Should College Athletes Be Paid?
College athletes are exceptional students. They sacrifice a lot to work out, play, and still be the best in their studies. They are the hardest working people in the college since they have to combine grueling workouts, practices, and games that are all over the year. Apart from that, they have to keep up with college courses. Despite that, they should not receive salaries, althoughtheir strength and dedication to sports only benefit the university and the NCAA.
NCAA
NCAA stands for the national collegiate athletic association. The purpose of this organization is to ensure the competitions between colleges are safe, equitable, fair, and sportsmanlike manner.[1] The organization is also involved with integrating intercollegiate athletic with higher education so that the student-athlete educational experience receives priority
The organization is committed to ensuring that there are high levels of integrity and sportsmanship. The athletes excel both in academics and in athletics. The organization help students to balance between athletes and studies such that one is not taken care of at the expense of the other.1The organization gets its money from two primary sources. The first source is the television and marketing fees. Most of this revenue is generated mainly from the Division 1 basketball championship. Division 1 men basketball is widespread, and lots of people are interested in seeing it. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Therefore, the NCAA gains revenue by airplay of the game and market fees. The other income, which is less, comes from championship ticket sales2. As the game is famous the same many people want to watch the games live. The NCAA takes that opportunity to charge them for tickets, and through that, they can raise revenue.
After acquiring the finances, the NCAA, together with colleges and universities, awards a total of 180,000 student-athletes scholarships. They use a total of $3.5 billion in scholarships.[2] Apart from the scholarship, they offer $100 million to help the student-athletes in their academic life and basic needs for college life. The money purchases items such as computers, clothing, and travel expenses in case of emergencies. They also place 90 championships in 24 sport, protect students with injury insurance cover, and they offer grants and internship opportunities.
College
Athletics programs in colleges are a source of millions of dollars. Although they do not gain profit directly, there are ways in which they rake in millions of dollars as a result of athletics. Some of the ways they get the money is from branding, reputation, long term relations, and enrollment. Athletic recognition in the colleges also attracts direct profit through donations and ticket sales.
Direct Profits
Direct profits in the colleges arise through the sale of tickets and donations. When a college has recognition for its athletic prowess, people will be frequent the university to watch their games. The colleges take advantage of that recognition by charging people to watch the games. Tickets sales revenue can earn the college more income, especially when it is a game that is popular among the people such as men football games and men basketball game. The prowess also creates associations.[3] Accomplished athletes and companies will want to be associated with the college, and that happens through donations they make to the college to support the athletic department. The media is also a source of direct revenue for the colleges. The media industry will want to film games and show people all over the world. The college receives money to allow filming of the games, hence a source of finances to the college.
Branding
The athletic department is crucial in the branding of a college. The team’s prowess infects the other students and the community. The extent of the influence increase to even accomplished alumni and fans. Therefore, the team can attract donations, sponsorships, brand novelty, and revenue from ads.3 All these translate to income for the college as a result of the athletics programs.
Enrollment
As a result of the reputation the athletics department earns the school, athletes and non-athletes prefer to join the school. Especially the students who just completed high school. They would want to be associated or enrolled in a reputable school. As a result of reputation from the sport, the social life of a college is rated high, and research has shown that students chose colleges mostly to experience the social life or the college experience.3 Therefore, athletic programs in college can influence the enrollment of the college in the process of earning the college more revenue.
Long-Term Relation
Athletics require students to have discipline, competitiveness, fitness, and good habits. Sport teaches the athletes of teamwork, commitment, determination, and responsibility. When they are through college, these characteristics help the student become accomplished athletes, employees, and business people.3 Those traits do not only apply to the athletes only but also the other students who cheer the team. As a result, secure bond forms among the student of the college. The outcomes of relationships are profitable to the college when the students gather as alumni and donate for the college.
Student-Athletes
The large amount of revenue earned by the university and NCCA are as a result of the hard work of students’ athletes. The athletes have made college sports a multi-million-dollar business. In return, they do not gain anything since the university and the NCAA take the profits. The only thing the students get from the NCAA and the university is the scholarships to fund their education. The main problem with the awards is that the requirement of the athletes exceeds the grant they receive.
