Emmanuel
Twum
English
103
Ms.
Wrenn
10/6/05
Argument
Essay
In
today’s sports world many professional athletes are paid large sums of money to
pursue a career in a sport that they have played since they were kids. The
annual salary of each athlete depends on his or her performance in past
seasons. Also, many athletes going from college to professional leagues are
paid large amounts of money based on their potential to become a superstar in
the near future. Besides what professional athletes get paid by their teams,
many elite professional athletes are paid millions of dollars in endorsement
deals. Today’s college athletes are out in the hot summers and cold winters
every season to try and sharpen their ability in their sport to hopefully one
day become an athlete that is paid millions of dollars. College athletes must
attend every training session, be at practice everyday and on time, they must
respect their coaches, and they have classes they must attend. Besides
scholarships that college athletes receive for their hard work in high school,
they do not reap any monetary rewards for their hard work season in and season
out. Also college athletes do not see any of the money the universities receive
from them playing their sport. Many sports journalist have said that college
athletes work twice as hard as professional athletes who are already reaping
the reward for their hard work. College athletes should be compensated for
their hard work on the field by being paid a small salary. Also, college
athletes should be allowed to have endorsement deals with corporate companies.
It is also not ethical for the colleges and the National Collegiate Athletic
Association to make money off of these athletes if they are not willing to pay
these athletes a small salary or allow them to make money off of their talents.
The
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the governing body over all college
athletes who intend to play in college or are already playing college sports
for a university. The National College Athletic Association makes rules that
college athletes must follow in order to stay eligible to play their sport.
Among these rules, there are rules about amateurism, financial aid, and
employment earnings (“Summary of NCAA Regulations” p.2-3). College athletes are
not allowed to have ever taken money for playing in their sport (“Summary of
NCAA Regulations” p.2). Also, college athletes must not ever agree verbally to
compete in a professional sport in the sport they play (“Summary of NCAA
Regulations” p.2). College athletes also
are not allowed to use their skills in their sport for pay (“Summary of NCAA
Regulations” p. 2). Meaning they can not receive money from boosters who donate
money to college teams because they are doing well in their sport. Athletes should be allowed to make money off
of something that they are good at and have a talent in, just as a musician or
NASCAR driver makes money off of a talent that they have perfected and love to
do. College athletes are allowed to have gotten money for their athletic
ability before college (“Summary of NCAA Regulations” p. 2) An example would be
if an athlete entered into a contest that pertained to their sport in high
school and won money for doing well in that contest. It seems unfair how an
athlete can make money off of their talent in high school but once they are in
college athletes are not allowed to receive any payment for their talents even
though college is where these students athletes will
need money the most. Also in order to stay amateurs and be eligible to play
their sport in college, the athletes must not have ever accepted money,
transportation, or other aid from an agent who sells their athletic ability or
notoriety in their sport (“Summary of NCAA Regulations” p.2). Letting college
athletes have their own personal agents would allow them to have someone who
advises them on financial and life situations just like any parent or
counselor. College athletes should be able to gain recognition for their
talents not just by awards they receive but also by receiving payment for their
hard work on the field of play. If a booster, someone who donates money to a
school, wants to pay an athlete for their hard work they should be allowed to
if it is coming out of their own pockets. The NCAA is holding back athletes
from receiving profits that could help their futures especially if athletes are
able to use the money they receive as a way to save for their future just in
case sports is not their job in the future when they leave their universities.
Also under NCAA regulations a student-athlete must not promote a commercial
brand or service, in which they get payment for (“Summary of NCAA Regulations”
p. 2). Endorsement deals would allow college athletes to have extra money and
save for their future whether it be in sports or not.
Other rules that athletes must follow deal with the financial aid they receive.
