Intercollegiate sports have been around since the 1850s to promote athletes to play for the love of the game and not for income. Recently, two different decisions have endangered this tradition: the decision by the National Labor Relations Board to recognize the Northwestern University football team as employees of the university and a federal judge’s decision regarding payment to football and men’s basketball players. Both decisions favor the idea of paying NCAA athletes because their games generate massive income; from ticket sales, merchandising, and TV and marketing contracts, that benefit the university, but not the athletes themselves (Majerol). Nonetheless, NCAA athletes should not be paid because of the problems that would arise from …show more content…
With its adoption of the amateur code in 1956, college athletes are known first as students then as athletes (Majerol). In the past year, however, two cases have come up that threaten the amateur code. The first case was in April of 2014 when the Northwestern football team appealed to the Nation Labor Relations Board for the right to unionize. They argued that they met the standards of being an “employee” of the university because they spend 50 to 60 hours of football-related work per week during August training camp, 40 to 50 hours per week during the regular season, 15 to 20 hours per week during the offseason, 20 to 25 hours per week during spring practice, and they are constantly under strict schedules and monitoring. Due to these reasons, the NLRB has declared the football team as employees of the university (Vint). Four months later, Claudia Wilken, a U.S district judge, ruled that players whose images are used in video games or TV broadcasts should have a part of the revenue from media contracts put into a trust fund that can be collected once the athlete graduates (“Judge Rules Against NCAA”). With these new decisions, the debate on whether or not college athletes should be paid has …show more content…
Every year, approximately 150,000 student-athletes receive some kind of athletic scholarship- a total of $2.7 billion (“The Value of College Sports”). Even though scholarships can be as little as 10% of total costs, it still deducts from the average debt of $35,200 that college graduates face (Ellis). Furthermore, even if a student-athlete does not receive a scholarship, they still receive free academic support. In an interview with Coach Dormann, the Women’s golf coach at San Jose State University, he said that during a student-athlete’s first semester at SJSU they must attend mandatory study hours with tutors to ensure that student-athletes are eligible to compete. Student-athletes also have the ability to train and condition in state-of-the-art facilities with trainers that create workout plans specifically engineered to help one perform at their best (“The Value of College Sports”). Just by playing a college sport, athletes are already being “paid” with the training and guidance needed to play professionally while still receiving an
With college basketball and football originating in the 1800’s, the game has had much time to adapt. Over the years, the sports have become more and more popular, gaining a bigger fan base, which has resulted in substantial profits from the sale of merchandise representing the teams and players. There is one thing that has not changed; all of the athletes are still not being paid. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, is an organization that regulates most aspects of
College sports are one of the largest and fastest growing markets in today’s culture. With some college sports games attracting more viewers than their professional counterparts, the NCAA is one of the most profiting organizations in America. Recently there has been controversy in the world of college sports as to whether the college athletes that are making their universities and the NCAA money should receive payment while they are playing their respective sport. Many believe that these athletes should be paid. Others argue that they are already receiving numerous benefits for playing that sport from their universities. Many of the proponents of paying college athletes are current or former college athletes who believe their hard work and hours put into practice and competing go under appreciated. They feel that while the athletes are making the university money, the athletes do not receive any cut of these profits. Opponents feel that athletes already receive numerous perks and should not receive extra compensation on top of the perks they already receive.
Ever since college students started playing sports, back in 1879 when Harvard played Yale in the first collegiate sports game, the question of whether college athletes should be paid was addressed. From that point on athletes, coaches, and college administrators have brought forward points agreeing or disagreeing with the notion of paying college students. The students argue that they deserve to be paid due to the revenue that they bring for the college and because of the games they play and the championships they win. At first the idea of paying college athletes was out of the question, but now the argument has gone from a simple yes or no to a heated debate. Since college athletes are given a free education, they should not also be paid.
When it comes to college athletics, there always will be a problem that arises. It is one of the most controversial topics there is. One of the main issues within athletics is the idea of whether to pay college athletes or not. Several studies have been done along with articles from various sources. This has been on the rise especially since “March Madness” is coming up. “March Madness” may only consist of three weekends, however, an 11 billion dollar deal is made to televise the games (Wilbon). This is when you have to take the time to sit back and contemplate whether these college athletes really are getting the fair end of the stick. Under NCAA laws it is forbidden to pay these athletes for their performance yet at the same time they
College athletics is a very diverse organization involving a lot of students, mainly as the players, and non-students such as officials, coaches and others. The leading governing body for college athletics is the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA. College sports is itself a big industry involving sponsorships, TV networks, endorsements, retail products and marketing. But in spite of it being a big business, the players are not compensated for the work they deliver. This opens up two opinions: should players be paid, or should they not? Kristi Dosh’s article, “The Problems With Paying College Athletes”, (UNCLEAR)discusses where the coaches’ money come from to pay student athletes. On the other hand, Mark Cassell’s article, “College Athletes Should Be Able To Negotiate Compensation”, debates how athletes should be able to negotiate their compensation. This paper will evaluate the evidence of both Dosh and Cassell in order to determine which argument is more effective.