Since college athletes are workers who earn the college revenue, then they are entitled to salary for their work. The debate has always risen whenever the issue of paying athletes comes up with even some athletes such as Richard Sherman and LeBron James advocating for student-athletes to receive salaries. Even politicians such as senators Chris Murphy and Bernie Sanders expressed their support to athletes’ payment. Their sentiments came under heavy criticism from college and athletics administrators who rebuked the idea of paying athletes.[4] The president of NCAA even said that it is college athletics, which means is college students playing other college students and not employees playing employees.
Despite his claims, when a survey was done on 2501 college students by the result indicated that the majority of the students supported the initiative to pay college students. When the study was conducted asking the student whether they were in favor of college athletes receiving salaries, the result indicated that 38% of the study group were in favor. In comparison, another 15% said they strongly favored college student to be paid. Therefore, the total number of those in favor of college student’s compensation was 53%.4
The survey also was conducted among the athletes, where 40% strongly favored, and 31% were in favor. When the study was conducted on different races, the black student had the highest number of those who supported since they had 61%. The white students recorded the lowest with 51%. The Hispanic students had 52%, and the Asiatic recorded a 56% in favor of college athlete compensation.4
The survey also asked the student how the salary allocation should occur. 60% of the population said that the wage should be paid to all students, while 38 % said that the salaries should be offered to the athletes playing sports that generate revenue. Also, 80% of the students said that when an athlete’s image is used to sell merchandise, then they should be paid, and the record went higher when the athletes were asked the same. 83% of the athletes agreed that they should receive money when their image is used to sell merchandise
From the survey, different reasons came up why students should receive wages and why they should not receive the salaries. The rationale was as follows.
Why Should College Athletes Be Paid?
Opposers of athletes receiving salaries offered reasons as to why college athletes should not be offered salaries. Some of the reasons include that the colleges will have a hard time determining who to receive the payment and who not to pay.[5] They also asked who will pay the athletes will it be the colleges or NCAA. Whether there will be a salary cap and how often they should receive the salaries. The debate ended since it is clear that the sports that are generating more revenue and giving the fans a good time should be the ones that the players receive salaries. In colleges, it has been established that the basketball player and the football player are the ones that give the fans a good time. As a result, the fans pay to watch the games. Therefore, the players in such games deserve to be paid. The NCAA will pay them since they are the direct beneficiaries of the games. Salary should be paid depending on the agreement arrived at by the player and the organization.
The other reason why the players should receive salaries is because of the risk the sport expose to their bodies.5 In college, athletes are passionate and enthusiastic and even take pride in the games they play. As much as they are proud, the sports come with significant amounts of risk, which most of the time are associated with injuries that may end the athletes’ career immaturely. The bad news about injuries is that when they happen, the athlete loses the scholarship since they are not able to participate in the games anymore. Therefore, it will be a case of risking permanent injuries without pay. Injuries such as hurting a knee may leave one a disabled person for the rest of their lives. A concussion may cause depression to the athletes. So, it is only fair that the athletes who put their bodies in the line for their colleges should receive wages due to the risks they may encounter.
The other reason why they should receive pay is because of the money available. Athletic programs attract lots of money, so it is only fair for the athletes to be paid. There are arguments that when payments have introduced, the purity of the game will be ruined. The truth is that the magic will not diminish because there is no money.5 The truth is that there is a lot of money around. Big organizations and firms take advantage of the athletes by making the wear brands that promote their products without pay. The athletes feel used, and that is why NCAA intervened and set rules that preserve the magic and purity of the game. They did so by ensuring that when players wear a brand since it is a form of promotion, then they should be paid for the promotional services.
Why College-Athletes Should Not Be Paid
If college students were to receive pay, that means then that they had to forgo the scholarships offered due to sports. Student-athletes the highly-ranking one like those in division 1 receive a scholar of $65,000 a year. The award consists of all the requirements of students that is tuition, board, room, and books. In the case of salary, a high-ranking athlete would receive $100,000 a year, but since it is salary, the student will be required to pay taxes and college bills. For example, an athlete whose college bill is $65,000 and is paid a salary of $100,000 will remain at nearly $100. The reason being such a wage will attract income taxes of $23,800, state tax $6,700, employee payroll $2400, and other charges such as social security will amount to $2,000. The total will be $34900.5
The total tax plus college bills will leave the athlete student with only $100. The remaining amount will not be enough for the student to enjoy college life, considering there will be another requirement that teenage students will need. They will, therefore, incur debts with the college for not paying the college bills from the salary because of financing their needs. The student-athletes will also be in trouble with the government, which may lead to their arrest for evading taxes since they do not have enough money.
