Should College Athletes Be Paid?

2097 Words5 Pages

Cameron Newton was a coveted recruit coming out of Georgia’s Westlake High School in 2007. Upon signing with the University of Florida, he earned a back-up spot behind Tim Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner. After being arrested on felony charges, Newton dropped out of Florida and enrolled at Blinn Junior College in Texas. Newton led his team to the 2009 NJCAA National Football Championship, after which he was the only 5-star recruit for the 2010 season, as stated on rivals.com. His top two choices for college: Mississippi State University and Auburn University. After his first year at Blinn Junior College he committed to Auburn. During the 2010 football season, Newton led the #1 ranked Tigers to a national championship berth with an undefeated record and also won the Heisman Trophy. Mid-season allegations came about that his father, Cecil Newton, asked Mississippi State University for $180,000 in order for his son to play football at MSU. Although Cam did nothing wrong the question arose, should an athlete be paid to compete in Division One athletics? Recently, this question of compensating athletes has been a major issue facing college sports.

In the case of Cam Newton being paid to play at Mississippi State, ESPN quoted Cecil Newton, father of Cameron Newton, in saying that it would take “more than a scholarship” to get his son to play at Mississippi State. The more emphasis that is being placed on college athletics, specifically college football, the more circumstances such as Cam Newton’s, seem to come to light. In the past ten years, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has passed numerous rules on the recruitment of high school athletes. NCAA.org has a 13-page summary of rules and regulations regarding colle...

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...t Of Action.” USA Today 31 August 2004. Print.

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Upton, Jodi, and Kristen Novak. “College Athletes Cluster Majors at Most Schools.” USA Today 19 November 2009. Web.

Whitlock, Jason. "College Athletes Already Paid In Full." ESPN.com Web. 23 March 2012

Steeg, Jill L, Jodi Upton, Patrick Bohn, and Steve Berkowitz. “College Athletes Studies Guided Toward ‘Major in Eligibility’.” USA Today 19 Nov. 2008 Web.

Wieberg, Steve. "NCAA Football Grad Rates at All-time High, but Top Schools Falter." USA Today. Gannett. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.

Michael Wilbon. "College Athletes Deserve to Be Paid." ESPN.com Web. 28 Mar. 2012.

