Athletic Scholarship. The good & bad

1673 Words4 Pages

Athletic Scholarship. The good & bad

Athletes are dominated, managed, and controlled. They do not receive a wage compensation for their contribution to economic returns. Athletes are sometimes mistreated physically and mentally; and denied rights and freedoms of other citizens. The debate over whether or not to pay collegiate athletes, specifically Division 1, has increased greatly. Many people believe college athletic associations; such as the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Associations) treat college athletes unfairly. College athletes have been dedicating time, hard work, and much more to their schools’ athletic departments. People are making millions of dollars off of these athletes while, they are living in poverty. Things need to change; these players need to start being rewarded for their dedication.
The NCAA has so much control over the athletes that they even control the educational requirements of the athletes. In order to be eligible for an athlete to play in college they must have at least a 2.5 high school grade point average in a curriculum of 13 core courses. Also they are required to score a minimum score of 700 points on the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) or a minimum score of 15 points on the ACT (American College Testing Program). If an athlete passes all the requirements and is able to play they must then take a course load of at least 12 hours, and by the end of the semester pass a total of nine hours. These requirements may not seem to difficult to achieve but one must remember while playing a college sport time is limited and the some of the athletes struggle to find time to get everything done. (Zimbalist 27-28)
If college athletes were to be paid, where would the money come from? The money can come from several different places: sale of tickets, corporate sponsors, endorsement contracts, and the sale of apparel. One example of the extravagant donations a school receives is the advertising package the University of Colorado has with the Coors Brewing Company. The package cost Coors an excess of $300,000 for radio, TV, scoreboard advertising. Aside for this advertising package, Coors Brewing CO. also donated $5,000,000 to have the name of the basketball arena changed to The Coors Event Center. Another way athletic departments make money is from royalties of mercha...

... middle of paper ...

...on the deals the coaches sign. For example, if a coach signs a deal with a company worth $300,000, why shouldn’t it be split between the players? (Eitzin 2) If it is divided among fifteen players on a basketball team, that is $20,000 per athlete. Or in the case of a larger team such as football it is still about $5,000 per athlete. There are so many different methods of solving this problem; it is about time that the NCAA starts to look at them.
College athletes across the country are dedicating four to five years of their lives for a university and not receiving any compensation for their commitment. People need to realize that it is hard for an athlete to survive while going to college because he or she has no time to work. The work an athlete does rewards the school with endorsements from which the athlete receives no compensation. While working for a scholarship that may be revoked for a variety of reasons, the athlete is constantly tested and watched to make sure he or she does not break any NCAA rules. College athletes are struggling to survive and need financial help. College athletes make many individuals a lot of money and it is time that something is given back to them.

Open Document