Throughout the long history of college sports, football in particular, athletes have played squarely off of scholarships or as walk-ons. The NCAA generates millions without paying the athletes a dime. Recent years have caused huge problems in the country with paying athletes for playing. Scandal after scandal has rocked the image of college football and doesn’t appear to be getting better. The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from receiving improper benefits and selling memorabilia for a profit when they should be paying its athletes.
Since the early 1900’s when college football first became a NCAA sport, it has had a history of paying its athletes as well as improper benefits. In around 1910, Walter camp was put under fire for having a fund for players of over $100,000. Camp was one of the early pioneers in football that brought the game where it is today. In the 1950’s, scandals hit the college of William and Mary for hiding its players poor grades to allow them to be eligible all season. (Branch 83) This is important because the University of William and Mary was contending with powerhouse football programs that season for a national title. This here all shows that even 50-100 years ago collegiate athletics had already been dealing with improper benefits for players.
In the last 30 years, the NCAA has dealt with pretty much a new case on improper benefits once every year. The first time this rule really was brought to national attention was in the early 1980’s. According to an ESPN 30/30 documentary, SMU or known as Southern Methodist University had dealt serious money to now hall of fame running back Erik Dickerson. Dickerson had been a top prospect in the nation and had no intention to play at SMU originally....
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...because he sold his won college memorabilia for Tattoos, further proving the stubborn rules from the NCAA.
The NCAA needs to find a way to have its athletes profit off their play. With the NCAA still keeping the rule on banning athletes from profits, problems will keep occurring every season. The NCAA has shown that if an athlete dares try and profit off of anything while in college, the athlete and the university will be in serious trouble. If problems keep occurring and scandals keep happening, we can expect a change in NCAA rules in the very near future in favor for the student-athletes.
Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports." Atlantic Monthly, The. 01 Oct. 2011: 80. eLibrary. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
Murschel, Matt., Writer, Staff.. "Manziel mess highlights problems with NCAA." Orlando Sentinel. 09 Aug. 2013: C1. eLibrary. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
The overall culture and importance that American society places on college sports is susceptible to debate and criticism. Are we spending too much time and money on college football? Well that’s for you to decide, “Get football out of our universities” by Steven Salzberg expresses his concern that we are emphasizing too much on football and not enough on education. He makes his argument that America would be much smarter if only we would eliminate college football all together; he feels college football is driving academia to its death. Steven is effective in persuading his readers by utilizing rhetorical strategies and he provides his readers with facts and solutions. While reading Stevens article, you will see rhetoric used throughout his essay; he intends to open the reader’s eyes to the epidemic that football is having on our colleges and universities and provides viable solutions.
Van Rheenen, Derek. "Exploitation in College Sports: Race, Revenue, and Educational Reward." International Review for the Sociology of Sport 48.5 (2013): 550-71. Print.
The Southern Methodist University football scandal, also known as Ponygate, was one of the most severe consequences that the NCAA has ever given out to a college or university. In this instance, the Southern Methodist University football program was found to be illegally paying their players after already being in trouble with the NCAA several times. The first time this football program had been caught by the NCAA for not following its rules was in 1985. This was when an incident regarding offensive lineman Sean Stopperich came up. Prior to transferring schools after going through an injury which made him unable to play, he was paid $5,000 by one of the Southern Methodist Universities booster programs to attend the school and play football there. This caused “the NCAA to place SMU on three years of probation in 1985, limit its postseason appearances, ban the boosters involved and strip the football program of 45 scholarships.” This did not show the program or the school a lesson though. Again in 1986 the Southern Methodist University football program was found breaking NCAA rules. This was their seventh time they had broken and been caught breaking NCAA rules. This time it was found that, “an unnamed booster had been found to have paid 13 Mustang players $61,000 from a slush fund with the approval of key members of the SMU athletic staff.” The result of this complication with NCAA rules is what became known as the, “death penalty”. This death penalty declared that there were to be, “no football in '87. only seven games in '88. no television or bowl appearances until 1989 and restrictions on off-campus recruiting and the number of assistant coaches until 1989 SMU which signed no high school players to letters of intent this winter...
First lets explore the history behind the paying of college athletes. Over the past 50 years the NCAA has been in control of all Div.1, 2 and 3 athletic programs. The NCAA is an organization that delegates and regulates what things college athletes can and can’t do. These regulations are put in place under the label of ‘protecting amateurism’ in college sports. This allots
If there’s one thing we dread in the summer more than the heat, it’s the afflicting sentiment that surrounds oneself when one is inhibited from experiencing the thrills of football for six long and gruesome months. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football is a part of many Americans’ Saturdays, but to fewer does it mean their lives. Recently coming under debate, many sporting fans and college athletes believe that players should be paid more than just tuition, room, board, and books. Two articles on this issue that bring up valid points worth discussing are Paul Marx’ “Athlete’s New Day” and Warren Hartenstine’s “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid.” From these articles I have found on the basis of logical,
College athletes are manipulated every day. Student athletes are working day in and day out to meet academic standards and to keep their level of play competitive. These athletes need to be rewarded and credited for their achievements. Not only are these athletes not being rewarded but they are also living with no money. Because the athletes are living off of no money they are very vulnerable to taking money from boosters and others that are willing to help them out. The problem with this is that the athletes are not only getting themselves in trouble but their athletic departments as well.