The Southern Methodist University Football Program
2046 Words | 5 Pages
Thelin, John R., and Lawrence L. Wiseman. The old college try: balancing academics and athletics in higher education. Washington, D.C.: School of Education and Human Development, the George Washington University, 1989.
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Why College Athletes Should Be Paid
767 Words | 2 Pages
Tyson Hartnett of The Huffington Post once said “Even with any type of scholarship, college athletes are typically dead broke.” This quote is regarding a tremendous controversy that has been talked about for the past few years. He talks about whether or not college athletes should be paid for their duties. Despite the fact that college athletes are not professionals, they should most certainly be paid to play for their respective schools due to many factors. These factors include health risks and the income they bring in for their colleges as well as to the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
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College Athletes Should Be Paid
923 Words | 2 Pages
Should college athletes receive pay for what they do? You’ve probably seen this pop-up a million times, and thought about it. You’ve probably figured why should they? Aren’t they already receiving benefits from a full-ride scholarship? But then an athlete will get caught up in a scandal like Johnny Manziel, where he signed footballs for money.. then you think well why shouldn’t he receive that money? And you then contradict yourself. But shouldn’t they receive money from outside sources, and then the benefits from the school. Not get a salary from the school just the benefits they’re already receiving, and money from sponsors. Wouldn’t that make sense considering the money they’re making the school? According to an ESPN report Alabama University makes $123,769,841 in total revenue from sports. (College Athletics Revenue) Yes ONE HUNDRED & TWENTY THREE MILLION. Yet an athlete from Alabama can only receive benefits from a scholarship.. That doesn’t seem right. You would want to be payed when the opportunity arises. It should only be fair these players get a piece of the revenue pie, after all they are the ones creating the revenue. The players should be getting benefits to allow them to pay for basic college needs, grow up to be responsible adults, and allow the NCAA to thrive. This would allow for the NCAA to truly thrive as a sporting association.
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College Athletes: Employees or Students?
850 Words | 2 Pages
Paul Dietzel, former head coach of LSU, once said, “You can learn more character on the two-yard line than anywhere else in life.” Ever since the beginning, not only children but also college athletes have been playing sports for the love of the game and have used it as a way to grow character, teamwork, and leadership. Although when playing for a University an athletes job is to bring in profit for the school, this is not why these young men and women have continued with these sports they love. It is usually these students passion, a way for them to express themselves like others have art and music. The question has been up whether these college athletes should be paid for their loyalty and income for the University but by paying these students more than their given scholarship, it would defeat the purpose and environment of a college sport versus a professional sport, cause recruiting disputes, and affect the colleges benefits from these school athletics.
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Should College Athletes Be Paid?
2435 Words | 5 Pages
Today there are over 450,000 college athletes and the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) faces a difficult decision on whether or not college athletes should be paid. Many people believe that they should and many believe they should not. There are several benefits that college’s athletes receive for being a student athlete. Why should they receive even more benefits than their scholarship and numerous perks?
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College Athletes Should Be Paid
1376 Words | 3 Pages
Pennington, Bill. "Expectations Lose to Reality of Sports Scholarships." nytimes.com. New York Times, 10 Mar. 2008. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
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Student Athletes Should Not be Paid
1793 Words | 4 Pages
Student athletes should not be paid more than any other student at State University, because it implies that the focus of this university is that an extracurricular activity as a means of profit. Intercollegiate athletics is becoming the central focus of colleges and universities, the strife and the substantial sum of money are the most important factors of most university administration’s interest. Student athletes should be just as their title states, students. The normal college student is struggling to make ends meet just for attending college, so why should student athletes be exempt from that? College athletes should indeed have their scholarships cover what their talents not only athletically but also academically depict. Unfortunately, the disapproval resides when students who are making leaps academically are not being offered monetary congratulations in comparison to student athletes. If the hefty amount of revenue that colleges as a conglomerate are making is the main argument for why athletes should be paid, then what is to stop the National Clearinghouse from devising unjust standards? Eventually if these payments are to continue, coaches, organizations, and the NCAA Clearinghouse will begin to feel that “c...
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College Athletes Deserve to Be Paid
1523 Words | 4 Pages
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!
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Student-Athletes and the NCAA Rules
1939 Words | 4 Pages
The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel, began the 2013 season sitting on the sidelines. Due to a half game suspension handed down by Texas A&M University, Manziel was only allowed to watch as A&M took the field versus the visiting Rice Owls. To “Aggies” fans, this half game suspension came as a huge relief. It had been feared that Manziel may receive a multiple game or year-long ban from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for violating NCAA Bylaw 12.5.2.1. The bylaw prohibits athletes from allowing their name or picture to be used in a commercial matter (Berkes, 2013). Luckily for him, a half-game suspension would be his only punishment. Manziel was put into this predicament after reports surfaced that he had accepted money in return for autographs. No proof of this was ever found, but it was proved that someone, probably a memorabilia collector, profited from his signature (Berkes, 2013). So wait, a man can’t receive money for signing his own autograph? The answer is “no”, if he is a student athlete following the strict rules of the NCAA. The only benefits he can accept are those included in a lucrative scholarship given by universities. As more incidents like Johnny Manziel’s have occurred, it has been debated by sports analysts and the news media whether or not these scholarships are a fair payment. Another Heisman Trophy winner, Cam Newton, was accused of trying to sell his services to Mississippi State University after his decision to transfer from a community college following his junior year. While an NCAA investigation would find that his father had indeed tried to shop Cam to prospective schools, Newton was cleared to play (Wojciechowski, 2010). The 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush, was ...
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Should Student-Athletes Be Paid?
1960 Words | 4 Pages
Woods, Al. “College Athletes Should Be Paid.” Sports and Athletes: An Anthology. Ed. Christine Watkins. Greenhaven Press, 2009. 87-94. Print.
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College Athletic Programs Undermine Academics
2198 Words | 5 Pages
"College Athletic Programs Undermine Academics." Student Life. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 27 July 2011.
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College Athletes Should Be Paid
1602 Words | 4 Pages
Some people say that college athletes get paid by having a scholarship, but if you look at it a different way, scholarships might change your mind. Coaches try to get players who they think have the talent to make them win and to persuade them to come to their school by offering them scholarships. The whole idea behind a scholarship is to lure the athlete into coming to your school. Scholarships are nothing more than a recruitment tactic. They will give you a scholarship as long as you produce for them. It’s all about what you can do for them. Indeed these scholarships pay for tuition, room and board, and books, but these athletes don’t have money for other necessities. The NCAA doesn’t want friends or boosters to offer athletes jobs because they ...
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Being A College Athlete Essay
881 Words | 2 Pages
Forbes, 30 January 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. Gutting, Gary. “The Myth of the ‘Student-Athlete’.”
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Student Athletes and Academics
1148 Words | 3 Pages
For decades there has been a debate on student athletes and their drive to succeed in the classroom. From the very beginning of organized college level athletics, the goal to want to succeed in athletics has forced students to put academics to the back burner. In spite of the goal to want to succeed over a hundred years of attempts to check limits of intercollegiate athletic programs on colleges' academic standards still seems to struggle to this day. This brings to surface one of the most asked questions in sports, “What effect does college sports have on academics and economics?” Herbert D. Simons, Derek Van Rheenen, and Martin V. Covington, authors of “Academic Motivation and the Student Athlete” researched the topic on whether athletics and academics benefit each other. Bryan Flynn, the author of “College Sports vs. Academics” poses the question “Should institutions of higher learning continue to involve themselves in athletic programs that often turn out to be virtual arms races for recruiting talented players who bring big money and prestige, but put academics to the back burner?” Although both authors agree that sports have an impact on an athlete’s academics, the focus of their argument differs.
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College Athletes Deserve Compensation
856 Words | 2 Pages
Many people view college athletics as a pastime, not a profession, and paying athletes would make these sports seem like a profession, not just a representation of the school (Sobocinski 289). The NCAA, and others who oppose compensation, believe in amateurism, the idea that college students should focus on academics first and athletics second (Amateurism 1). Also, they think student athletes are already receiving fair compensation for their work. College athletes receive full scholarships that cover tuition, fees, and books (How 1). Furthermore, these scholarships are granted for at least one year, in case a student suffers a sports injury, the student does not play as well as expected, or the coaching staff is changed (How 1). Some people argue that full athletic scholarships are enough ...
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Should College Athletes Be Paid?

The Southern Methodist University Football Program

Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

College Athletes Should Be Paid

College Athletes: Employees or Students?