There are a total of 3,878 jobs created from Penn State Football. This may not seem like a large number, but it is almost 4,000 people that would not have jobs if Penn State Football were irrelevant. The University of Nebraska is no slouch either when it comes to employment opportunities. Thompson and McClure (2014) found, “The University of Nebraska Department of Athletics is a significant employer in Lincoln and the State of Nebraska. The department had a payroll of $33.8 million during the 2013-14 fiscal year, and employed 326 full-time staff, thirteen part-time staff, 616 student part-time workers, 897 event staff, and concessions staff and other on-call temporary workers. The department also is a key part of the Lincoln and Nebraska …show more content…
If this were to happen, the athletic department, students, student-athletes, and State College would all suffer. Ryan Beckler (2012), author of Economically, We Need Penn State Football clarifies, Penn State football provides athletes from every sport with scholarships, students with internships, and hundreds of people — both young and old — with jobs and careers. The importance of Penn State football is enormous for just about everyone in State College. In the 2010-2011 football season Penn State Football profited over $53 million (Beckler). However, not all of that money goes to the football program. A large amount of it goes to the 27 other varsity sports (Beckler). Would it be possible for these other programs to survive without the football program? Realistically, probably not. Again, it is astounding to see the impact of major college football …show more content…
As a small town in the middle of Pennsylvania, State College relies on the university for the economy and jobs. State College would also take an enormous economic hit. Beckler (2012) concludes that the town and University are essential to one another and one cannot survive without the other. “The State College economy is dependent on Penn State. Penn State football is the primary force behind Penn State brand, hence State College is, was, and will always be economically reliant on Penn State football” (Beckler). To reiterate further on local businesses would be negatively effected, Beckler concludes that if indeed Penn State Football was shut down for a year or more, “Bars, restaurants, and merchandise stores are all impacted. But football is only played during the fall, right? Yes, however, the presence of Penn State football always looms over Centre County, emotionally and financially. State College might survive without football, but it wouldn’t thrive. Fact is, without Penn State football, hotel rooms would be vacant, jobs would be lost, and the State College community would economically wilt until the Nittany Lions return on Saturdays.” It is safe to assume that the Jerry Sandusky Scandal has effected the football program and State College, but not to the degree that many originally believed. Luckily for State College business owners, they are still
The college football world has gone mad. Conferences are doing battle in courtrooms instead of on the football field. Teams are leaving their conferences and throwing tradition and loyalty out the window for a bigger paycheck. The Bowl Championship Series was supposed to end the confusion in the college football post season. It was supposed to crown a true champion. Instead, the B.C.S. has only brought more light to the fact that in college football it is all about money and TV contracts. Teams that have no right going to a major bowl game go because of who they are and, more importantly, who their fans are and how much money the fans are will to spend. Players are failing classes, stealing, doing drugs, breaking almost every law imaginable, and they are still suiting up to play on Saturday. In this new age of college football, there is a man who is as old school as having goal posts right on the goal line. He is short in stature, but he is larger than life. He has given millions of dollars back to his university, and he has put his heart and his soul into molding young me. Joe Paterno has become an icon of college football. In these modern times, however, his morals and his coaching style seem outdated. Now, in the twilight of his career, he has to battle a grueling Big Ten schedule, the media who made him a legend and who are now looking to make him into a fool, and even his once loyal fans who have turned their backs on him. Joe Paterno has his back against the wall; it seems everything is working against him. He could walk away now and forever be remembered as a great football coach, or he can keep running out of that tunnel and work on putting Penn State football back on the map. He can take back the title that is rightfully his, the greatest college football coach of all time. Joe Paterno should remain in charge of the Penn State football program. Along the way, he deserves every Penn State fans support, win or lose.
They do not face problems of debt and tuition to the extent that the normal college student faces. Student-athletes are fairly compensated through publicity and financial benefits, and the NCAA should continue to refrain from paying them. The varying size and interest levels of universities makes it almost impossible to fairly pay all athletes. In order to avoid problems like those exhibited by Northwestern’s football team, who recently tried to unionize, all athletes would need to be paid equally. The excitement brought on by college sports is immense, and problems created due to paying athletes would only hurt the tradition and charisma that college athletics offer. In conclusion, College athletes are students and amateurs, not employees. “Remember student comes first in student-athlete”
While college sports play a valuable role on university campuses, it is important for administrators to not lose perspective. That some football coaches earn more than university presidents, for example, is clearly wrong. Essay Task Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on college support for sports teams. In your essay, be sure to: • analyze and evaluate the perspectives given • state and develop your own perspective on the issue • explain the relationship between your perspective and those given
Price, S. L. “We are still...Penn State.” Sports Illustrated 117.18 (2012): 60. MAS Ultra-School Edition. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
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.