The other reason why college students should not receive pay is that they are unable to make sound decisions with the money. The result will misuse the funds due to a lack of financial awareness.5 The result of the salaries will be poor investments, trusting the wrong and unethical financial advisors who instead of helping them take advantage of the situation and swindle the athletes. The other main reason why they should not receive such big money is the lavish spending habits associated with the student-athletes. They may spend the money on drugs, which eventually will make addicts. Drug addiction is not encouraged in sport, and ultimately, they will be thrown out of the team, although the control could have been taken earlier by not giving them salaries. Some of the college athletes lack financial awareness and end up being broke even after they are through with college. So, unless the athletes have financial education, they are not equipped to handle salaries.
The other reason is that colleges role is to prepare the student for the future real life. Therefore, paying the athletes while in college undermines the purpose of the college.5 The moment athletes receive pay; they become different from the other students in the college who practice and intern in hospitals, business agencies, law firms for no salary.
There is no difference between the two sets of students, those in sports and those other practicing in other places. All of them bring revenue to the departments, but the collection of students practicing is not paid. Therefore, there is no reason why athletes should receive salaries. College is supposed to teach the student to be patient and work hard and wait for their chance in the future to earn when they have the required knowledge to handle life. Therefore, paying college athletes big money is not a form of preparation for the future but making them lazy to learn life lessons.
Paying athletes would lead to colleges accumulating debts. For example, if colleges were to put in place $100 a week stipend to all the 200 athletes’ scholarships. The action will cost the college $800,000 a year.[6] Due to this, the smaller and fewer programs in the university will be unable to pay the athletes without going getting the money from other budgets. College programs are in no position to lose money, and they will have to look for other sources of money to pay the athletes. Due to the less cash they have, they will have to pay the athletes less or nothing at all. The small budget would severely hurt the chances of them signing better athletes. As a result, college competition becomes worse because of paying athletes. The result of the small budget for some sport will be like in the NBA, where most of the talented players select few teams that are at the top despite the position being so competitive. They all yearn for the advantages associated with the team, which in this case is the money or salary.
The other disadvantage of pay is athletes is that corruption and injustice prevail. For the payments to happen, there need to be strict rules that should be followed when paying the athletes.
There will also be extreme precautions taken to determine how much the athletes should be paid. The scale used to determine how much each student should receive depending on the sports they participate in would be challenging to deciding. Arguments have aroused of how injustices would prevail to players of the games that do not generate enough revenue.
On the other hand, the players generating more revenue will feel not compensated enough when they are paid the same salary as those contributing less revenue. A tug of war exists between the athletes in determining the best mode of payment of the wages. In most of the cases, it is the football and basketball teams that generate enough profit for the players to receive salaries. Therefore, it would be illegal and unfair for the women softball outfielders to earn the same wage as the quarterbacks. The result of the payments will be financial distress for the college that will lead it to debts.
Scholarships
Athletic scholarships are amounts of financial help awarded to college athletes from the athletic department.[7] The scholarships are awarded depending on the athlete’s abilities and their effort in the team. The coach determines the scholarships. The coach is responsible for knowing who receives the scholarship and how much. Awards are in two types, which are full scholarship and partial scholarship. Some colleges offer full scholarships, which are known as headcount sports. While others provide both full and partial scholarships, and they are called equivalency sports.
The headcount sport offers full financial aid to a limited number of players in a team. On the other hand, equivalency sport offers financial aid fully, but also it can divide the scholarship and give it to more members of the group. What determines whether one gets a full award or partial depends on one’s abilities, potential in the school, availability of the finances, and the sport one plays.
Advantages of Scholarships
University education cost is so high that some people are unable to access it. They only way they can get the education is through athletic scholarships.[8] So, one can use sport to get a degree through athletic scholarships. The only requirement to get this scholarship is for one to be an outstanding athlete with excellent abilities. Only then can they apply to the coach with a DVD showing their prowess.[9] The coach then recommends that they receive scholarships. Athletic scholarships have helped student in colleges, and some of its advantages are
Students who go to college because of the athletic scholarships are committed to their education.8 Since the award is the only means they are paying for their education, they will work hard, maintain good grades, train hard, and compete against rival teams. As a result of their action, the college gains reputation, bragging rights, and make a lot of money that can be used to give other student scholarships.
