Introduction
For years, there has been a major debate over paying or not paying college athletes. These college athletes are making their schools millions of dollars from advertising and ticket sales, increase enrolment, and their performance creates a legacy for colleges. Some colleges are paying their coaches 5 million dollar salary. The organization responsible for managing college sports, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) is paying its executives millions of dollars in salary. But, when it comes to paying the labour that helps the colleges and the sports association have a clear answer, they are student-athletes. Therefore, treatment of college athletes is unfair, as they are not paid fairly, and can face strict punishments for getting any kickback or profiteering from their image. The only way NCAA can achieve any form of integrity is by ending their hypocrisy and recognizing that college athletics has become a money spinning business. The best option is paying student athletes as it is the moral imperative (Cohen, 2011).
Analysis of Situation
Commercialization
In 2010, CBS and Turner Broadcasting agreed 10.8 billion USD deal with NCAA for televising men’s basketball championship. But, the labour force (student athletes) that helps in making all this possible for the NCAA, coaches, colleges, and makes organizations and TV channels to spend billions of dollars, are not even getting compensated (Nocera, 2011).
The Hypocrisy
The hypocrisy that is permeating college sports can easily take anyone’s breath away. The student athletes are expected to remain content with their scholarships, which does not fully cover the total cost of joining a college. What is even worse that a student athlete cannot accept unapproved, free food from a fan or even their own coach, as it violates the NCAA rules. This form of glaring, and increasingly unsustainable, the discrepancy between what student athletes make and what others involved in their food chain are making creates an unfair situation that borders on unmoral actions. Most players realize that their image and efforts are being commercialized and NCAA keeps defining them as students first. The NCAA’s contention that they are protecting students from excessive commercialization seems ludicrous; the only thing that they are protecting is the revenue stream. The scenario simply has to change; as it is unethical and borders on slavery (Nocera, 2011).
Fallacy of Amateurism
The present claim of NCAA over amateurism of students and making sure students are not allowed to make any form of money during college borders on a farce. The two highest revenue generators – men’s basketball and football- the argument over paying student athletes is seemingly obvious due to its revenue and popularity. But, the sports association organizing college football keeps blocking the efforts. The billions of dollars generated for the NCAA and millions for colleges are based on the players and their performances; therefore, it seems nonsensical for them to deny players their rights. At the same time others involved in the college sports industry are minting money in the millions. Coaches and NCAA executives are making millions annually, which does not include kickbacks from team boosters. But, students cannot take anything from boosters or make money from commercializing their own image, as it has been made violations by the NCAA. This form of capitalism is unlike any other industry; in simple words, college students are getting ripped off (Yankah, 2015).
Weakened Academics
Many athletes in the college basketball and football programs are disproportionately African Americans and many of them come from educationally disadvantaged and economically poor backgrounds. Also, many of them can only play the game by joining colleges, where their economic situation is further distorted, as their education is not of the best standards. College athletes are deliberately enrolled in academically weakened courses that weaken student’s prospects to make a career outside sports for themselves after college. With their academic failure, poor African American student athletes remain unprepared for life after college and struggle to come out of poverty. At the same time, their image is sold by the NCAA, first through advertising, merchandising and ticket sales and later through video games. Above all, their scholarships are undermined by their colleges themselves and coaches steer athletes into empty classrooms and provide them with academic support which is same as cheating (Yankah, 2015)
Millions of Dollars
In the year 2014, top ten colleges made an average of 144.8 million USD through their athletic departments, which was 132.5 million USD more than the average money spent on scholarship programs, 12.4 million USD. While a gap has always existed between the amounts generated by the top colleges and the amounts that they were providing to their student athletes through scholarships, in the present scenario the gap has reached obscene levels and the difference is increasing at an alarming speed. Only 10 years ago, this gap used to be only 63.2 million USD, but within 10 years, this amount has doubled and if the situation remains persistent the gap would increase further. No one forces colleges to make so much revenue annually, but it should be their moral responsibility to share a little bit with their students who work hard on the field and earn nothing from their performances in games and out of the classroom (Gaines, 2015).
The NCAA adamantly opposes the thought of compensating college athletes that approaches a salary. One of the problems is that, paying athletes would become a burden for several schools that are not profiting from athletics. But, attending colleges does not mean that student athletes should take an oath of poverty. There is nothing logical about pursuing a college degree, which restricts their ability to make profit from it. When a student cellist can work for a chamber orchestra, a promising golfer can study philosophy and play in PGA tournaments and make money from sponsors. But, when student athletes start playing in college sports, the story becomes completely different. The scenario is basically laughable and shows the level of hypocrisy present in college sports (Cohen, 2011).
Immense Growth
Millions of television viewers and thousands in the stadium audience for every game make college sports a major corporation. According to several reports, the college football teams in Florida, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, and Penn State are earning between 40-80 million USD in annual profits, even after paying multimillion dollar salaries to their coaches. It is the right time to start thinking about paying student athletes in some way, as they deserve the fruits of their efforts and the role they have played in making the NCAA and colleges such a privileged sports association (Branch, 2011).
Conclusion
References
Branch., T. (2011, October). The Shame of College Sports. Retrieved 26 April 2016 from, http://www.workplacebullying.org/multi/pdf/branch.pdf
Cohen., B. (2011, 16 September). The Case for Paying College Athletes. Retrieved 26 April 2016 from, http://www.newhaven.edu/192637.pdf
Gaines., C. (2015, 10 October). Chart shows the simple reason why college athletes should be paid. Retrieved 26 April 2016 from, http://www.businessinsider.in/Chart-shows-the-simple-reason-why-college-athletes-should-be-paid/articleshow/49295359.cms
Nocera., J. (2011, 30 December). Let’s Start Paying College Athletes. Retrieved 26 April 2016 from, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/lets-start-paying-college-athletes.html
Yankah., E.N. (2015, 14 October). Why N.C.A.A. Athletes Shouldn’t Be Paid. Retrieved 26 April 2016 from, http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/why-ncaa-athletes-shouldnt-be-paid
