College Athletes Should Be Paid Analysis

The NCAA has been around and evolved since the beginning of college sports. This organization is a non-profitable organization, but ironically makes more than millions of profit per year. Branch states “that money comes from a combination of ticket sales, concession sales, merchandise, licensing fees, and other sources—but the great bulk of it comes from television contract”(pg. 228). Meanwhile, the student-athletes do not receive any of this money. This is the start of an unsubstantial business between universities built around amateurism.

All in all, the NCAA hasn’t been monitoring collegiate athletic programs as close as they should. Consequently, many student athletes continue to find themselves in the middle of unethical situations within their respective programs. With numerous issues arising, it would be in the best interest of the NCAA and the U.S. Government

For example Josh Huff a former wide receiver at the university of Oregon, states, “it’s ok for the NCAA to make money off my name and likeness, but once I go charge people to get in my party it’s a problem.” COLLEGIATE ATHLETES: THE CONFLICT BETWEEN NCAA AMATEURISM AND A STUDENT ATHLETE'S RIGHT OF PUBLICITY is an article that explains the unfairness in this situation. Because of his displeasure with the non-compensated and amateurism rule, josh began to shed light on the truth of that student athlete’s right are being violated. The NCAA alone makes millions of revenue of the hard work of these student athletes, names and participation in collegiate athletics. While the only thing justifies the decision, keeping them from being paid is that they already are receiving free education as well as college stipend. Looking at the meaning of amateurism and its purpose this article is to back up student athletes and recognize that their work and role in the NCAA is a little deeper than amateur status. Universities are making money of these students hard work and while the names on the team roster are what generate the demand, the ones in the backgrounds get compensated very handsomely. As stated in this article “The NCAA’s purpose is to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body and, by so doing, retain a clear line of demarcation between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports.” But this clear line is already crossed when universities allow their students to become personal sales pitches and promotional puppets. See a lot of schools athletic revenue thrives of the backs of these students, literally using the names of these students and their success to uplift their school

The corruption expressed throughout the hour long documentary is endless examples of ethos which is the majority used in the documentary. Corruption in the NCAA is not only a current issue but has existed dating back to the 1940’s. In the 1940’s and 1950’s ivy league schools used to secretly pay players in order to attract top talent in the country. After more and more illegal salaries came into play, the scholarship was invented in order to stop the corrupt system and give the players more of a reward. The NCAA is technically a nonprofit organization, however generated billions of dollars each year, needless to say that it is and has always been a business.

The ethical dilemma that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) faced in this case was prioritizing the rights of the individual as opposed to prioritizing the revenues of the organization. This could also be interpreted as a stakeholder versus shareholder situation in which the stakeholders are the student athletes and the shareholders are the universities that expect to earn revenue from their athletics teams. The NCAA has a responsibility towards both groups. As a national organization, they would want to protect the rights of the individuals in order to defend student athletes from exploitation and from being taken advantage of. This meant that students could not be used for advertising or marketing purposes. However, the NCAA

How have sports changed to the point where there is serious discussion around paying college athletes? Universities and athletic coaches make millions on the backs of their players. So the question is, are our college athletes properly compensated? After reading both articles by Paul Marx and Warren Hartenstine I have come to the conclusion that college athletes should not be compensated beyond their athletic scholarships. Many students are fully compensated for tuition, room and board, books and private tutors. These services are valuable in countless ways. They allow students to pursue both their athletic and academic dreams. Further compensating college athletes would lead to an unfair advantage and is unjust to other students.

Student athletes put in work day in and day out to be as skilled as they are, and to only get better. Nocera argues, “The coaches for these teams earn millions. Even the assistant coaches make hundreds of thousands,”(22), but the ones who actually do the labor to win do not get paid. These athletes’ talents are being broadcasted all over the television, “ Approximate amount ESPN is paying annually to broadcast college football playoffs is $600 million,” (Forbes 22), and do not get anything in return for their performance being blasted everywhere.

In 1906, the NCAA was formed to protect student-athletes by incorporating a compliance approach to ethics which would ensure student-athletes are not being exploited or endangered by developing and enforcing rules that lay out three types of violations and their corresponding penalties in order to keep games fair and respectful of student-athlete rights. In today’s world of college football which has become more of a business, rather just a sport, that can bring in millions of dollars as well as thousands of college applications yearly to many universities, the NCAA is there to prevent unethical behavior by objectively setting and enforcing standards of conduct while encouraging universities to also set up their own systems of compliance.

