College

College Athletes Should be Paid Advertisement actors on television, door to door salesmen, and people that are sponsored by companies all have one job; they bring in customers. They work hard to receive their payments like expected. That is what we all expect, right? We have all been taught that if we work hard you will receive a fair compensation. This ideology does not really seem to apply to college athletics though. College athletes have worked throughout their childhood to fulfill their dreams to reach the university that they get to compete for. College athletic programs create a huge market that people love to watch and support, as a result they bring in tons of money. They are doing the same things, and more, that those actors and salespeople are doing. These students should receive pay for their efforts to do all their tasks. All athletes in any division of college athletics should be paid for the time they put in and the money they bring to their school. There seems to be a popular argument that people always fall back on for why college athletes shouldn’t be paid. Most people say that they receive huge scholarships, so they don't need or deserve to be paid. Yes, it is true that they are given a lot of money or even a free ride to their school, but this should not be a payment for what they do for their university. The money that they are given through scholarships does not equal out to the amount of money the colleges make from tickets and merchandise sales. We do not understand the amount of profit that these schools actually make off of exploiting their student athletes. On average a division 1 university makes around $54,577,821 annually just from their athletic programs (Gaines, businessinsider.com). Does it not seem a little unfair that the average college can make over $50 million, and none of that is paid back to the athletes that brought all the money in? Faculty and former university presidents (e.g., Bowen & Levin, 2003; Duderstadt, 2000; Shulman & Bowen, 2001; Sperber, 1990, 2000) caution against the promotion of college sports at the expense of academic priorities and the mission of higher education. Most agree that the revenue-producing sports of football and basketball pose the greatest threat to institutional control and integrity. The college athletes recruited to compete in these sports pose an institutional dilemma, as they are often the most academically underprepared relative to other students but admitted, nonetheless. As evidence that signing a top athletic class is big business, nearly half of NCAA Division I athletics departments doubled their recruiting budgets from 1997 to 2007 (Sanders, 2008). Perhaps as a result of this trend, recruiting violations account for over two-thirds of the total major violations in the NCAA since 1987 and have increased markedly since the inception of the BCS computer model for determining the national championship game (Clark & Batista, 2009; Van Rheenen, 2010). Athletes are distracted and exploited and put their entire future and academic success at risk just to play a sport in college that helps they pay for the education that they aren’t really given time to focus on. Due to the increased ratings of college athletics, this figure will continue to rise. The athletes being recruited for college sports are bigger, faster and stronger than ever and will generate more money due to the number of fans who watch each week. Colleges and universities generate so much revenue during the year that it is only fair that the players receive part of that as compensation for their hard work and dedication. The athletes should get paid based on the university’s income from the sport and apparel sales. A star quarterback, point guard, swimmer, etc. will not only help sell tickets but will bring in plenty of merchandise sales as well. Although the NCCA prohibits the universities to sell a college jersey with a player's name on it, they are permitted to sell the jersey with the player's number on it, which is easily recognizable in local, and sometimes national markets (Gaines, businessinsider.com). NCAA rules state that studentathletes are not allowed to use their own college athletic abilities for promotional purposes or monetary gain. As stated by this means that a well-known athlete cannot charge money for the hours spent signing autographs, but the university is able to use the athlete to generate hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars through sales and increased enrollment. Also, important to note: in a 1989 survey of professional football players, 31 percent of the respondents admitted to having accepted illegal payments during their college careers, and 48 percent of the respondents said they knew of other athletes who took such payments during college (regoli, vittana.org). College athletes most likely would not feel the need to break the rules if they received compensation that assisted them to pay their bills. College athletes must put almost all their time into their sports, whether it be practice or games. The student-athletes can put over 40 hours in a week, of just practice (Jacobs, businessinsider.com). That is more time than a lot of people put into their “real jobs”. There are many students who are permitted to be a part of the work-study program. This program gives college students jobs on campus so they can make money while at school. We all can agree that those kids should be paid for the work they put into their work, but they still don't do as much as the athletes. On average the students in work-study only work 19 hours (Fang,thinkprocess.org). They are held to a much higher standard than normal students since they are juggling so much in their life. After all the hours the athletes spend for their sport per week, they are still expected to make it to all of their classes and any other duties around the university. Many of the players are not able to fulfill their obligations due to their sport’s demanding schedule. Even though they are forced to miss some classes which impedes their education, they are still not allowed to be paid. Almost all college athletes are made to miss class, baseball and softball missing the most (Cornick, niacc.edu), and there is nothing they can do about it. They either must teach themselves the lessons that they had to miss, or they have to find a time with the professor; which will take away more if the little free time the athlete already has. One of the most known times in college athletics, the March Madness basketball tournament, causes student-athletes to miss up to 6 days of class, and sometimes more. Now, we all know that college can be hard on those who go to every class and can put all their time into studying. So, how do you think this works on the minds of the athletes? They need to find a healthy balance between all these stressful and troublesome situations, which can be a very tough task to ask of a young adult. If the NCAA would allow the payment of college athletes it could also dramatically improve the athletes’ lives. If they were getting paid they would have no reason to want to leave college early to go pro. Stopping them from leaving a year or even two or three early could impact them heavily. They would stay at school resulting in them getting the education they are there to receive. Let's say that student-athlete decides to leave early and go pro for their sport, and they get a career ending injury. Without their education from college they have no fall back plan, they will have no idea where to go with their life. But, now let’s say that athlete finished school before going pro because he or she was receiving payment. If they were to get that same injury, they would now have a degree to fall back on. Having that college degree could make a world of difference to the careers they are able to pursue. The players would not be forced to leave school early and would still