Preview

Dilemma to Pay College Athletes

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
900 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dilemma to Pay College Athletes
The Dilemma to Pay College Athletes The United States is the only country in the world that hosts big-time sports at institutions of higher learning. This should not, in and of itself, be controversial. What has become debatable is whether college athletes of high revenue-producing sports deserve to receive compensation for being the basis of a billion dollar business. In other words, do certain college athletes deserve to be paid to play? Although this may seem like a good idea to some, it ignores already existing compensations to players as well as other dilemmas that would arise if players were to be paid. Despite the amount of money universities generate because of their student athletes, pay for play would be wrong. This debate begins with the depiction of universities making large profits as a result of student athletes. Arguments to pay college athletes often develop due to perceptions of greed and exploitation relating to athletic departments. According to various reports, the football teams at Texas, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Penn State, just to name a few big-revenue football schools, each earn between $40 million and $80 million a year in profits (Branch). In an article by Forbes.com columnist, Patrick Rishe, he claims, “The reason why schools are chasing the money associated with college football is so they can better finance the rest of their athletic programs. Programs where – in most cases – all but 2 or 3 sports are losing money” (Rishe). He goes on to explain that the pursuit of profit from football and basketball programs, specifically, help support other programs that operate with a deficit. An example of this is a women’s basketball program in 2010 operating with a deficit of $-1,168,000 while the men’s basketball team had a profit of $788,000 (Rishe). The issue with universities paying athletes to play is that the focus is entirely on what the players are doing for the universities, generating revenue. What seems to be forgotten is


Cited: Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports. (Cover Story)." Atlantic Monthly (10727825) 308.3 (2011): 80-110. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. "University of Oklahoma Norman Campus Men 's Football Scholarships." Athleticsholarships.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. Rishe, Patrick. "College Football Profiteering A Necessary Evil for Financing Athletics, Long-Term Branding." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. Sander, Libby. "Graduation Rates For Scholarship Athletes Hold Steady At 79%, NCAA Says." Chronicle of Higher Education 57.11 (2010): A26-A27. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. "Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972." Justice.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. "Pay-for-play -- the Truth behind The myths." ESPN.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013 "Newsroom." Census.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    Should Student-Athletes Get Paid
    • 3400 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Should Student-Athletes Get Paid

    For many students, the college experience is measured by the success of their NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs. Without the experience and athletic performance the student athlete brings, most colleges would not reap the benefit of these significant revenue-generating activities. At best, current NCAA regulations need to be revisited to ensure all avenues are addressed to enable the success of athletic students both in the classroom and on the field or court of play. As stated previously, even though students receive full and partial scholarships determined by their athletic performance, in both instances financial hardship is still experienced by many. Since the various professional sports’ programs reap the conditioning and experience of college student athletes, sponsorship initiatives should be pursued to allow student athletes some form of payment without creating additional outlays for colleges and universities.…

    • 3400 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Pay for Play
    • 2844 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Pay for Play

    Ever since the National Collegiate Athletic Association was formed in 1905, their role in regulating intercollegiate athletics has involved many different tasks. These tasks include making athletics safe in order to prevent injury, marketing athletic events, regulating and changing rules in order to make college sports more fun for the fans, and enforcing the key principle of college sports: amateurism. Amateurism in college athletics means that athletes are unpaid. As a result, the NCAA has had to deal with deciding how to handle issuing and assigning monetary value of scholarships and grants. However, the NCAA has not had to manage the debate over college athletes getting paid to play. In a day where more and more college athletes are leaving college early to enter the professional leagues it is time to ask a question: Should division-I college athletes get paid? The question is based on the assumption that there is a place for college athletics within a university. The NCAA should be looked at economically because the universities within it generate profits through their athletic departments and operate as businesses by assessing costs, revenues, etc. With that assumption established, because of the market inefficiency and exploitative characteristics of the NCAA, division-I college athletes should get paid in a free-market environment. Division-I college athletes recognize that they are exploited and receiving a scholarship worth less than their market value, so they have no incentive to not cheat and accept illegal payments.…

    • 2844 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Recruitment Violations
    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Recruitment Violations

