Introduction
Increasingly, American universities make a significant if not a majority of their revenues from college sports. For instance, from college football alone, the National College Athletic Association (NCAA), which represents over 1,200 colleges and universities, will make U.S. $7.3 billion in licensing fees for the right to broadcast the College Football Playoffs (CFP) over the next 12 years (Yee, 2016). On the individual school level, the four football teams that participated in this year’s CFP, namely Alabama, Clemson, Michigan State, and Oklahoma will have the right to a substantial cut of the U.S. $ 50 million in expected revenues that the playoffs are expected to generate (Yee, 2016). Furthermore, these revenues that universities make does not even include the money they can earn from merchandise, such as caps and sweatshirts; or concession sold at their stadiums. The only element of college sports that does not enjoy it financial benefits are the players themselves. But why should a college athlete “work” for nothing? The clear answer is that they should not. To be sure, college athletes need to be paid for the work that they do and especially for the outsized revenues that they earn for their schools.
Conclusion
While colleges earn enormous amount of money off their sports programs, those funds are, for the most part, kept out of the hands to the individuals that are most responsible for making those revenues, namely the players. To be sure, outside of scholarships, college players are paid little to nothing for the immense amount of money they earn for their schools. If this were to take place anywhere outside of higher education, some might call it indentured servitude or worse. This is no way for a high-minded higher education should act towards its students. Paying the athletes would not only compensate them for the services that they provide, like any other job; but also, based on the revenues that they generate from sports, the universities have plenty of money to pay.
Money in College Sports
The Players’ Situation
Why Pay for Play in Needed
Conclusion
References
Yee. D.H. (2016, Jan. 08). College sports exploits unpaid black athletes. But they could force a change. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/01/08/college-sports-exploits-unpaid-black-athletes-but-they-could-force-a-change/
