Professionals get paid to put their bodies on the line for the team they are playing for, why shouldn’t it be the same for college athletes? It is true, collegiate athletes are considered extremely lucky because they are gifted with a multitude of scholarship opportunities to play for that school and are given the right amount of exposure to succeed and take their talents to the next level whether in sports or elsewhere.
Nevertheless, college athletes are being mistreated by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), and athletes, students, and even coaches are rising up to demand reform. People across the country, including myself, believe that college athletes should be paid (excluding school transactions such as tuition, etc.). The NCAA is taking advantage of college athletes, gathering huge profits while the players, who are putting their bodies on the line, don’t see a dime.
In college, especially in higher ranked schools (in terms of sports), being a student athlete is a big commitment to take on, equivalent to a job. A good amount of your time is focused on that sport. You are constantly trying to get better and elevate to the highest level of play. Take into account that they are also students. They have classes and exams to worry about and while doing all of this, trying to maintain a social life at the same time.
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Although this is doable, it is still quite hard. According to NCSA, the typical day for a D1 football player starts 5:30 am and doesn’t end until 12 am (NCSA). A large chunk of the day has to do with said sport and this wasn’t even taking into account days where the athletes play a game for hours upon end and still have all these other responsibilities to pursue. So once again playing a sport in college (depending on the division or school) is similar if not the same as having a job and yet these players are not being compensated.
College sports wouldn’t be as big as it is without the athlete’s great performances, and it’s not fair that these hard-working players don’t get to benefit from the money they are generating. The NCAA puts a college player’s name on jerseys and tons of other apparel and none of that money is ever even seen by the player. Student athletes should be able to receive a percentage of revenue generated on their account and also be able to sign business deals and engage in endorsement opportunities.
There is a rule in the NCAA handbook stating that “schools are forbidden from offering any form of compensation beyond a scholarship in exchange for a student’s talents, and students are not permitted to accept endorsement deals of any kind” (The Oracle). College athletes are very good at what they do, and the skill/talent level only increases when increasing in Divisions (Division 1, D2, D3) and in Conferences (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, PAC 12, etc.), so it wouldn’t be a surprise if a big corporation, such as Nike or Adidas, would want to sponsor these talented athletes. Athletes should have the freedom to explore their options and be able to take advantage of the opportunities granted to them.
College athletes deserve financial recognition for the merchandise profit they generate, as well as the opportunity to pursue their own financial gains. As athletes, they work hard on the field every day to bring in fans and wins for their school; it’s only fair that they are rewarded for their efforts, at least in some small way.
In college sports, the NCAA rules state that an athlete will lose his/her eligibility if they receive any type of payment to play, sign a contract with an agent, receive a salary, incentive payment, award, or play on a professional (including overseas) team (ESPN). The NCAA is an amateur sports league. The dictionary definition of amateur is engaging or engaged in without payment; nonprofessional (Webster).
The word amateur in sports was intended to stand for positive values but has ended up doing the opposite by not respecting the players’ talents, hard work and dedication enough to pay them what they owe. William Geoghegan, Flyer News sports editor writes, “Would paying athletes tarnish the ideal of amateurism? Maybe, but being fair is far more important than upholding an ideal” (Geoghehan 1). In other words, people understand that having strong ideals are important and look good on paper, but as time goes on things have to change and these players deserve to be paid.
College sports obviously don’t hold the same weight as professional leagues, the NCAA is still making outrageous profits from merchandise, ticket sales, food, and jerseys thanks to the performances of the players. The same players who are not receiving any sort of cut from the revenue the NCAA is generating. “The NCAA pulled in $761 million from the 2017 NCAA tournament. That number is set to rise to $869 million this year. The NCAA also generated $129.4 million in ticket revenue and $60 million in marketing rights for the 2017 fiscal year” (ESPN). The NCAA has topped $1 billion. The majority of these earnings come from Men’s Basketball and more importantly the Men’s Basketball tournament called March Madness.
The NCAA March Madness tournament is considered to be one of the top sporting events in the world. At one point it was ranked behind the FIFA World Cup and the Super Bowl two extremely anticipated events. It is shocking that a college sports event is ahead of most of the professional sports events. It’s also crazy to take into consideration that March Madness at one point brought in more revenue than the NBA Championship.
College basketball is a very popular collegiate sport that gets a large number of people tuning in. powerhouse schools like Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA, Villanova and many more dominate the NCAA basketball scene and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. “For the NCAA, March Madness is its most profitable business, earning roughly $900 million in revenue(CBS news).” March Madness brings in almost $1 billion by itself and the players who push themselves to the limit and make the event possible in the first place don’t get some sort of remuneration.
The NCAA and other coaches and organizations believe that yes, the starters may be worthy of compensation, but what about the players that don’t get a lot of playing time or aren’t as good as certain players on the team? Certain sports getting paid more than others? There indeed needs to be a concrete plan. The NCAA has the resources to figure out a plan to pay their athletes, but they are choosing not to.
They have no interest in doing so which is why this has become such a controversial topic. The NCAA is denying athletes their basic economic rights and it is not fair to the athletes who are putting their bodies on the line day in and day out. Student-athletes should be paid for their hard work and commitment to not only the sport but to the school. That is the least the NCAA can do since the athletes bring in so much revenue for both the NCAA and the school.