    With the recent controversy and scandal surrounding the University of Colorado and the college football world, this off season has been one of the busiest ever. College Football has experienced an eye-opening revelation and these experiences call for major changes in the traditional recruiting practices. Last month, stories surfaced about the University of Colorado using sex, alcohol, and parties to lure blue chip recruits to their program. While these types of actions are prevalent at every major football program, this is the first time that they have been officially exposed. This exposure has started a chain-reaction of changes to the recruiting part of college football and has grabbed the attention of the United States Congress. The involvement of the most powerful government in the world shows the seriousness of the present situation and also that these inappropriate recruiting practices are not going to be ignored any longer. The face of college football will change dramatically and the results of this scandal will have a lasting impact for decades to come. For any person who follows college football and has a favorite team, this is an important issue because the traditional way that many of us have come to love, is about to disappear.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Should Athletes Be Paid
    • 4235 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Should Athletes Be Paid

    Corruption, scandals, suspensions, firings and a systems that is systematically flawed all the while the fact of the matter is that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a organization that is bringing in billions of dollars each year yet the labor force generating the money gets a scholarship that many athletes believe doesn’t pay enough for everything that is needed on campus so this leads the author to have to take a look at if athletes need to be paid. I will outline numerous problems that are going on in college athletics and possible solutions to problems. I will take a look at the scholarship itself to determine if that is sufficient enough for campus life. The bottom line is from the outside looking in is that there is a lot money going into the hands of administrators and coach’s with none going into the people shedding the blood sweat and tears. It would seem that the system in place at times, wants to make the student athlete stand around with their hands out accepting all and any money that they can find from an outside source, which is in violation of NCAA bylaws concerning amateur sports.…

    • 4235 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Should College Athletes Be Paid
    • 2491 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Should College Athletes Be Paid

    There is simply not enough money for each athlete to be paid. The NCAA also has a policy called Title IX, which basically states that if one athlete gets money, every athlete at that university has to get compensated for the same amount. Meaning that a women’s field hockey player will be granted the same amount as a starting quarterback who fills up stadiums. Once people hear that this would be the reality if college athletes were paid, their opinions may change. The NCAA is huge on ameatur status and if they ever paid student athletes, they would break the golden rule that college athletes have been running on since the beginning of college sports. A few hundred dollars a month for each athlete isn’t going to stop any of the illicit activities involved with collegiate athletics because this isn’t about needing material things. What primarily causes improper benefit violations is greed. Student-athletes break rules because they want something they normally could not have, not because they needed something most other students had.…

    • 2491 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Should College Athletes Get paid
    • 1051 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Should College Athletes Get paid

    Are college athlete’s players or employees? The idea of paying a college athlete appears to be outrageous to some. The thought of giving someone money for something they have chosen to do may not appear to be fair. The greatest concern is where to draw the line. Should the decision be based on the amount of money and fame the program generates? Why should athletes be treated special and receive compensation for their contribution to the school? One major factor is that athletes make numerous sacrifices beyond that of a nonathletic student. Many athletes can’t seek employment to help offset the expenses of college because they are on the field or court for the majority of their day. Their time and effort is devoted to that of the school, thus potentially sacrificing their education. In many cases, athletes don’t receive funding for college, which means that not only are they paying financially, but physically to compete. The school takes in money from ticket sales, television contracts, and sport-related merchandise, just to name a few. If the athletes are fortunate enough to receive a scholarship, usually that is the only benefit. This in turn leads to taking out loans and having to look for other scholarships or sources of compensation, but this doesn’t stop them from being involved in the teams’ activities. The real question is why shouldn’t an athlete in college be paid to play? College athletes are the real moneymakers for the school, and they should be paid to play.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Whether College Athletes Should Be Paid or Not
    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Whether College Athletes Should Be Paid or Not

    Now that the foundation is set, the major issue of whether or not college athletes should be paid can be discussed. As previously mentioned, several people believe players deserve to be compensated for their performance, however; there are a number of reasons why this should not be done, with the weightiest being education. One must not forget the primary objective for a college or university—to provide the students with a quality education that will prepare them to function in the world as self-sustaining individuals, and not professional athletes (Sturgill, Chen). With this being said, players who sign with major college or university sports teams receive this opportunity with little to no cost. Most student athletes receive a five, not four, year scholarship, and some are even given “full rides”, which mean all…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Should We Pay College Athletes
    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Should We Pay College Athletes

    The first problem with paying college athletes is that it could ruin a college athlete’s future career. For example, what happens when you give a little kid money? They spend it on junk that they don’t need. So the same thing would happen with most young college athletes. Think about it, you’re giving a teenager straight out of high schools a bunch of money to come a play sports at your school. Teenagers are not responsible with money. A prime example of this happening is Josh Hamilton. Hamilton is a professional baseball player in the Major Leagues. He got drafted out of high school and signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Rays for nearly 4 million dollars. He got hooked up with the wrong people and ended up blowing all his money on drugs and tattoos. He even got kicked out of Major League baseball for a while. I think that this would happen to a lot of player in college if they got paid.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Income for College Athletes
    • 2593 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Income for College Athletes

