Premium Essay

Why Athletes Should Be Paid

In:

Submitted By sjackson96
Words 2865
Pages 12
Shydarrius Jackson
Mrs. Keel
English 1101
4 December 2014
Should College Athletes Be Paid? College sports is one of America’s biggest industries. It is an industry that brings in almost 4 billion dollars every year to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). The NCAA is not the only one profiting from this large industry. TV networks like ESPN and CBS, retailers, and of course universities make millions each year because of the work of college athletes. It seems that everyone is profiting off the college sports industry except for the ones who are actually performing. College athletes are not being compensated for their hard work and diligence in this highly profitable market industry. While some college athletes get scholarships, which are renewed each year depending on the athlete’s performance and usefulness to the team, that is still not enough to meet the needs of the athletes. Also these college athletes cannot profit off their marketability and their name. College athletes are not allowed to receive anything of monetary value in exchanged for autographs or memorabilia. Every year, thousands of student athletes across America sign the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Form 08-3a, the “Student-Athlete” form, waiving their right to receive payment for the use of their name and image (Infante et al). However, retailers and college universities make millions off these athletes with university apparel with the athlete’s number on the merchandise. College athletes also bring a lot of interest to these colleges too. Their gained success within the sport lures thousands of students to want to join their respective universities. College athletes should not only be compensated while in school but they should be able to get help after they finish too. College athletes also have no medical insurance plans after college. A high injury sport

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Why Athletes Should Be Paid.

...it is over going home to house full of unpaid bills and a refrigerator that is empty. For many college athletes today this is a very real scenario. Student athletes from colleges across the country dedicate their whole lives to a sport and receive no compensation from the NCAA for their hard work. The NCAA, or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, regulates and controls all activity that has to do with collegiate sports. The NCAA is also responsible for resolving all complications in collegiate sports but is often ridiculed by many for neglecting the issue of paying college athletes. While some do believe that athletes are already compensated enough, others agree that these athletes deserve payment. This topic has sparked debate throughout the country and that is why currently the NCAA is working hard to find a solution. There are many reasons that student athletes should be paid, including: the NCAA and the rest of college sports is a multi billion-dollar industry, student athletes have no time for work to support their very active lifestyle, there is high injury risk that comes with playing competitive sports, and finally the added incentive for athletes to stay in school and the overall competiveness would rise making the collegiate athletics more enjoyable. First off, the NCAA and all of college sports is multi billion-dollar industry and the hardworking athletes deserve some compensation for their dedication to their sport. Games, tournaments, jersey and memorabilia...

Words: 3435 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Why Athletes Should Be Paid

...Ever since the Greek Olympics, many athletes have used doping methods to deal with stress, physical pain, and retirement from sports (Reardon). Although today's enhancers are more technologized, in the third century enormous amounts of people would use different brandy and wine mixes and eat hallucinogenic mushrooms and sesame seeds to power in their endurance and speed. Therefore, we all know when you do something out of line you have to pay for it, if you were caught in the act, of doping, you would be sold into slavery. The threat of slavery scared little, but many still went against regulations. As time passed, other cities caught word of PED’s used to outperform others. Furthermore, in 1950 the Soviet Olympic team tested testosterone...

Words: 356 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

...College Athletes: Compensation Deserved but not Given Everyone loves to watch their favorite college basketball or football players play in a game, yet college athletes do not get paid for the entertainment they provide. Athletes put in around forty hours of work a week, when including both practices and games. Colleges should pay their athletes so that they can have less stress and focus more on their performance. There are many benefits to paying college athletes, and there are many reasons why they should be paid. College athletes should be paid because they put their lives at risk for entertainment, they need money for personal needs, and they should be able to get some of the spoils of their work, instead of coaches and administrators making all the money. College athletes should be paid because they put their lives at risk for entertainment. In football there are many chances for a player to get a concussion, one...

Words: 1175 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Why Football Athletes Should Be Paid

...Over the past couple of years there have been many arguments over whether college football players should be paid or not. Football athletes puts in lot of hours in practicing day after day, week after week, for their colleges or with television contracts and football deals alone, the athletes are really bringing in the money for the colleges and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). I guess you could argue that a football scholarship isn’t enough to compensate, but are they? But, I say they should be paid. I believe they should get a salary paid for a several reasons. But there are many pros and cons to this debate, views that are shared by many. Football players plays the game simply because he loves it. Some football plays...

