought out professions in all of America, and every year since the early 1900’s these professional sports leagues hold drafts to incorporate college athletes into their leagues. These drafts are glorified and looked upon all year and serve as a quintessential stepping-stone to the pros. And in the last thirty years college sports has become the prime example of athletes fulfilling their dreams to play professional sports particularly in football and basketball. In an ideal situation these athletes would use their
athletic gifts in college as a way to earn a free education and a great opportunity to get into professional sports. There is now a large trend of these college athletes bypassing all four years of college offered to them, and entering in a professional draft before they graduate from college. There are many factors that have attributed to college athletes should skip the remaining years available to them to enter into a professional draft.
It provides them with a chance for a better education later in life, the overall health of the individual participating in the sport, and economic stability. The least rational cause for college athletes leaving college before graduation is education playing a minor role in their professional decisions. Many make the argument that these athletes are recruited to college to become students first and athletes later. In reality, it is the total opposite. Most of the high school athletes that are able to earn a full ride scholarship to perform in collegiate athletics, so they choose a school that present them with the best opportunity to further their athletic abilities in professional sports. College coaches go through a grueling process of recruiting all year round to persuade certain athletes to choose that particular school to play sports. Players who have the hopes of making it professional will not need to use the information taught in the university to play their participating sport, therefore the education process becomes less important to the college athlete. According to Rockler-Gladen Time management becomes a huge
concern for these college athletes to handle. “Long practices and frequent road trips can have a negative academic impact on even the best of students. In addition, commitment to a team can make it difficult to get involved in other aspects of college life” states (Rockler-Gladen p.1). Education is difficult for these young adults to process while going through busy college schedules in route to their professional sports goal. Even after their professional career, and once they are financial set they can return to any school of their choice so they don’t see a need to concentrate in school more than athletics. As a high school recruit they may not know what they would want their other profession to be so they normally choose schools that have a strong athletics program and the school may not offer a strong program in the degree they want. Once their life is already in place and these professional athletes are a lot more mature than they were in the past, they may choose and be able to afford any school in the country and solely base their life devoted to their studies without the worries of handling athletics and other social distractions. Therefore education is less of a deciding factor these days when college athletes choose to leave school early to go into their profession, causing them to take their talents to the professional level. Although education may not be significant to the athletes as they come out of college, some unfortunate college athletes who leave school early may not have the option to return back to school. A second cause for these athletes to cut their college careers early and enter pro sports is the high risk of injury leading to a depleted professional sports career. Physicality in these sports have increased, which heightens the chances for injury to these college athletes. “This added intensity may be leading to young athletes who hit harder, turn faster, and push themselves farther than those of generations past, leading to increases in certain types of injuries” notes Dan Child of ABC News Medical Unit (2). When the injuries occur to a college athlete their chance of making it to the next level decrease drastically and the chances of an injured college player playing an extend amount of years in pros are decreased as well. And considering the physical demand of most sports causing a short playing career, most players don't want to waste any of their physical prime years in college playing when they could use those healthy years in the pros. According to Jon Gever of the MedPage Today, a study conducted by Robert H. Brophy, M.D., of Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues “examined injury data on 5,004 promising college players who participated in NFL combines from 1987 to 2000, along with follow-up on their subsequent pro careers. Some 56% of the players went on to play in at least one NFL game” (Gever 1). In the case of this study, when a player has reached their potential to be able to enter at the professional level they take the chance because if injured throughout their college tenure, chances of making it to the pros are diminished by the loss of either skill or the confidence one team has in investing in your athletic ability after injury. Also college athletes are “not covered by the University insurance when it comes to an injury.” (Peterson 1) Peterson of the New York Times shows the importance that students collect a bill for any injury occurrence in their participating sport, whether you are on scholarship or you are a walk-on says Peterson of the New York Times. If an injury was to happen and their career in professional sports was nonexistent, they may not have the money to cover the money for the injury, which is why more athletes are deciding to leave early.
And the most relevant reason why more college athletes are passing by the rest of their college education is because the money is readily available.
In a time period known as the “recession”, being able to receive millions of dollars for an athletic gifted ability seems like common sense. The amount of money these athletes are paid is another debatable topic but what it comes down to is when college athletes see an opportunity for thousands and millions of dollars to do what they consider is an idealistic job. This trend is really seeing an increase over the last thirty years because although the pay for a professional athlete was comforting, it does not compare to the exorbitant contracts that today’s athletes receive. These professional sports teams are able to gross millions of dollars, which provide a great income for those college athletes good enough to join the pros. The National Football League which is the most watched, recognized and popular sport in America, has a rule set in place for the minimum salary a first year player can receive on any given team is $285,000 (Weisman 3). That amount is comparable to what an individual, who goes through multiple years of college to become a doctor, will make once they become established in the workforce. Every year players are in a league the more money they make, therefore more athletes see the opportunity of getting to the pros as soon as possible as the best option of expanding their bank account now more than ever.
There are 380,000 thousand college athletes in America and only 1% of them actually turn pro. If the opportunity to go pro is almost guaranteed than being able to be selected in a small percentage of only 1% gives you a great chance to earn professional athlete money. (Teicher) And an example of the rough economic time the sports industry is facing is in the NFL going through a possible lockout in the 2011-2012 season. In this process the athletes will not participate in NFL events which results in not paycheck all season. With a possibility of this occurring may cause more college football athletes to choose to leave school early in hopes of cashing in for pro football before the chance of not getting paid at all becomes a reality.
There is a fair argument of why college athletes are not passing up on the opportunity of college to enter the pros. Like stated earlier high school athletes are recruited to school and have earned full ride scholarships to participate in sports at the collegiate level. Many see staying in school as a right and a privilege. They feel that by leaving early they will be going against the opportunity that was invested in them as high school athletes signing on to play at college. A full ride scholarship is available for all years of your college tenure, so college athletes would rather not pass up on the rare opportunity. The cost to attend some universities for 4 plus years may exceed or reach $200,000. And by having that money for education provided for them many feel that by attending school and earning a degree has more value and provides a better chance to succeed in their career than exploring a chance in professional sports. Although many do stay in school for a better chance of a career, staying does not always guarantee that in a four year education time period they will earn a position at any given job, with numbers down in the workforce.
In conclusion the rapidly increasing trend of college athletes opting to leave college early will not slow down any time soon. With the value of education becoming less significant, the increasing and injuries slowing down the hope of college athletes, and the opportunity of making beaucoup dollars in a time where money is tight, will having a lastly impression on the thought process of these college athletes staying in school.