Pennington, Bill. "Expectations Lose to Reality of Sports Scholarships." nytimes.com. New York Times, 10 Mar. 2008. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Even the waterboy gets paid! NCAA football is a billion dollar a year empire, in which coaches, executives, school presidents, board members, athletic trainers, athletic directors, equipment managers, Waterboys, towel boys, ball boys, and even team mascots all receive a chunk of the revenue. Everyone gets paid except the athletes, who don’t receive a dime of the money. That’s because it’s against NCAA rules to pay college athletes with anything other than an athletic scholarship; anything else, and it’s deemed as an improper benefit, thus making an athlete ineligible if he/she were to accept. The NCAA defends its rule of “no-pay” by claiming that all its student-athletes are “amateurs” and not employees; therefore, they’re legally not compensated. The argument over whether student-athletes should be paid or not, is particularly unsettling within the sport of football, because NCAA football is the most popular and profitable sport of all college athletics. The NCAA’s discrepancy over whether it should pay its players or not, currently has the association fighting a lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon, who’s suing for compensation on behalf of former Division I football and men’s basketball players. The lawsuit challenges the NCAA’s use of student-athletes’ images and likeness for commercial purposes (PBS.org). In recent months the argument has been geared more towards whether current student-athletes should be paid or not, particularly football players, who like former Texas A&M star quarterback Johnny Manziel, provide the athleticism and entertainment that makes NCAA football the million dollar empire that it is. So, should college football players be paid?
The debate on whether college athletes should be paid to play is a sensitive controversy, with strong support on both sides. College athletics have been around for a long time and always been worth a good amount of money. This billion dollar industry continues to grow in popularity and net worth, while they continue to see more and more money come in. The student-athletes who they are making the money off of see absolutely none of this income. It is time that the student-athletes start to see some of this income he or she may by helping bring the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are many people who do not think this is in the best interest of the student-athletes or Universities, but that being said there are also many people who are in favor of the change.
Howard-Hamilton, Mary F., and Julie Sina. "How College Affects College Athletes." New Directions for Student Services (2011): 35-43.
College athletes should be paid! College athletes are often considered to be some of the luckiest students in the world. Most of them receiving all inclusive scholarships that cover all the costs of their education. They are also in a position to make a reputation for themselves in the sporting world preparing them for the next step. The ongoing debate whether student athletes should be paid has been going on for years. These athletes bring in millions of dollars for their respective schools and receive zero in return. Many will argue that they do receive payment, but in reality it is just not true. Costs associated with getting a college education will be discussed, information pertaining to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and benefits student athletes receive. First, I’ll start with costs associated with college and most of all why student athletes should be paid!
College athletes are undoubtedly some of the hardest working people in the world. Not only are they living the life of an average student, they also have a strenuous schedule with their specific sport. One of the most discussed topics in the world of college athletics is whether or not student-athletes should be paid money for playing sports. The people who disagree with the idea have some good arguments to make. Primarily that the athletes get to go to school for free for playing sports. Another argument is that if student-athletes were to get paid then it would ruin the amateurism of college sports. People who are against paying the athletes do not want to see the young people become focused on money. “Paying student-athletes would dramatically shift their focus away from where it should be - gaining knowledge and skills for life after college” (Lewis and Williams). This is very understandable because one of the biggest reasons college sports are so popular is because the athletes play for school pride and for bragging rights. They play because they enjoy the game, not because it is their job. Most people that disagree with the idea of paying the athletes fail to realize what really goes on behind the scenes. At most Universities around the country the bulk of the income the school receives is brought in through the athletic programs. In fact the football and basketball teams usually bring in enough money to completely pay for the rest of the athletic programs all together. To get a better understanding of how much has changed in the world of college sports a little history must be learned.
I believe that college sports should be considered a profession. Athletes deserve to be paid for their work. College athletics are a critical part of America’s culture and economy. At the present time, student-athletes are considered amateurs. College is a stepping-stone to the professional leagues. The NCAA is exploiting the student- athlete. Big-time schools are running a national entertainment business that controls the compensation rate of the players like a monopoly (Byers 1).
Power, Clark. "Athletics vs. Academics." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA) has a long standing, successful history defined by amateur student-athletes, who play simply for the love of the game. However, after profiting of young men and women for years without compensating a single athlete, it has come time for a change. The NCAA's greed and refusal to change their definition of an “amateur athlete” has lead to the denial of star student athletes from building their brand and raising their financial ceiling.