Words: 581 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

...Why College Athletes Should not be Paid Kim Howard Sullivan University ENG204X: Advanced Writing November 1, 2015 Each year as March Madness begins the big debate begins of whether or not college athletes should be paid. Why is this? Some of the top universities begin to see a mass exodus of their best athletes who are mostly undergraduate students. While most believe these athletes exit school early and join the professional leagues due to the large amount wealth they could earn. In my opinion I do not feel these student-athletes should be paid above and beyond what any other student should receive. However, I can appreciate and empathize with the viewpoints of both sides. College athletics, more specifically men’s basketball and football, provides an enormous amount of revenue for schools. However, this is not a true statement for many schools. The more prominent universities, such as Duke, University of Kentucky, and Florida State University, will receive the income and the smaller colleges struggle to just maintain their programs. This is one reason for the conflict. College athletes believe they should reap the benefits of their efforts (Gregory & Fulton, 2005). First of all, attending college and playing sports is a choice not a requirement. The choice of playing athletics is part of the experience of attending a college or a university. As such, they become student-athletes with the emphasis on student. Student-athletes are in fact paid to...

Words: 1236 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Why Student Athletes Should Not Be Paid

...Name Instructor Class Date Why Student Athletes Should not be Paid Since the 1950s, college sports have slowly turned into a profitable industry. Aside from creating prestige to the schools, college sports are generating millions of dollars for their schools through the involved student athletes (Bennett). In view of this, student athletes have become an excellent investment to many schools. In fact, many schools are willing and prepared to pay these young athletes additional monetary rewards aside from the provision of customary scholarship benefits to entice them to enroll in their schools. Because of the widespread practice of providing monetary rewards to college athletes, its legality has become the topic of many debates. Personally, I strongly believe that student athletes should not be provided with additional monetary benefits in view of the fact that such practice is contrary to the fundamental purpose of college scholarships, which is to provide quality education to exceptional students. Moreover, once monetary benefits are given to college athletes, they will no longer be considered as amateur athletes but professional athletes as the payment of money is tantamount to employment, thus compelling the athletes to somewhat perform in accordance to the desires of their school (Sturgill). Finally, paying college athletes will normally lead to financial constraints and may cause the school to drop other sports and other academic activities to their programs, which...

Words: 377 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Why Student Athletes Should Be Paid

...arrested for shoplifting. Coaches investigated for giving gifts to players. Why are seemingly household-name college football players having to shoplift clothes and food? Why can’t a coach take care of his players in need? Answer: The NCAA’s impractical, unrealistic, and downright greedy regulations. There needs to be an immediate reform on these regulations and increase the cap placed on athletic scholarships. Right now, with college sports being a multi-billion dollar industry, the income for a student athlete receiving what is considered a full scholarship, is at or below the national poverty level, due to NCAA restrictions. Students living in poverty level while their fair market value averages $265,000 annually, not including income from individual commercial endorsement deals. Students living in poverty while their coach makes an average of $3.5 million per year. Students living in poverty allowing for tax payers to fund food stamps and welfare benefits while their multi-million dollar income...

Words: 688 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Why Athlete Students Should Not Be Paid?

...I'd ask. "Am I boring you? How can I help?'' Adjunct professors actually care about such things. "No, the class is good,'' is what I'd hear. "I had to work late last night.'' They'd be stocking supermarket shelves until 4 in the morning. They'd be tending bar. One worked as a security guard at an apartment building. They'd fall into bed six hours before they had to be in my class. I think about these kids now, whenever the siren sounds for college athletes to be paid. What about my students? What does it say to them? These were not people who asked to be paid to attend college. These were folks who paid for the privilege. And let's be clear: College is a privilege. It is earned, not bestowed. Some, in fact, are still paying. It's one thing to go to school for free and to leave free of debt. It's quite another to work your way through and depart with a five-figure yoke around your neck. Should college athletes be paid? Why? At the highest levels, here is what they endure. Here's some of the hardship involved if you are an athlete, attending a university for free: A four-year audition for prospective employers. Or three years, or two. Or basically, whenever you and your pro league of choice agree you've passed the audition. I don't know about you, but when I was a college junior, schlepping to town council meetings on Tuesday nights for my Journalism 301 class, no newspaper editor was there to praise my fascinating reporting on zoning changes in a...

