Scandals have emerged and rules have been broken in NCAA. The NCAA has a history of scandals from several universities which hurt the image of the school and especially the ones who were involved in the scandal. All rules broken of the NCAA has consequences and will impact ones who break them. Rules are rules and they must be taken seriously, but are all the rules truly necessary. Due to the rules set in the NCAA is that student-athletes can not earn any compensation for money. There is a history of scandals in which schools and coaching staff have paid students athletes to attend their schools.
College athletics are earning incredibly large amounts of money and has turned to one of the top industries in the world. The NCAA makes about 200 million dollars every year. This money is being earned from the athletes playing sports and the earnings of their jerseys being sold and yet none of those athletes are receiving money from that revenue. Yes, athletes are given full-ride scholarships in which they get to go to school for free but is it enough.
People say that college students athletes get paid by having a scholarship and that is enough for them. Scholarships are offered by coaches trying to get players who they think have the talent to make them win and this is the way to persuade the student to go to their school. A scholarship is to lure an athlete into coming to your school. A scholarship will be given as long as you produce for the school and team. It’s all about what you can do for the school and team. The scholarships pay for tuition, room and board, and books, but these athletes don’t have money for other necessities to live a life outside of school. These times of exploiting college athletes go back to the times of ancient writers critiquing sports and athletics.
Throughout history, athletes have been praised and set on a higher platform to be role models and heroes in society. Tyrtaios praised the soldiers above athletes and Xenophanes criticized the rewarding of athletic victors rather than citizens and intellectuals who assist the good order and the economy of the city (Kyle 167). This criticism of athletes being rewarded and highly recognized for their accomplishments relates to modern society. It relates in modern society that some believe students who have raised money for an awareness program or something to that extent should be recognized and rewarded for their accomplishment more than student-athletes winning a game or individual award.
College athletes devote a lot of time to crafting and being as successful as they can be in their sport and it takes a lot of what they can potentially do. Students athletes have to do extensive workouts and are required to go to study stables for the team and do not have much time to do other things like study, socialize, or work, even though they are not allowed to work under NCAA rules. This leads to students leaning to take “easier” courses and majors. Some Athenians conducted earlier protests against the popular adulation of athletes. The protests were conducted to in the criticism of excessive training, eating habits, overspecialization, and the lack of “life skills” (Kyle 167). This goes into modern society in that college athletes are spending a great amount of time into the sports and not given any financial advances to support themselves or others if he or she has that responsibility.
College athletes bring in an incredibly large amount of money to their schools. Universities gain millions of dollars in revenue from the unpaid and overworked athletes. Coaches get paid millions of dollars and are usually the highest paid employees at many universities with major sports programs. The student-athletes of the schools should receive some of this money because without them the schools would not be getting all the popularity and the money. Universities gain millions of dollars every year from their sports programs. The University of Louisville has the most valuable players at $1.72 million per year based on the program’s $45.6 million in annual revenue (Lemmons). On average a “division I player is worth $170,098 per year with the 351 Division I basketball programs taking in more than 4.5 million in revenue on average each year” (Lemmons). These athletes are bringing in incredible amounts of money to these schools from bringing in fans, selling jerseys, and overall popularity. Imagine if the athletes were getting paid some of the money from revenue. It would be beneficial in several ways but there could be a downfall by it.
College athletes getting paid by the NCAA or their own school would be very difficult. Not all universities bring in as much money as powerhouse sports programs like a Louisville. So there will be questions like, “How much will each player get paid?” and “Should top level athletes in the sport get paid more?”, there are so many ways this could go. This method could go on to athletes making decisions on what school they want to attend based on how much more money they could make at University. Paying students will lead the concentration and emphasis to sports as to the reason why they are in school, for their education. The student-athletes at colleges receive the benefits of the provident of high-quality education in the world from which they can go on in life. Student-athletes entertain people with their skills in the sport and if the NCAA decides to pay college athletes, they will move the colleges further away from the main stated goals of educating them to make it more businesslike. This focus will disrupt the main point of college which is to learn. Another aspect of paying student-athletes is that not all will be responsible for their finances. Most student-athletes would not handle and manage their money wisely. Now with all this money, how will student-athletes respond to academics and their nature for the sport. If they are given this money, these athletes may think it is not necessary to go to class. With money given to the athletes, the students will develop a new mindset in that the money is more important than education and the sport.
With this all said, why do you ones think that college athletes should be paid? There are several benefits and reasons why student-athletes should be paid. First of all, student-athletes would have the finances to support their families if needed. Athletes will have money to support themselves out of school and give money to their family. A lot of athletes are not fortunate to have the financial stability of other families because they are from lower-class families. This leads to the reason of student-athletes who are capable of leaving school early to turn professional so they can provide for themselves and family. If the athletes were paid, they would stay longer. They would not have to leave school early and would be able to obtain an education while supporting their family. Paying athletes would be fitting for everyone. Players would be forced to focus more on the education instead of only concentrating on the sports. The NCAA does not allow athletes to work hence they do not get money to purchase the necessities. This leads to players accepting any illegal money, cars, clothes. With student-athletes staying, graduation rates would increase, players would be more mature and prepared for the next level in professional sports, and there will be fewer outcomes of corruption.
There are a variety of opinions concerning the payments for the athletes and more reasonable decisions should be implemented in the near future, which will help the student-athletes as well as other students to come up with the right decisions concerning their future without restrictions. The decision should consider rights and needs of the college athletes as well as the available opportunities in their future life.