On July 21, 2009, Ed O’Bannon filled a lawsuit against the NCAA for profiting off of student athlete’s likeness. This lawsuit is still in the process of appeal to this day. However, as now (November 2, 2015), it appears O’Bannon has won the case. This is giving permission to universities to allow stipends to student athletes. A stipend is an allowance for players that is essentially paying players for playing college sports. Most division one programs are jumping on the ability to start paying their players because they do not want to fall behind the ability to bring in top athletes. The NCAA is still in the process of appealing the ruling to pay student athletes. One of the problems that O’Bannon is reaching out for college athletes is

Throughout the years there have been many suits filed against the NCAA for health benefits and if life threatening injuries or even deaths occurred during a game or practice. The NCAA has won every single case against the amateurs so far. They know how to pull strings and what strings to pull to get what they want, when they want. In one particular case, a previous student-athlete with a NCAA scholarship in football was made a promise, to go back home in better condition than when he left. That promise was not kept when he collided with another player and broke his neck. The injury caused him to be paralyzed for the rest of his life, ending his football career instantly. The NCAA terminated his scholarship and claimed that they were not liable for any medical costs. In court the defense that they used to prove that it was not their fault his injury happened was that he was only on the football team for an extra-curricular activity and he was not intending to go to the professional league. That student did not receive any help from the NCAA for payment towards any medical costs from his injury. To possibly avoid many lawsuits in the future the NCAA should pay their student-athletes because this way the students would have money to pay for some

Collegiate athletics has experienced rapid financial gain over the last twenty years. With that known, student-athletes have demanded a larger piece of the pie due to the fact that without the athletes no one would be making any of this money. At the point this suit was filed in 2009 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) had refused to adopt policies that would allow for players to be compensated.

The NCAA and its student-athletes deal with much more than are seen by the general public. The coaches and players always have hidden agendas. Scandals or infractions are committed every year in collegiate sports and are left unnoticed. The NCAA does its best in trying to keep this under control but have difficulty doing so. Student-Athletes receiving improper benefits and breaking NCAA rules are a common group and information on these atrocities must be brought to light.

Supporters express the amount of pressure put on college athletes consistently. Since they’re “top notch” athletes they are held to an extremely high standard and feel a chip on their shoulder to perform on a high level, night in and night out. Between practices, film, workouts, and meetings, supporters believe that a college athlete's daily schedule is very similar to one of a real employee's schedule; the only difference is that employees are being paid. Through all these responsibilities of college athletes “There are similarities to it being a job. There is a time allotment expected of you.” (Cooper 13). College athletes have many duties and responsibilities they have to complete during their career. What makes the tasks even harder is that they have to do school work as well, which supporters feel is as difficult as an actual job. Their is a big “business” aspect of college athletics too and at times supporters express how the NCAA is making money from the kids who just want to play sports. The NCAA seems to be “ trying to reconcile a multibillion-dollar industry while claiming it is really an amateur activity. That it is a huge moneymaking industry is beyond dispute." (Cooper 13). There is no question that the NCAA easily has enough money to pay college athletes, it’s just a matter of them actually realizing their workload and responsibilities they have to deal with on a daily

Over the last few decades, the empire of college sports has become one of the all-time great ventures. Division I college football programs typically generate between $40 and $80 million in profits a year, even after paying coaches multimillion-dollar salaries. With so much money, many people -- including the press -- fear these powerful college programs because of their ability and size over the smaller organizations. The NCAA, however, does not. No matter how powerful a program or how popular or important an athlete or coach might seem, the NCAA regularly sanctions athletes, coaches and programs that break the rules. Since the 1950’s, there have been numerous scandals produced by college athletes and coaches including Derek Rose, Jerry

The NCAA is focused on education as it states, but when athletes are struggling to survive, and in some cases, going to bed starving, one has to wonder how focused the NCAA truly is on the student and his or her education. With all of the money generated through the college athletes in the performance of their respective sport, it would make sense that these