The debate of whether or not college athletes should be paid has been going on for many years. There has not been a crack down on what the definite answer should be however, there has been an abundance of research done that supports both sides. College athletes have to uphold high standards while at their university and are expected to perform at the highest level of excellence in academics, sports and extracurriculars. With all of this pressure and an expectation level of the highest are they getting enough compensation?
The NCAA believes that they are getting enough money through scholarship and that they are at the University to win games instead of making money.
“The NCAA, in accordance with courts that have addressed the issue, believes that student-athletes are not employees, under the law, and that they should not be treated as employees either by the law or by the schools they attend. Moreover, taxing authorities do not consider the benefits student athletes receive to be taxable compensation.” (Cooper, Kenneth 2011)
This statement is obscure because college athletes work more hours than the typical employee and any taxable compensation would benefit them when paying for school related materials. When looking at what a scholarship covers, “A $25,000 scholarship may seem like a lot of money, but it really only covers the basics. It covers thousands of dollars in mysterious, unknown university fees, tuition, housing, a meal-plan and multiple hundred-dollar textbooks.” (Hartnett, Tyson 2013) Because of their time dedicated to the sport, most athletes do not have time to manage another job. If student athletes do have a job, it is likely they are under more stress which, can lead to poorer performance. Officially, the NCAA restricts student-athletes' in-season practice to 20 hours per week, or four hours per day. Many student-athletes, however, reported that “they practice at least 30 hours a week on average, with some sports reporting weekly practice commitments of more than 40 hours, according to a 2011 NCAA survey cited in the UNC lawsuit. ” (Jacobs, Peter. 2015) Practicing more than the hours permitted during the week is strenuous on the athletes physical and mental health therefore, they deserve to be compensated for that time. Furthermore, there is major miscommunication when discussing what qualifies as practice hours. Student athletes participate in many functions outside of practice and can be involved in “voluntary” activities that are run by the student athletes in addition to practices run by staff such as workouts and extra practice.
“The 20-hour rule itself is also rife with loopholes. Administrative meetings, weight-lifting, conditioning, film study, and activities incidental to participation, such as taping, visits to the trainer, and rehabilitation, do not count towards the 20-hour limit. Nor do "voluntary" activities where no coach is present. Game days count as three total hours, even though they often require travel and hours of pre- and post-game meetings and activities.” (Jacobs, Peter. 2015)
Student athletes should be compensated for all of the time dedicated to the sport and should get a profit from their efforts. Those obtaining the profit from their success are not undergoing the physical and mental stress and are receiving money from the players likeness. Why are the Universities making millions and the players making nothing?
Student athletes should make profit for their likeness because “over 80 percent of the total revenue received by the NCAA each year comes from television media rights agreements, which take advantage of the names, images and likeness of those who play the game as student-athletes. Yet, there are NCAA rules that prohibit scholarship athletes from receiving as much as a dime from their own name.” (Groves, Roger 2016) These are standard economic rights that these players are losing even though they are putting in far more hours a week than most staff. Furthermore, since these athletes are only getting a scholarship for the time they play at the university, they are not getting set up to succeed after they graduate. By paying student athletes for their devotion to the university by earning a degree while focusing on a big sport, this would set them up to manage their money during college as well as for a career after, they through with the sport. The un-ethical decisions the NCAA is making is not helping students out and they deserve better compensation. “Billion-dollar industries don’t collapse when their employees receive more than their expenses.” (Johnson, G. 2015) Schools should be paying their athletes like employees because, like employees, they are fulfilling a role and helping bring in revenue. The NCAA is to blame for this debacle and it is claimed that the “NCAA lost sight of perhaps the most important pillar of American society-the free market.” (Parent, C. M. 2004) Furthermore, they are to blame because the fate of college athletics relianet on the survival of amateurism:
“Even if born of the best intentions, pay for play is the worst of ideas, ranking right up there with the Edsel, Enron accounting, and the notorious Vietnam rationale, 'We must destroy the village to save it.' For college sports to survive, they need the integrity of amateurism, fan confidence in the ideals of sportsmanship, and the spirit of self-respect evoked by the phrase, 'the old college try.' If we begin to equate a student-athlete's play with the recompense pocketed every month, we have skidded to the bottom of a very slippery slope” The NCAA stated. (Parent, C. M. 2004)
Can college players have the spirit of self-respect and get paid? They certainly can.
Furthermore, to put into perspective how much money they could be giving to the players. In the power five conference there is enough money being paid out to fired coaches to where every football player gets 10,000 dollars. This isn’t a matter of not having enough money, it is the matter of the NCAA understanding what the student athletes are providing to their universities. Schools are non-profits and the point of a non-profit is to spend the money that comes in. There is also a debate on whether or not there could be bidding wars started amongst the athletes and create further divide within college athletics however, these concerns are already being waged. Ultimately,
“so, yes, there are still moral and legal concerns about paying student-athletes. But when it comes to whether the NCAA and its member institutions can afford it, the answer appears to be absolutely yes — and that shouldn’t be surprising.” (Strachan, M. 2017)
Student athletes deserve to be rewarded for their talent and compensated for their time. The money they should receive is miniscule when comparing it to the revenue they are bringing in for their school. Because the school’s make so much money off of them and because of all the corruption that goes on within the NCAA where students are getting paid under the table by alumni, sports companies and agents, it would help the corruption by paying them. If each student was paid 25,000, for example, it would help them help their parents, pay for all of the extras and then hopefully keep as many illegal payments from happening. It is a double edged sword either way and with so much money at stake, paying student athletes will help pave the way towards the overall success of the schools and student athletes.