Athletes are not allowed to receive financial aid from anyone besides the money
they receive from a college or other scholarships that are nonathletic
(“Summary of NCAA Regulations” p.2). Athletes must report to the NCAA any
financial aid that they receive outside of their institution (“Summary of NCAA
Regulations” p.2). Basically the National Collegiate Athletic Association
controls what money athletes can and cannot not get.
The
NCAA’s revenue has increased 8000 percent in the past
23 years (McGraw 2). The NCAA has a one point seven billion dollar television
deal, which is bigger than any professional league’s deal with any television
network (McGraw 2). Like a lot of professional sports the NCAA has its own
licensed apparel (McGraw 2). The NCAA was founded on the fact that it would keep
college athletics at an amateur level and keep athletics secondary to an
athlete getting a good education (McGraw 2). The NCAA was not made to make
money off the athletes (McGraw 2). As an educational, nonprofit organization
the NCAA does not pay state or federal taxes on the billions in television
contracts and the millions in sponsorship money, the millions of dollars it
makes in bowl games and playoff tickets (McGraw 2). The members of this
organization are not professional teams but nine hundred and thirty three
universities (McGraw 2).
The
NCAA has strayed away from their educational purposes and now is an
organization devoted to making money off of the athletic talent of student
athletes. Money is why top NCAA officials have benefits that expand the limits
of tax law and their own rules on ethics (McGraw 3). Athletes are allowed to
take such easy classes as sports leadership, which allows schools to play their
best athletes, so they can make money (McGraw 3). Taking these classes does not
help athletes towards a professional career besides sports (McGraw 3). The
student athletes are being hurt by the NCAA which was formed in order to
protect them in the first place (McGraw 3). The National Collegiate Athletic
Association’s mission statement is “looking out for the welfare of the student
athletes and making sure they are really students first” (McGraw 4-5). The NCAA
is not looking out for student athletes by exploiting their talents by making a
profit off of them.
The
NCAA has now started to change the flow of college games to make more money
also (McGraw 10). During big NCAA tournaments, timeouts can last much longer
than regular season games, which is to help NCAA sponsors get their money’s
worth out of their deals with the NCAA. Dale Kelley, coordinator of men’s
basketball officials for the Big 12, Conference
In
today’s sports world, sports are no longer fun and games, but they are a
business and college sports are no different from professional leagues (Wimmer
1). Colleges take in money from ticket sales, televison
contracts, and merchandise that they sell through the performance of their
athletes, but the athletes get their scholarship and nothing else. College
athletes scholarships range from about seven thousand dollars to the high
twenty thousand range depending upon which school they go to and whether they
are in-state or out-of-state student athletes (Wimmer 1). Colleges generate a
lot more money off of the athletes they bring to the school .
A major division college can sign a television contract worth upwards of
thirty-eight million dollars for five seasons, and this number does not even
take in account the ticket revenue, the championship or bowl game profits, and
fan apparel sold because of the athletes who work hard on the fields (Wimmer 1;
Wulf 94). During the 1995-1996 school year, the top
most profitable schools for football were
College
teams act as professional teams as well (McGraw 5). Many colleges and
universities expand and build new sports arenas and stadiums to house their
sports teams (McGraw 6). These new stadiums and arenas cost millions of dollars
to build, which could be going towards compensating their athletes (McGraw 6).
