The Argument
The controversy is whether or not big time college sport athletes such as basketball and football players should be paid like employees. Division I sport athletes such as football and basketball players trend toward lower graduation rates than regular students. The athletes are also prone to injury leaving them without a scholarship (S. Staurowsky, A. Staurowsky, and E. Staurowsky). The meaning behind this is that these athletes aren’t benefiting from their education. This is because they are leaving school early and not graduating. This also means that if an athlete gets injured while playing their sport, their “pay” (scholarship) can get taken away which may handicap them from continuing their education at that school. President Obama even thinks that this is ridiculous. In an interview with the Huffington Post he suggested that the solution for colleges was “for colleges to maintain scholarship offers even if the athlete is cut from the team or gets injured and can't play” (Lawler). Even Economists from the University of Chicago and Vanderbilt University come into agreement with the President. They came to a conclusion that “ the current compensation arrangement for big-time college athletics is inefficient, inequitable and very likely unsustainable (Huang). I believe that college athletes should be paid because it would make the NCAA more fair, and players could really use the extra money, which they would benefit immensely from.
Lack Of Funds
When thinking about whether or not the high profiled college athletes should be paid or not, taking into account knowing that they can’t maintain a job is a crucial part in taking into consideration. You can’t work and maintain a job while playing a sport. With football and basketball full scholarship athletes, they do receive monthly stipends that are supposed to be in place of having a job. But there are athletes who come from poor backgrounds where that stipend is not nearly enough to pay for their needs. And they can’t actually obtain a job to afford their food, which does not seem fair (Beamon 359). “There’s hungry hungry nights where im not able to eat,” big time hoops player Shabazz Napier stated in an interview after winning the NCAA Men’s National Championship for the UCONN Huskies (SB Nation). Hearing this is terrible. There shouldn’t be any big time college athlete that makes both the NCAA and their university so much money, going to bed hungry because of their lack of funds.
Athletes Are Used
The college athletes are used. There are so many college athletes who do so much for their university and the NCAA. But some of them go to the pros and have unsuccessful careers. They weren’t paid in school, and now are unemployed. Universities have contracts with multiple corporations that they profit from and it’s off of the athletes labor (Beamon 359). Big time corporations and sponsors are exploiting college athletes just as much as the NCAA does. When they are sponsoring games or events, they are benefiting because they are getting their products out there strictly because there is a big time college-sporting event. So they are making money off of the game, and the athletes who are participating in the events aren’t seeing anything from that. “Media corporations like CBS and ESPN generate huge advertising revenues by airing college athletics”( McCormick and McCormick 76). They see millions of dollars of revenue and all the fortunate athletes see is a free education. College athletics has been estimated to be a 60 billion dollar industry”( McCormick and McCormick 76). Football bowl games and March Madness for example are ones that big sponsors thrive on for free advertising for all their products. March madness brings in over a billion dollars in TV add revenue. This is more than the super-bowl and almost more than all NFL playoffs combine. (John Oliver: The NCAA). All this money is being made yet these athletes doing all the work aren’t being treated like employees and are not reaping the benefits.