One of the hottest debates in the sports industry is if college athletes should be paid. If you want to pay these athletes, how would the college determine the dollar amount that should be paid? Should the basketball team make more than the football team? Should the the soccer team be paid as well? Cheerleading? Chess team? Should everyone on the team get a salary? What if your college is good at football and your basketball team is awful? Rather than thinking about these questions, the college board is just better off not paying athletes like how they did in the old days. For example, “When the National Collegiate Athletic Association was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1905, the institution was devoted to the belief of not providing a salary to the college-athletes who took participated in the organization. It is based on the belief of amateurism, and it was a remarkable idea” (Meshefejian). However, The continuous growth of NCAA causes a huge amount of revenue to come into colleges and this cause controversy to whether if athletes should be paid for what they do. The opinions on this subject can be grouped into two general categories. Some feel that college athletes should not be paid because education comes first and athletes are already paid in full. Others feel that college athletes should be paid because playing a sport is a full-time job and it would make the sport more competitive. Although some
Every year in the United States, thousands of collegiate student-athletes participate in a variety of different sports, and currently they do not receive paychecks for their performances. College athletics have attained an extensive popularity increase among Americans over the past few decades. This has resulted into increased revenues for the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA] and the participating colleges, which has fuelled the debate of whether or not college athletes should collect an income. College athletes should not be paid to play because it will negatively affect their college experience. Rather, they should be compensated for their dedication to the sport. Many student athletes accept scholarships to play at a
Abstract: Collegiate athletes participating in the two revenue sports (football, men's basketball) sacrifice their time, education, and risk physical harm for their respected programs. The players are controlled by a governing body (NCAA) that dictates when they can show up to work, and when they cannot show up for work. They are restricted from making any substantial financial gains outside of their sports arena. These athletes receive no compensation for their efforts, while others prosper from their abilities. The athletes participating in the two revenue sports of college athletics, football and men's basketball should be compensated for their time, dedication, and work put forth in their respected sports.
The first president of the NCAA, Walter Byers, once stated, “All of this is not fair, and I predict that the amateur code now based on a forgone philosophy and held in place for shear economic purposes, will not long stand the test of the law” (Schooled-The Price of College Sports). So why has it? This controversial issue on whether college athletes should be compensated or not has been debated for years, but still has not been resolved. Although the highly disputed debate on whether to pay college athletes or not is very intricate, evidence clearly shows they should be further compensated.
An issue that has been a well-known topic of conversation recently is the subject of college athletes getting paid or not. This issue has been circulating amongst sports fans throughout the country. Everyone from the fans, players, parents, and media groups all have opinions on this matter. Over the past ten years college athletics has gained an enormous amount of popularity and income from American audiences. As a result of this, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been debating about collegiate athletes getting paid for their participation and I am going to discuss the reasons for why people are for it and why people are against it. The real questions most people are wondering is: Is it ethically right to pay college
Since the beginning of organized sports athletes have been pouring their heart and soul into playing the sport their hearts desire. It has always been the love of the game, the hard work and dedication that student athletes to the collegiate level. When athletes reach the collegiate level it is more or less a business, and their job is to bring in a profit for the university. Over the past few years students and others have wondered: should college athletes be paid? Student athletes shouldn’t be paid because they do get scholarships and it would be harmful to the university budget as a whole. In this essay I will discuss the effects of paying student athletes on the university and other athletes. Also, addressing issues such as exploitation and showing how much athletes are really receiving.
During the years prior to the year 2017, there has been thousands of controversial topics that the world or United States has had to deal with. Whether the conflict is over a world problem such as Global Warming, or if it is a country conflict such as abortion laws. Many people have to work together in order to find the right solution to what will work best for everybody. The steps that is taken to come up with a solution is the same steps for any controversial topic that comes up. With that being said a big controversy in the United States today is whether or not college athletes should be paid while attending and playing for the University of their
College athletes are among the most hardworking individuals as they work to balance life as a young adult, collegiate studies, and the strenuous requirements that are involved in practicing and performing for their sport or sports of choice. These students athletes generally do not have time in their routines to add in additional employment that they may need in order to fund their lives while attending college and living away from home, often for the first time. The athletes are household names, the faces of the colleges, and hometown heroes yet they often cannot afford to enjoy the fruits of their labor. This is due to the legalities that are involved in regards to college athletes not being paid for extra curricular activities. Outside of the scholarships that are generally rewarded to the athletes in order to pay for their education,
A growing amount of critics are begging the NCAA to pay their beloved student athletes. This past month, a coalition of professors joined together in support for labor rights for men’s football and basketball players. On top of that, a few former NCAA basketball stars have spoken out and proclaimed that these student athletes should
College sports are big business. For many universities, the athletic program serves as a cash-generating machine. Exploited athletes generate millions of dollars for the NCAA and their schools, and never see a dime. In terms of profit, if all ties with the university were eliminated, an athletic program acting as its own separate entity could compete with some fortune 500 companies. So, why do the vital pieces of the machine, the players, fail to receive any compensation for their performance? The answer lies in the money-hungry NCAA and their practice of hoarding all the revenue. College athletes should receive payment for their play to make their college experience more bearable because they create huge profits and