Should College Athletes Be Paid?

College athletics is a billion dollar industry and has been for a long time. Due to the increasing ratings of college athletics, this figure will continue to rise. It’s simple: bigger, faster, stronger athletes will generate more money. College Universities generate so much revenue during the year that it is only fair to the players that they get a cut. College athletes should get paid based on the university’s revenue, apparel sales, and lack of spending money.

NCAA participation rates have been rising both in the number of teams and as well as the student athletes competing in college athletics. Women’s sports added 140 new programs and men’s added 111. Along with these added programs, the number of students who participate in the 23 sports sponsored by the NCAA has risen to 472,625 participants. (Johnson) The NCAA revenue for the 2011-2012 school year was $871.6 million and

None of the reports mentioned how much money the NCAA makes off the other thirty eight college football bowl games, the regular seasons of both football and basketball, and all the other NCAA sports seasons. The reason these numbers are important is because the NCAA does not produce the product that makes this money. People do not spend millions upon billions of dollars to watch the NCAA, they pay that type of money to watch college sports. Absurd? Maybe. The amount of money spent on college sports is large and even controversial but it is something that needs to be dealt with. Instead of giving that money to the students who produce the product, the NCAA takes that money, pays its executives well, and then funnels the money back into large schools where the NCAA prohibits schools from giving student athletes money. This positive feedback loop contributes to the disparity that is seen amongst small and large college athletics today. The NCAA rewards teams that do well and the teams that are members of large conferences because those two factors are the most important in securing TV contracts. This system favors large schools and the NCAA rewards these large schools by

College athletics is a billion dollar industry and has been for a long time. Due to the increasing ratings of college athletics, this figure will continue to rise. It’s simple: bigger, faster, stronger athletes will generate more money. College Universities generate so much revenue during the year that it is only fair to the players that they get a cut. College athletes should get paid based on the university’s revenue, apparel sales, and lack of spending money.

One of the lucrative activities that many colleges use are their sports. Just as their professional counterpart, crowds of people pay to see their favorite team, or in this case college, go against a rival team. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), reportedly made billions of dollars in revenue off college sports. Though, this aroused a serious issue, as none of the college athletes, the ones who made such a revenue possible, never received any of the profit. As college sports grows ever more popular, should they start paying their athletes? The answer is yes they should for the athletes as they put a lot of work, many of them live in poverty, and colleges makes profit

year, yet not one penny goes to the athletes who make it all happen. These

Majority of college football or basketball teams bring in enough money to support many student clubs and programs. Even though they bring enough for these programs and enough for themselves, what about the other teams that don’t bring in any money at all. Teams like lacrosse , golf or swimming might not earn as much revenue to support themselves and using money the bigger teams bring to give to them would not be fair Splitting money between all the teams would be hard because there is not a fair way you could spilt it. Many teams earn way more money than the others. Hruby reported that, “NCAA pocketed an astonishing $771 million in television money for its just-completed men's basketball tournament.”(Hruby) The NCAA men’s basketball tournament

It says in an article about college revenue and income, “only a few sports tend to bring in money. Often, it is the big programs — football and basketball —that bring in the most revenue. Other programs don’t make any money while some even tend to lose money. It is the big programs that pay for all the smaller programs. The money these programs bring in goes to pay for the facilities, the training, the programs and all kinds of other expenses of the university” (USA Today College).

As a nonprofit the NCAA is often not compared to large companies even it makes comparable revenue. All television and video game revenue, as well as ticket, jersey, and souvenir sales made from college athletics all go to the NCAA, the conferences, the athletic departments, and the coaches. In fact, one study suggests, “Men’s basketball and football combine for $6 billion alone” (Mondello, Piquero, Piquero, Gertz & Bratton, 2013). None of that revenue goes directly to the student athlete even though the NCAA surely has enough money to do so if it chooses. USA Today writer Bruce Horovitz states in his article, March Madness Evokes Marketer Madness that, “The NCAA men’s basketball tournament generated $1.15 billion in television ads in 2013, well beyond the revenue generated by the NFL and NBA playoffs, according to ESPN” (Horovitz, 2014). Marc Edelman, a professor at City University of New York takes it a bit farther in his article The Case for Paying College Athletes, and claims, “The college sports industry generates $11 billion in annual revenues. Fifty colleges report annual revenues that exceed $50 million. Meanwhile, five colleges report annual revenues that exceed $100 million” (Edelman, 2014). In contrast, during the 2014-2015 season the NBA grossed about $5.18 billion in revenues according to Forbes Magazine, which was a league record high. The NCAA revenue money is also not evenly distributed among the schools, as top tiered athletic programs tend to make more money

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) revenue for the 2011-12 season was $871.6 million, most of which came from games and media agreements (NCAA n.p.). However, the student-athletes who actually put on these games are not paid a single dime. These athletes put their blood, sweat, and tears into their game and aren’t legally paid for something that creates such a huge revenue for the school as well as the NCAA.

First, lets start with a few statistics to make the situation clearer. According to the NCAA, annually, the NCAA makes near one billion dollars. But, where exactly is this money coming from? Approximately,

The financial results of the college sports boom is astounding, according to NCAA.org, and Huffingtonpost.com just this last season alone the NCAA made $989

With 24 college institutions make over 100 million dollars just off sporting events begs the argument on whether or not to pay the people who are making them all of that money. Besides the 24, 76% of the other 231 Division 1 athletic programs make less than 50 million per year. These programs

In the past few decades college sports have grown immensely in popularity nationwide, especially when the bigger events such as March Madness and the College Football National Championship arise. Even though the NCAA considers themselves to be a non profit organization, March Madness is such a huge event that in 2011 the NCAA made an agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting System to let them broadcast the games until 2024 for $10.8 billion, but during March Madness they make almost $800 million every year from jersey, ticket, and product sales ("Revenue"). Depending on how far some of the colleges go these universities could make an extra few million also. None of the money the colleges or the association makes is given to the student athletes. They are the ones that work so hard to help bring in all of the revenue for their schools and the NCAA but get nothing in return. Besides bringing in revenue for their school if they prove that they are a good collegiate school it will make high school students look further into their school and potentially attend that university. According to the NCAA for any student athlete to be eligible and still be considered amateur they are not allowed to receive salary for participating in any athletic program nor are they allowed to be given prize money above necessary expenses, ("Amateurism") However a common view is that college athletes should not be paid because most of them already receive a free education and get

That would explain why some universities end up with state of the art sports facilities. Or why Duke Basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski makes nearly $10 million per year, much more than the typical NBA coach. Or why in so many states, the best paid public employee is a basketball or football coach (Sportsusatoday, 2015). The NCAA is increasing its revenues every year. They get money from Universities, and Community College from the whole country. NCAA is making big money out of D1 Football games, D1 Baseball Games, D1 Basketball games, etc. The money comes from tickets, parking, food, drinks, jerseys, and implements to support the universities.