be able to pursue an education while caring for the family they have at home. This could ultimately increase graduation rates at the college and help the school be higher on the charts. Being paid in college athletics could also help the athletes’ families tremendously, especially those who don't receive full rides. They would be making money which they could send back home or use to help pay their college debt. Many of these athletes come from poverty and very low-income households. Many of these athletes must read letters and talk to their parents about a lot of unbearable news. They will receive news of their parents being evicted from their homes and not having any place to live. This is something that we wish we could stop, but lots of times it’s just a lack of money that causes it. Paying the players could allow them to send money back home, and hopefully that could save the family from being kicked out. It could also allow them to have enough money to pay for their own things including food. This could help prevent them having to call back home and ask for money and ultimately not have to stress out their parents / guardians even more. Everyone wishes that they could take care of their parents in some way. This finally gives them a way to give their family a better life at home. If there was a way for you to do that, would you not at least give it an attempt? These athletes can also help invite better students and a more respectable name for the university. They can often bring fame or glory to the college through their athletic accomplishments which in turn helps to bring in more academic based students and better reputations for the institute and all of its programs and marketing. There are multiple instances of this being a true case. One of the cases that bring in students and reputation was when Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy, Boston College’s undergraduate admissions increased by 25 points and its average SAT score of admitted freshmen skyrocketed by 110 points (Edelman, forbes.com). Another example of this happening was Patrick Ewing’s basketball season in 1982-1983 because it helped increase undergraduate applications by fortyseven percent and and a forty point increase on SAT scores at Georgetown University (Edelman, forbes.com). On the marketing side of things there are many colleges that use their athletes and athletic success to increase their profits. These colleges include Ohio State and their football program, Gonzaga and their basketball program, Boise and football program, and maybe the most known of all is Duke’s men’s basketball team. They all use their athletes faces and abilities along with their programs success to gain more fans and fame. We have all seen these ads and commercials of the players and coaches that make us all feel closer to them. Using the players’ faces is something that the athletes should be paid for. When they are being used to gain popularity, the students deserve to be compensated as anyone else who works “jobs” like those. It is unfair to not pay them just because they are athletes for a university. The NCAA believes that they can do whatever they want. This has been shown by their lack of respect when using players’ likenesses in video games. The NCAA has done this many times to multiple athletes, and it just isn't fair to the athletes. The first suit filed against them for this reason was by a UCLA men’s basketball player, Ed O’Bannon. O’Bannon said “They didn’t ask me for my image. They didn’t ask me for my left hand, for my sweet jump shot” and “I want the way the NCAA does business — I want that to change” (Breslow, pbs.org) Since that case was filed back in 2009, close to two dozen other college or former college athletes have joined the fight against the NCAA tyrant. Along with the NCAA the case also sues the video game producer Electronic Arts, or EA, and the Collegiate Licensing Company (Breslow, pbs.org). Paying college athletes could also help encourage them to be healthier. It would help eliminate the idea of them trying to find jobs to support themselves. They would be able to focus on academics and athletes without worrying about making ends meet (regoli, vittana.org). If they were to be paid, then they could fully focus their time on school and athletics without having to add more time toward a job. Between the intense training hours for athletes, adding more hours to work would inevitably take even more time away from their academics. In addition, there are often times athletes who are walk on, meaning they show up for practice and are good enough they will stay on the team. These players do not get any scholarships or any compensation whatsoever, so them making the team would mean they would have less time for academics if they were to get a job. This could ultimately lead to lower grades and lower graduation rates. Which could all be avoided if they were to be paid, considering they are a huge part of the reason colleges get most of the money that they have. Too many college athletes put their heart and soul into what they do and risk life changing injuries and too many come out without any reward at all, especially considering the fact that they put their education and future on the line. The payment of student athletes is a very controversial topic. On top of reasons that they should be paid, there are more reasons and people who argue why they should not be paid. A lot of people argue that athletes receiving full ride scholarships or grants for athletics should not be paid, they are already getting a huge compensation. A big argument against college athletes getting paid is that if it happens for college then so should high school athletes, after all they put it in a lot of effort as well right( Salvadore 2)? In adition to the high school argument another common defense is what teams get paid. If the football team gets paid, the tennis team and the volleyball team have to be paid too, They're athletes also. Then What about the golf players? They're all there on athletic scholarship. How about the chess team? And who could forget about the rowing team? And dance team/ cheer squad? (salvadore 3) Paying one team would end up bringing out an argument as to why every team/ group should be paid if they are involved on campus and who would pay for all of this? Colleges do not have enough money, but it would also defeat the purpose of going to school. If athletes were to start getting paid, it would give people a reason to talk about paying other students in the school. “If we pay the athletes maybe we should also do it for the first violinist in the school orchestra, or the lead actor in theatrical productions (Reed 1). All of this money would have to come from somewhere, what is to say that this would not cause a rise in tuition rates? As we look back at the information above, we can see that there are very good arguments for why collegiate athletes should be paid for their work. We sometimes seem to forget that even though these athletes are expected to do much more than the average college student, they are still human. They work harder and do more than any of the kids there only for academics and they should be rewarded for that. This paper demonstrates the ways student-athletes are mistreated in colleges still today and the reasons for why it needs to end. Not paying these athletes can heavily impact their lives and their future. This is why college athletes should be paid. Student athletes are stuck between two worlds, athletics and academics. They have so much more pressure on their shoulders than most students, they have practice, games, class, school work, and oftentimes a job to balance. Some kids don't really choose to go to college for sports, in some cases the only way a family could afford it is if the student gets an athletic scholarship. So given all that they do and juggle at a young age shouldn't they be compensated?