Athletic scholarships also come with their benefits, such as the support system that is offered by the coach team member and the sports administrators. Apart from that, the student also enjoys medical care in case they harm each other during training or during competitive games. The athletic scholarship provides the athletes with an opportunity to travel abroad as they compete based on home and away, and some of the teams they compete against are elsewhere.
Another benefit associated with athletic scholarship is that it is easy to get a job or opportunity once an athlete is through with college8. During athletes’ time in the university, they make contact with a lot of influential people when representing the university. Most of these influential people are potential employers. Some of the athletes with outstanding abilities are absorbed immediately into the professional games once they are through with college, where they start earning vast amounts of money. Employers are always looking for some traits in their potential employees. Some of the characteristics are vision, self-confidence, critical thinking, decision making, competitiveness teamwork, and calmness under stress. Employers require such traits in many fields, and they happen to be the trait athletes acquire during their stay at the college as athletes.
Athletic scholarships set their beneficiaries free after graduation.8 Other students have to work for the government or other entities for some time to clear their debt. Those debts accumulate during their time in college. For the students who receive athletic scholarships, they are free of any obligations. When they leave college after graduation, they head directly to the job market with any compromise.
Salaries
Salaries are a substitute for scholarship; that is when one is paid salary, then they are not awarded scholarships. Student-athletes have always wanted to receive wages since they earn the college and NCAA revenue. There has always been a controversy between salaries and scholarships. Students prefer payments to award despite the college offering the scholarships instead. Salaries are useful since they can help the athletes take care of their needs, they can also use the money to pay for their tuition and purchase the required books for their course. With salary, one can invest the money that will generate income for them in the future when they retire form college games. The athlete also feels that they are working too hard since they wake up early to workout, train, and also attend classes. All the tasks require one commitment and hard work. After putting all that effort, their morale decreases when they find out that only the college and the NCAA organization benefit from the proceeds of their efforts.
Advantage of Paying Students Salaries
Paying athletes is crucial since they do not seek other forms of employment to sustain them. Scholarships are useful since they cater to tuition, books, and other everyday items, but they do not take care of the expenses a student may have.[10] The student, therefore, goes to seek part-time employment to cater to their needs. When they receive salaries,they eliminate the need for additional jobs and concentrate on their studies and sports
Paying student-athletes is a reprieve to many families. Most of the families spend thousands of dollars on college education. But when the athletes receive salaries, then they take up the responsibility of paying the tuition fee and help their families with their abilities and talents—especially those from deprived backgrounds they bring much relief to their families when they start earning for playing.
Paying students will help reduce cases of corruption in college athletics.10 The NCAA has provided coaches with a book that contains the rules and guidelines that should be followed by the players. Despite the rules and guidelines, there are still cases under investigation involving student players obtaining compensation for their autographs and other minor mistakes. Paying the players will ensure that such errors are absent since the players will not be desperate for money from the fans.
Salary is also a motivator, and when the student-athletes have it, they will be motivated to play for the college.10 The result will the college will earn bragging rights, reputation, and more revenue in the process
Disadvantages of Paying Student-Athletes
First, there is no specified criterion to use in appropriation or distribution of the salary among the different sport available in the school. Thus, the system will be considered unfair and illegal when players are paid the same, and when there is a disparity in the payment due to the various sports generating different incomes.
The next disadvantage of salaries is that the government will chip in and start taxing the player. The government states that each person earning a salary should be taxed. The result will be some student-athletes getting in trouble with the law for evading taxes
The other disadvantage of wages is that the players lack financial awareness. They tend to make the wrong decision with the money they get.10 First, they may indulge in extravagant spending, they can trust the wrong financial advisor, and they can make unsuitable investments. Therefore, they should receive financial education before they are paid salaries
Recommendation
From the evidence above, we have seen that the decision to pay college athletes lies in the colleges and universities, the NCAA, the nature of their scholarships, and the salaries they get. The research has also weighed the reason why college athletes should be paid and why they should not be paid. The recommendations are
If the athletes are to receive payments, then pay scales should be developed that will ensure the colleges remain profitable and the students out of debt. Strict regulation should be enforced to ensure no corruption during the payments of the salaries.