    College football and basketball for years have been the highest producing revenue sports in NCAA. More than $470 million in new money poured into major college athletics programs last year, boosting spending on sports, even though we’re in rough economic times. Most of the money made in athletics revenue was because elevation in money generated through multi-media rights deals, donations and ticket receipts, but schools also continued increasing their subsidies from student fees and institutional funds (Berkowitz). Helping with the success of revenues in schools are wins by football teams and basketball teams. 6.2 billion was spent…

    • 2593 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    College athletes sould be paid to play
    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages

    College athletes sould be paid to play

    The college athletes should be paid there are many reasons that these people think they should be paid and here is why. Many athletes in the past and present have been bringing in attendance and money to the university. Patrick Ewing former NBA Star went to college in Georgetown and he brought in $12,000,000 Profit, i’m pretty sure that this was back when Ewing played back in the ‘70s that should be over $17,000,000 now. A lot of these college athletes such as Andrew Luck, Anthony Davis, Jared Sullinger, Robert Griffin III bring in tons of money for their university, people want to see these young college athletes play. Most of these athletes on big time teams put on amazing performances and bring the university millions of dollars, these athletes get paid a quarter of a million dollars at the most. The big time colleges now such as Kansas, Kentucky, Baylor, Duke, Michigan St all basketball, and Alabama, LSU for football grab millions of dollars each year. The athletes for those teams such as Austin Rivers, Anthony Davis, Thomas Robinson, Jeremy Lamb, Andrew Luck, and many more get scholarships worth $250,000 at the most. Another reason people believe that college athletes should be paid is because some athletes are not getting paid from what others are benefiting from. It is obvious that big companies benefit from unpaid athletes. "The video game business is a multi-billion dollar industry that uses college athletes in games without giving them names or credits"…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Should College Athletes Be Paid
    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Should College Athletes Be Paid

    Wilbon, Michael. "College Athletes Deserve to Be paid." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 18 July 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. .…

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Intercollegiate Athletics
    • 3032 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Intercollegiate Athletics

    MacLeish, Gideon. “Time to Stop Pretending College Athletes are Amateurs.” Online. Sep 16, 2006. (http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=130591&c=1)…

    • 3032 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Dnfa
    • 23687 Words
    • 95 Pages

    Dnfa

    Grimes, P. W., & Chressanthus, G. A. (1994). Alumni contributions to academics: The role of intercollegiate sports and NCAA sanctions. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 53(1), 27-40.…

    • 23687 Words
    • 95 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    College Athletes and Compensation
    • 3062 Words
    • 13 Pages

    College Athletes and Compensation

    The goal of this paper is to focus on evidence that college athletes, specifically, football players should be compensated for the talents they demonstrate on the field; for many reasons. It is well documented that college presidents, coaches, athletic directors often think of athletics as the “front porch” of their campuses (Weaver, 2011), as it relates to college revenues. Weaver further maintains that college athletes, especially football players, are needed to generate the revenues to build both and support a winning football team, and athletics department. And historically colleges rely on ticket sales, game programs, and advertising revenues, to do so. Additionally, coaches’ salary and facility renovations also are factor in terms of colleges and universities needing to generate revenues as well. But before the former can be brought to fruition colleges must first persuade the most talented athletes to their school. What criteria do colleges and universities utilize when recruiting athletes with regard to talent, academics, finances, and student population? Additionally, what perks are colleges and universities offering these athletes to entice them at a minimum to the said front porch? Let’s start by first exploring how colleges and universities generate revenues.…

    • 3062 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Should College Athletes Be Paid? LA 401 (Ethics)
    • 6054 Words
    • 25 Pages

    Should College Athletes Be Paid? LA 401 (Ethics)

    When looking at the revenue that is generated from sporting events, the idea that comes to mind is millions, and for college athletics, this is no exception. The revenue that is generated through the NCAA alone is quite overwhelming. “While the amount of revenue is large, little of the money is retained by the NCAA national office. About 96 percent is distributed directly to the Division I membership or to support championships or programs that benefit student-athletes. The remaining 4 percent goes for central services, such as building operations and salaries not related to particular programs. For 2011-12, NCAA revenue is projected at $777 million, with $680 million coming from the Association’s new rights agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting” (NCAA, Revenue).…

    • 6054 Words
    • 25 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More