In a quote by Deloss Dodds, athletic director of
Colleges
try to deny the fact that they are exploiting these student athletes by
minimizing the amount of money that athletes bring into their universities
(Wimmer 2). Reverend E. Williams, executive vice president at the University of
Notre Dame , explains his view of college athletes
being paid:
“In brief, proponents of the
play-for-pay concept believe that since major college athletic programs produce
large sums of money through television rights fees, bowl games, ticket sales
and other means, students-athletes deserve more than just a grant-in-aid for
their efforts. This perspective would have us to believe the financial
arrangement between universities and student-athletes is unfairly balanced in
favor of the institution. A university realizes millions in revenue
and all the athlete gets is a measly
scholarship-or so the argument goes. What gets lost in this equation is that
those scholarships add up. At Notre Dame, for example, grants-in-aid to
student-athletes are worth about five million dollars annually. Add to that the
millions spent on travel, housing, equipment, health care and other costs and
pretty soon, in the words of Everett Dirksen, you’re talking real money.” (Beauchamp 1)
Also, Beauchamp says, “So, in the
end, the pay-for-play issue comes to this: Student-athletes entertain us with
their special skills and, in compensation, receive, 1)All expenses paid [sic]
competition in the sports they love; 2) Educations that are worth tens of
thousands of real dollars with the promise of hundreds of thousands more in
future earnings; and 3) the lifetime benefits of wisdom and character that come
with being educated men and women. That’s a fair deal” (Beauchamp 1). Beuchamp says that an education and the scholarship are
enough to compensate college athletes when in fact many college athletes are
not staying in college to get education and many are not getting a proper education
by taking classes that do not help them towards a professional career.
“College
athletes should, must and will be entitled to as much money as they can latch
onto. Just like real students” (Looney 1). Universities estimate that the cost
of student athletes to attend a university beyond the money that they get for
room, board, books, tuition and fees is somewhere from fifteen hundred dollars
to two thousand dollars a year (Looney 1). Athletic scholarships do not cover
the extra cost that athletes have such as trips that they must take back home,
food athletes may want to get during the middle of the night, clothes, and
other miscellaneous things (Looney 1). Regular students are allowed to receive
money and other benefits from anybody they want, but for student athletes to
receive money from someone besides a family member or university would be a
NCAA violation (Looney 1). That would cause the athlete to lose eligibility in
their sport. For student athletes it would be called special benefits (Looney 1).
Regular university students are allowed to make money however they want as long
as it is legal (Looney 1). Student athletes, however, can work only mainly
during major school vacations, but really for student athletes it is impossible
nowadays in year round sports (Looney 1). If a basketball player was to take
the summer off and work that athlete most likely would not be playing come the
winter time when it was time for his season to begin (Looney 1). These days athletes must practice their sport all the time to make
sure that they are in shape when it comes time for their season. So really
there is no off season for college athletes.
The
best way for universities to avoid paying college athletes would be allow them
to have endorsement deals and allow the athletes to receive money from boosters
or whoever was willing to give athletes money for their great performances
(Looney 3). Dick DeVenzio, a former Duke basketball player says, “Athletes
should simply be free to make whatever money they can; and there is no reason
whatever that educational institutions should be permitted to suppress the
earning power of the athletes” (qtd in Looney 3). “We know from all the rules
[sic] violations that there are lots of wealthy alums and boosters of various
schools eager to give athletes cash and cars and stuff. They clearly care about
athletic success. There’s nothing wrong with that” (Looney 4). If boosters and
wealthy alumni were allowed to pay athletes there would be no worry whether or
not colleges should pay student athletes. “Free enterprise also would force
universities to properly focus on their business, which is education not sport”
(Looney 4). Marvin Johnson, a former star basketball player at
Works Cited
Beauchamp,
Rev. E. William. “College Athletes Already Are Fairly Compensated.” Notre Dame
Fighting Irish, The Official Athletic Site. 10 Mar
1997.
Looney,
McGraw, Mike, Steven Rock, and
Karen Dillon. “Revenues dominate the college
sports sports world.” Money Games: Inside the NCAA. 5
Oct.
1997.
Murphy, Pace and Jonathan Pace. “A Plan for Compensating Student-Athletes.”
“Summary of NCAA Regulations.” Summary of
NCAA Regulations. 2005. National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Wimmer, Joshua
P. “Students Athletes or University Slaves.” Fresh Writing.
2001.
2005.<http://www.nd.edu/~frswrite /issues/2001-2002/Wimmer.shtml>.
Wulf, Steve.
“Tote that Ball, Life That Revenue.” Time 148, 21 Oct. 1996: 94.