Words: 1183 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

...Throughout the years, big star college athletes have been trying to get six digit numbers in their bank account. What they need to understand is, that their education is prime in their afterlife, whether it is going to the professional leagues, or working as an accountant until their 65 years old. As of right now, you can infer that college athletes already are technically paid anywhere from twenty-five to fifty thousand dollars (if they’re Division 1) per year for their scholarship. Just this statistic, the statistic saying that these athletes are getting a full ride scholarship anywhere up to fifty thousand dollars per year. This also meaning that for 4 years of college they get a free two-hundred thousand dollars. Plus, that fact that...

Words: 262 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Why A College Athletes Should Be Paid

...average a college athlete practices per year. A full 44.8 hours a week, more than how much time you spend at your job or at school. To help you get an idea, you work on average for about 40 hours a week and you go to school for about 35 hours a week (5 days in school week). If you take about 2,329 hours every year to play a sport or to do anything then you would want to get paid for it so you know that it could help you in the future right? Perfecting the sport might help you get to the state teams but while spending all of this time practicing and going to school, I doubt you have time for a job, getting paid for being on your college team might just help you out. However,...

Words: 1187 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Analysis: Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

...The NCAA makes 800 million dollars on their basketball program every year. But the athletes that work hard not only to become the best they can be, but they are also representing the colleges that they play at do not get any portion of the money. NCAA president Mark Emmert says, “They are not professionals so they should not be getting millions of dollars at all” (Romans). Colleges rake in about 800 million dollars a year in just the sport of basketball so why are not the college athletes that play at a very high elite level not getting paid. CNN reporter say that the colleges make 800 million but they bring in 500 million in endowment (Romans).Endowment is just an income or form of property that has been given. The college players are elite players if they play for Division I are elite players but they not there is elite players in every college including small colleges. Division II and Division III colleges get Division I athletes as well so they should be getting an income as well....

Words: 690 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Essay Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

...whether college athletes should or shouldn’t be compensated beyond their athletic scholarship. This paper will endeavor to answer the question as to whether or not college athletes should be compensated for, by explaining the reasons for and against the payment of college athletes. Why a lot of people think that college athletes should be paid, There are some that believe that if a college athlete were to be paid that they would lose the passion for the game. Many people say that they would much rather watch college football, then watch the pros play....

Words: 1444 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Analysis: Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

...billions of dollars a year in revenue why is that not enough to pay those that create that revenue; moreover, why have those that help create a billion dollar revenue is also mandated to pay fees toward the athletic department. Many athletes is able to attend college by receiving a full or partial athletic scholarship. This athletic scholarship allows students to pursue careers that would be otherwise far fetch due to that many come from low income families that cannot afford to go to college. Due to this terrible fact does that mean that providing an athletic scholarship is all that a college athlete receive as reward for their hard work and determination to become successful? College athletes should be able...

Words: 1992 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Why Student Athletes Should Be Paid

...Frequently tensions exist between institutions in society. This is especially true with educa- tion because education is dealing with impressionable students who will lead the society in the future. That is one of the reasons why dictators are quick to seize the school system when they take over a country. Confidence in Education Citizens of the United States have a strong faith in the value of education. As a result, the United States has developed the most comprehensive education system in the world (Curry, Jiobu, & Schwirian, 2005). Our schools are expected to accomplish many purposes. The nation’s founders proposed a mass educational system that would be free to most citizens because they believed that diffusion of knowledge to the general population was important for building a nation. They wanted a consistent and systematic education that would produce individuals with a strong sense of civic duty. A literate citizenry was viewed as necessary in order to produce loyal Americans, develop moral training, and promote social stability (Altenbaugh, 2002). Thus, public-supported mass education became a foundation for the educational system of the United States. Following through on this early legacy, schools have come to be viewed as a key ele- ment in achieving the “American dream.” Schools provide the “credentials” that open doors to high-income and high-status occupations. In addition, the schools have been per- ceived as a major institution for addressing...

Words: 272 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Reasons Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

...College Athletes Should Be Paid Should college athletes be paid? Of course they should because they work hard on their sport. The average time spent on practicing in division 1 sports is 43.3 hours a week! This is more than the average worker spends a week! Another reason college athletes should be paid is because if they were paid the game/sport would be way more interesting and fun to watch. Also college athletes bring a lot of money to the school and they don’t get any of it, how is that fair? College athletes spend a lot of time working and practicing on their sport. They spend every day and every chance they get either on the field/court working and practicing or even in the gym working out to be stronger for their sport....

Words: 649 - Pages: 3