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College Athletes

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Submitted By aben20
Words 1387
Pages 6
Nick Coleman
Professor Todd Aldridge
ENGL 1110
29 November 2015
Revision: Essay 2 - Paying of College Athletes
Several years ago, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the NCAA, started out as a young business with a couple colleges under their helm, and today they have grown into an $11 billion industry tasked with the controversial decision of sharing their wealth with the college athletes that made them relevant. Should college athletes get paid is what it usually all boils down to. This burning question has been canvassed various times over the turn of the century with several underlying concerns for the athlete’s futures and also their safety. Opponents of paying college athletes contend that the scholarships said athletes received to their institutions of higher learning should be more than enough.
Once a university extends a scholarship to an athlete, that athlete becomes property of that university. With that being said, once on campus, they become “student athletes,” a term coined by the NCAA to justify their exploitation of the athletes that made the infamous organization relevant, and also full time workers as they spend on average an excess of more than forty hours a week dedicated to their respective sports. In a survey conducted internally by the NCAA, it was discovered that athletes competing in more than a half a dozen sports indicated that they too, are putting in the equivalent of full time worksheets, but don’t receive the benefits that regular workers get (cite). They receive little to zero compensation for their work, nor do they receive any health benefits if they get seriously injured. If the athlete does happen to get hurt, consequently, that athlete is then ejected from a program that once praised him or her. Which seems to happen very often. It is stated in the NCAA bylaws that every athlete has a personal catastrophic injury fund that kicks in when the deductibles exceed more than $90,000, but in “When NCAA Schools Abandon Their Injured Athletes” Meghan Walsh states, “There is no provision in the Division I Manual to prohibit a coach from revoking a scholarship after a recruit gets hurt.” Though in those special cases where a high-profile player gets injured, and it is severe or public for that matter, they’re obligated to provide health benefits, such as former Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware, who suffered a broken leg in the 2013 Elite Eight, or when then South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore twisted his knee nearly 180 degrees during a nationally televised game in 2012. They did not lose support because they are such high-profile athletes, which is clearly unfair for athletes who are not as popular as those. This practice of renouncing athletes after injury is often thought to be looked down upon by many because it’s seen as unethical on many levels.
The number one argument against why college athletes should get paid is that to some, the athletes are already being paid with those scholarships. In accordance with the NCAA, full athletic scholarships cover a guaranteed $15,000 a year, but when complimentary tickets, team apparel, and equipment are factored in, it rounds up to a number a little over $27,923. Depending on the sport, a collegiate athlete at a major conference school receives coaching and training worth well over $50,000 to $125,000 along with the package of a free education, and room and board, as reported in an article by claim to authority in the name of Dorfman. Everything costs something, but this is essentially free for the athletes in the mind of some.
Meanwhile, some do not believe that this properly compensates the athletes for their dedication and commitment to the betterment of their respective programs. They think that the athletes are starving and can’t feed themselves because they have not been properly funded by their respective universities. If you put that into consideration, you might reconsider your opinion on why they need at least a stipend or not to properly satisfy their aching stomachs from starvation. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine how you would feel if you were in their situation. Their least worry should be about where their next meal is coming from and how they are going to eat that night. Instead, they should be able to exert all of their time and energy to getting an education and also excelling at their sport.
Once you take a clear look at the NCAA you will realize that it is a fully commercialized, multi-billion dollar industry that regulates its players to the point of exploitation. The capital accumulated through television revenue, ticket and jersey sales, likeness promotions and any other source of money goes directly to the NCAA, the schools, the event staff and just about everyone else involved except for the ones who created the business: the athletes. Just a little over two years ago, Greg Johnson stated in an article that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament generated over $1.15 billion in television ads, which reaches well beyond the likes of the revenue created by its professional counterparts in the NFL and NBA playoffs. The NCAA’s cartel like restrictions and marketing tactics paint a false picture of “student-athletes” primarily being students when in reality they are slaves to their sport of choice. If all this money is being accumulated through sales why should it not be recycled back into the main reason why the NCAA exist in the first place, the athletes. Student-athletes do not need a large payoff like NFL and NBA players receive but more of a stipend similar to what students in military universities and colleges receive in addition to a free education.
In conclusion, it has become quite obvious that to all parties involved, the athletes who spend countless hours sacrificing their time and bodies should be compensated for all the revenue that they are generating into the college system. It is questionable whether a four-year athletic scholarship at a higher learning institution alone will suffice for collegiate athletes who are struggling to make ends meet. With that being said, the question “Should college athletes be paid to play?”, still remains. The coaches stand in the shadows and eventually will make more than the President of the United States, but meanwhile the players should be content with the blood off their face and the sweat off their back. On those weekdays and Saturdays, nobody turns on their television to see the coaches pace up and down the sidelines, nor do they wish to see the athletic board enjoying their luxurious life while taking the game from their lavish skyboxes. Everyone comes to see the players; the ones who put their blood, sweat, and tears into the game all in the namesake of glory and possible national championships, but do they rightfully deserve to be compensated for it? Who truly deserves the money?

Works Cited
Bordow, Scott. "4 Reasons the NCAA Should Not Pay Athletes." Azcentral.com. The Arizona
Republic, 21 June 2011. Web. 14 May 2015.
Dorfman, Jeffrey. 'Pay College Athletes? They're Already Paid Up To $125,000 Per
Year'.Forbes.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Edelman, Marc. "21 Reasons Why Student-Athletes Are Employees And Should Be Allowed To
Unionize." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 May 2015.
Hruby, Patrick. "Sorry, NCAA: College Athletes Are Employees." SportsonEarth.com. Sports
On Earth, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 14 May 2015
Jackson, Scoop. "The Myth of Parity." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 14
May 2015.
Johnson, Greg. 'The NCAA Makes Billions And Student Athletes Get None Of It'. The Nation.
N.p., 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Strachan, Maxwell. "NCAA Schools Can Absolutely Afford To Pay College Athletes,
Economists Say." Huffington Post. N.p., 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 14 May 2015.
Walsh, Meghan. ''I Trusted 'Em': When NCAA Schools Abandon Their Injured Athletes'. The
Atlantic. N.p., 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Wieberg, Steve. "Study: College Athletes Are Full-time Workers - USATODAY.com." Study:
College Athletes Are Full-time Workers - USATODAY.com. USA Today, 13 Jan. 2008. Web. 14 May 2015.
Zirin, Dave. "An Economist Explains Why College Athletes Should Be Paid." An Economist
Explains Why College Athletes Should Be Paid. The Nation, Mar.-Apr. 2015. Web. 14 May 2015.

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