All the evidence shows that scholarships considering the margin between the two are small. Then college students’ athletes should not be paid big money since the purpose of college preparing them for future life
Salaries can make the students-athletes get in trouble with the law. Since when they start earning, they will be required to pay taxes to the government. Most of them, due to extravagant spending they may spend their money without paying taxes. As a result, they get in trouble with the law.
College students are better off with scholarships than salaries. The award is meant for the best that are recruited, and therefore they will not feel the unfair and injustice aspect of wages. With scholarships, they will not get in trouble with the university for debt resulting from unpaid tuition. Therefore, college athletes, despite their hard work, they should not be paid; instead, they should be given scholarships.
Bibliography
“17 Advantages and Disadvantages of Paying College Athletes.” FutureofWorking.com, October 8, 2019. https://futureofworking.com/6-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-paying-college-athletes/.
Emma, Linda. “The Importance of College Athletic Programs to Universities.” Education, November 21, 2017. https://education.seattlepi.com/importance-college-athletic-programs-universities-1749.html.
“Finances.” NCAA.org – The Official Site of the NCAA. Accessed February 21, 2020. http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/finances.
Flinn, Gallagher. “How Scholarships Work.” HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, January 4, 2010. https://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/college-planning/financial-aid/scholarship2.htm.
Hess, Abigail J. “Majority of College Students Say Student-Athletes Should Be Paid, Survey Finds.” CNBC. CNBC, September 11, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/student-athletes-should-get-paid-college-students-say.html.
“NCAA Mission Statement – The Citadel – Charleston, SC.” The Citadel. Accessed February 21, 2020. http://www.citadel.edu/root/ncaa_mission.
Picciotto, Elad De. “Should College Athletes Get Paid?” theperspective.com/, November 1, 2019. https://www.theperspective.com/debates/sports/college-athletes-get-paid/.
Pilgrim, Trevor. “Athletic Scholarships. The Benefits.” eduflow, January 19, 2015. https://eduflow.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/athletic-scholarships-benefits/.
Thomas, Brennan. “Pay for Play: Should College Athletes Be Compensated?” Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report, October 3, 2017. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/654808-pay-for-play-should-college-athletes-be-compensated.
“What Is an Athletic Scholarship?” Athletic Scholarships. Accessed February 21, 2020. https://www.athleticscholarships.net/question/what-is-an-athletic-scholarship.
[1]NCAA Mission Statement – The Citadel – Charleston, SC,” The Citadel, accessed February 21, 2020, http://www.citadel.edu/root/ncaa_mission)
[2]“Finances,” NCAA.org – The Official Site of the NCAA, accessed February 21, 2020, http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/finances)
[3]Linda Emma, “The Importance of College Athletic Programs to Universities,” Education, November 21, 2017, https://education.seattlepi.com/importance-college-athletic-programs-universities-1749.html)
[4]Abigail J Hess, “Majority of College Students Say Student-Athletes Should Be Paid, Survey Finds,” CNBC (CNBC, September 11, 2019), https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/student-athletes-should-get-paid-college-students-say.html)
[5]Elad De Picciotto, “Should College Athletes Get Paid?,” theperspective.com/, November 1, 2019, https://www.theperspective.com/debates/sports/college-athletes-get-paid/)
[6]Brennan Thomas, “Pay for Play: Should College Athletes Be Compensated?” Bleacher Report (Bleacher Report, October 3, 2017), https://bleacherreport.com/articles/654808-pay-for-play-should-college-athletes-be-compensated)
[7]“What Is an Athletic Scholarship?” Athletic Scholarships, accessed February 21, 2020, https://www.athleticscholarships.net/question/what-is-an-athletic-scholarship)
[8]Trevor Pilgrim, “Athletic Scholarships. The Benefits.,” eduflow, January 19, 2015, https://eduflow.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/athletic-scholarships-benefits/)
[9]Gallagher Flinn, “How Scholarships Work,” HowStuffWorks (HowStuffWorks, January 4, 2010), https://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/college-planning/financial-aid/scholarship2.htm)
[10]“17 Advantages and Disadvantages of Paying College Athletes,” FutureofWorking.com, October 8, 2019, https://futureofworking.com/6-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-paying-college-athletes/)