With the recent controversy and scandal surrounding the University of Colorado and the college football world, this off season has been one of the busiest ever. College Football has experienced an eye-opening revelation and these experiences call for major changes in the traditional recruiting practices. Last month, stories surfaced about the University of Colorado using sex, alcohol, and parties to lure blue chip recruits to their program. While these types of actions are prevalent at every major football program, this is the first time that they have been officially exposed. This exposure has started a chain-reaction of changes to the recruiting part of college football and has grabbed the attention of the United States Congress. The involvement of the most powerful government in the world shows the seriousness of the present situation and also that these inappropriate recruiting practices are not going to be ignored any longer. The face of college football will change dramatically and the results of this scandal will have a lasting impact for decades to come. For any person who follows college football and has a favorite team, this is an important issue because the traditional way that many of us have come to love, is about to disappear.
Financial aspects and profitability of college athletic programs is one of the most important arguments involved in this controversy. A group of people expresses that college athletic programs are over emphasized. The point they show on the first hand, is that athletic programs are too expensive for community colleges and small universities. Besides, statistics prove that financial aspects of college athletic programs are extremely questionable. It is true that maintenance, and facility costs for athletic programs are significantly high in comparison to academic programs. Therefore, Denhart, Villwock, and Vedder argue that athletic programs drag money away from important academics programs and degrade their quality. According to them, median expenditures per athlete in Football Bowl Subdivision were $65,800 in 2006. And it has shown a 15.6 percent median expenditure increase fro...
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.
Recently college athletes have been granted permission to work, from the NCAA. Even with this permission, their jobs are still regulated. One regulation to the athletes working is that they cannot work for alumni of the school. The NCAA has this rule because they feel if athletes work for people with close ties to the school then they will be receiving special benefits while working. These special benefits include, (but are not limited to), athletes being paid while not at work and higher salaries then other workers doing the same job (Anstine 4).
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 best argument against paying players is that it diminishes the value of an education" (qtd. in Zimbalist). State University has breached its academic standard by allocating unnecessary expenditures to athletically advanced students. Student athletes should not be paid at State University, because it focuses on an extracurricular activity as a means of profit, praises athletic ability over merit/ scholastics, promotes a bridge between players and regular students, and creates hierarchy between universities.
One of the strongest arguments against student athletes getting paid is that many people feel they already are getting paid, through their financial aid package. Sports Illustrated author, Seth Davis, states in his article “Hoop Thoughts”, that “student athletes are already being payed by earning a free tuition. Which over the course of four years can exceed $200,000, depending on the school they attend. They are also provided with housing, textbooks, food and academic tutoring. When they travel to road games, they are given per diems for meals. They also get coaching, training, game experience and media exposure in their respective crafts” (Davis, 2011). This is a considerable amount of income. While the majority of regular students are walking out of school with a sizeable amount of debt, most student athletes are debt free. Plus they get to enjoy other benefits that are not made available to the average student. They get to travel with their teams, t...
Education and athletics, two of the most prized activities within our society. It's therefore no surprise that the two so closely link in one of our society’s favorite pastimes: college sports. Some believe that these two things benefit each other and some don’t. In the Forbes article titled “Rethinking the Benefits of College Athletics,” the author Jonathan Robe, a research fellow at the Center for College Affordability, explains, “In my short life, I’ve long been perplexed with the way many higher ed administrators–particularly college presidents–tend to laud college sports for the benefits they add to institutions of higher learning.“ He argues that college athletics do not benefit colleges and in some ways can even harm them. A majority of the supports are strong and, despite a few ineffective supports and language, Robe's argument is effective for its intended audience.
With those statistics, I think it’s safe to say that being a collegiate athlete requires more than a full time job. Trying to keep up with homework and attendance in class poses many challenges especially when the NCAA requires students to miss class for championship games, televised games, or other events that bring in revenue for the school. Instead of focusing on quality education for athletes, the NCAA focuses on violations of amateurism, such as athlete’s receiving financial inducements to play, and neglected the investigation of charges that athletes may be receiving inferior education according to Dean Purdy of Bowling Green State University in his article “Are athletes also
Due to the immense popularity of college athletics and the large profits that colleges receive from these sports, it...