Eric Bennion

English 2010
Camille Pack
4/17/2015
Its Time to Pay College Athletes
In 2010, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, (NCAA), signed a
landmark television contract with Turner Broadcasting and CBS for 10.8
billion dollars. With a deal so immense, one might wonder how an amount of
money like that is to be used, and while the NCAA is not exactly transparent
with its expenses, one thing is for certain, athletes wont see any of it. Most
people outside of the NCAA see this as an obvious mistreatment of the hard
working student athletes, but the power NCAA officials have is so much that
nothing it being done about it. Much like during the Industrial Revolution
during the 1800s, the factory workers, (in this case the student athletes),
work hard and for no to little pay, compared to what the factory owners, (the
NCAA and Universities), make.

In the article, Pay College Athletes What Theyre Worth, Bill Cotterell
writes, Suppose there was a big industry that made something millions of
people pay a lot of money for, and the business was run by executives who
got rich as long as the enterprise prospered - while the people actually doing
the work got nothing for their labor. Suppose, in fact, the laborers were
legally forbidden to be paid, except for public acclaim and a few tangible
little things they may or may not want. There is such an industry. It's called
college football. I think this quote is very powerful, because it examines the
NCAA and its relationship to its student athletes, and how the restrictions in
place make it impossible for athletes to make any money whatsoever, even
when theyre more than capable of doing so.
The issue is; how can we make it legal for college athletes to be paid?
Firstly, it must be determined which athletes should be paid, and how much.
In my opinion, seeing that mens college basketball and football are the only
two sports that the NCAA profits from, only players from those sports should
be paid. That may seem unfair to athletes in the other sports, but the reality

is, sports like swimming, and track and field, dont make money from
attendance and sponsorships, so the money should only go to those who are
actually responsible for it. Athletes who play football and basketball arent
asking for thousands of dollars either, just enough to afford a ticket to a
movie, or an extra meal here and there, so I think they should be paid
around $250 dollars monthly, enough for basic living expenses. Also, I think
its time for the NCAA to remove restrictions on athletes related to receiving
contributions based on the players own likeness. Meaning, if a superstar
football player signs a jersey, and decides to sell it, that would be allowed.
Currently, a player cannot make any money, or get anything based on
his/her accomplishments, which to me is ridiculous. This is also a major
debate in a non athletic situation. A student doing research at a university is
required to give up his/her findings and isnt allowed to claim them as their
own. The way the system is set up is advantageous to the universities, and I
believe it should be shifted towards the students.

The payments to athletes should be equal among all schools, so there

isnt an advantage to certain universities who would be more willing to pay
the athletes more in order to promote their program. This would mean the
NCAA would be required to pay the athletes, not the respective universities.
Another controversial issue that would need to be sorted out, is the fact that
only Division 1 mens college basketball and football teams would be getting
paid for their contributions. This would no doubt start a huge controversy
and most likely multiple lawsuits from womens teams, smaller sports
programs, and possibly even smaller schools. The fact remains however, that
basketball and football are the only two sports in collegiate athletics that
make money, so in my mind, its only fair they be compensated.
In the article, Paying College Athletes, by Andrew Zimbalist, the
author explains how there is enough money being made through football and
basketball games, that it is reasonable and possible for athletes to be paid.
For example, he states, Coaches are on multimillion dollar long-term
contracts that go as long as eight years. Zimbalist goes on to suggest
rearranging an expense like a coachs contract, and giving some of that
money to the players. There is one simple proposal the Universities could
install, showing the athletes that put so much of their time into their sports a
little respect.
One argument that a lot of people make is that paying college athletes
would ruin the whole system of collegiate athletics. An example of this exists

in the article, The Other Side: College Athletes Should Not Be Paid, by Dan
Cassavaugh. In it, Cassavaugh says, Payment for actual gameplay is the
fundamental difference between professional and amateur status, so, college
athletes should not receive anything more than scholarships. He continues
to talk about how multimillion dollar endorsement deals, and things similar
would end up ruining the college, or amateur game, by taking away from
that love of the game feeling you get from the players. The author also
states that players do in fact get paid through scholarships. Every year,
hundreds of thousands of dollars are given to students through athletic
scholarships, so therefore, in some peoples minds, that is payment enough.
Although I do agree that athletic scholarships are a fantastic way for
student athletes to get a quality education for little to no money, the
universities are still making so much more money that it doesnt come close
to equaling out. According to ESPN, in 2008, the most recent year, The
University of Alabama made $123,769,841 from all of its athletic
departments. I would be extremely surprised if they paid even half of that to
their athletes in the form of scholarships. The fact, there has to be some way
to make it a little more advantageous to the student. I dont think its right
that the universities make millions of dollars, while some students struggle
with basic living needs, like food and housing, not to mention having a social
life.

While there is a lot of debate on how exactly to help student athletes

be paid, whether by salary, by player, etc. there seems for the most part to
be a consensus that college athletes deserve to be paid. While my solution
makes the most sense to me, Im sure there will be those who disagree,
which is good. There simply needs to begin to be a discussion of how we can
help these student athletes get a small piece of the pie their responsible for
making. As Ive stated before, I liken it to the Industrial Revolution of old. We
can all look back now, and see the injustice that was going on, and I think
one day, people will look back on this and see it as an injustice that college
kids werent able to be paid for all the hard work they put in.

Works Cited

Cotterell, Bill. "Pay College Athletes What They're Worth." Tallahassee

Democrat. 12 Sep

2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 4 Apr, 2015.

Web. 21 Apr. 2015. <http://cdn.thewire.com/img/upload/2011/04/06/ncaacartoon.jpg>.

"NCAA Signs $10.8-Billion Deal for Basketball-Tournament Broadcast Rights."
The

Chronicle of Higher

Education. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.

<http://chronicle.com/article/NCAA-Signs-108-Billion-De/65219/>.
Zimbalist, Andrew. "Paying College Athletes: Take Two." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com.
Web. 21 Apr. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrewzimbalist/paying-college-

athletes-take-two_b_6961314.html>.

"The Other Side: College Athletes Shouldn't Be Paid." The Other Side: College
Athletes

Shouldn't Be Paid. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.imprintmagazine.org/sports_and_recreation/other_side_college_
athle tes_shouldnt_be_paid>.
ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
<http://espn.go.com/ncaa/revenue>.