Spencer Broussard
Prof Olawore
English 1001
November 5 2018
Paying College Athletes Good or Bad?
College athletes being paid has been a controversial argument for the past 5 years. The stakeholders or the people to gain from this are the athletes because they get paid to go to school and play sports. In addition to the athletes the opposers would be the NCAA or the National Collegiate Athletic Association who gain from people watching, paying and buying sport equipment of their favorite team. Never before has it been okay to pay college athletes to play sports, but athletes that are currently playing in the NCAA are looking to change that. Serval coaches have gotten caught for paying players when other athletes in the NCAA do not get paid at all. There are many benefits to paying the athletes and there also is downsides. This debate can go on and on, but looking at the key facts and past players that have graduated from the colleges and the NCAA side that rule could be changed.
The NCAA made a rule stating “Accept payment or a promise of payments (e.g., cash, prizes, gifts, or travel) for participation in your sport (Wilbon 3).” If this rule was changed just to where the athletes could get paid the players would have something else than just a sport and education. They could actually have something to fall on incase of injury. Instead of the athlete getting injured and potentially running his career he could have some type of income. Shabazz Napier former University of Connecticut point guard told Kareem Abdul Jabbar in an interview, “We do have hungry nights that we don’t have enough money to get food in. … Sometimes, there’s hungry nights where I’m not able to eat, but I still gotta play up to my capabilities (Jabbar para 6).” Another option, is paying the players by their skill level, this would skyrocket the competition in all sports if there is something to play for. College in this time period is tough as it is and adding traveling across the country during school days missing class time to play sports. In addition to that add missing time with family, late night studying to the early mornings. “Universities make up to 92 million a year and college coaches can make up to 10 million, which is one reason why college athletes bring up the idea (Jabbar para 7).” The main reason athletes would like this rule changed is for the players sake and secondly, maybe to increase competition. “The reason it has not been changed is because many people believe this could ruin the NCAA and that it would change the meaning of college sports (Wilbon para 5).”
There are many good things that can come out of changing this rule. If yourself was a college athlete and had to practice everyday nonstop then go to school without having any money to spend it would be a struggle. Many Coaches have been caught for paying players to come to their school. LSU’s basketball coach Will Wade was recently under investigation for being caught on the phone offering a recruit money to come to LSU.(Duncan) The recruit is one of the nations best in the class of 2019.(Duncan) It would not be a surprise if this is true, because most coaches pay there recruits nowadays no matter what they say. This happens constantly and only a few coaches actually get caught. One of the biggest allegations against a coach was Arizona's head coach Sean Miller. Miller was caught on a recording talking about how he had recently paid his player Deandre Ayton 100,000 dollars. Although, Ayton was the number one pick in this years NBA draft, Miller was of course fired.(Schad) This problem would never occur and coaches would not have to keep it secret if paying players was illegal. The least the players could recieve is a little money for extra things such as food.(Jabbar) This idea is most likely the best for the players and the people in charge even though, the players would most likely rather being paid by skill level. The players would be happy either way but would rather getting paid by skill level because they could earn much more money, but this could lead to problems. The first idea is most likely the way to go because having to much money at such a young age could in some ways lead to bad decisions.(Wilbon) As of now the players have nothing to play for but the small chance of making it to the NBA.Players who Play college basketball have a 2.6% of going pro and in college baseball an 11.6%.( Jabbar) Offering them a little extra money would increase the level of play and most likely the interest of college sports would increase all over the U.S. Another way this can help out the schools is the paying can attract the best talent in the country. The better the team is the better chance they have of winning it all, and doing that would earn so much money for the University. In many cases players can be fully committed to one school for three years, then suddenly “changes” his mind to play for another school. The reason this happens is because of bribery from bigger schools offering the player whatever he wanted. Another good thing that could possibly happen is that the schools tuition could be lowered. This would be a good thing for athletes and even regular students would like this. If all players were paid the same or at least close to it all of these things could come true.
Although many good things would come out of paying players, if done wrong there could also be some bad things. If the players were paid too much, it could lead the players into trouble at such a young age. Also, if all the players are paid different, this could lead to players getting jealous because in their opinion they deserve more. If the Universities paid the players on their skill level, this could lead to players leaving to go to a school who offers them more. The only way to fix this problem would be for the NCAA to pay players. The NCAA is worth approximately one billion dollars and could easily afford to pay the players.(Wilbon) Another big thing is that if the players got paid too much they would most likely stop focusing on school and pay attention to other things which is the last thing that needs to happen. The main focus for the athletes should still be there education. The money would most likely slowly push the athletes away from their education, and could be bad if basketball does not work in their future. An unexpected injury could end their careers forever and that college education will be very important. If the players were paid to much, the smaller Universities would be at a huge disadvantage to the bigger ones. Many of the big universities could afford to pay players tons, but if this happens the players would not want to attend the smaller schools and everything would fall apart which is the opposite of what the goal is.(Lemmons) This is where the NCAA takes over paying the players which will save the smaller universities from losing their talent.(Lemmons) Another problem, is if the universities were using all the money paying the major sports, they would have no money to pay for the smaller clubs and even sports. For example if LSU spent all of their money on the football team it would leave the smaller sports such as tennis with no money. This would cause all the people in these clubs and sports to become very angry and maybe could even lead to a lawsuit which is the last thing the NCAA wants.(lemmons) All of these problems would occur if the players were paid to much. The few disadvantages of paying college athletes is what is stopping the NCAA from changing the rule.
This topic is a very important topic and always has been since the times of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The players are still struggling today and if even the slightest change would be made to help the players, that would be fantastic. Whether it is paying every athlete equal or by their skill level every thing you do nowadays will have its downsides. The downsides are what is stopping the NCAA from going through with the rule change. As time goes by, more ideas are brought about and eventually there could be a rule change. The question the NCAA ask themselves is,” Can we fix the problem that is causing the con by still making the players happy.” I believe the answer to that question is one hundred percent yes. With the help of the people and the NCAA board this rule can be changed and is likely to be changed in the nearby future. When this rule is changed it will change the game and no one will know if it will be good are bad. Millions of people are ready to see the outcomes if the rule is changed. Many people believe this is a great idea and many people believe it is not, but either way it will most likely be the future of the NCAA.