College Student Athletes Getting Paid

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Name of Professor

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College Student Athletes getting paid

Professional and expert college coaches make huge profit, and according to an estimate their earning annual earning is between $4millaion and $ 9 million alongside outside fees (Abdul-Jabbar). In forty states, they are the highest paid employees of the state. However, coaches of sports such as basket earn way less than the others. In this regard, only 33% of Division I basketball ball programs for men are running in profit. In contrast the other programs, for example football at the University of Texas earned the profit of $ 92 million in the year 2015, thus, making it more money-making as compared to most teams of the NFL, but their players earn nothing. In this situation, athletes got disappointed (Abdul-Jabbar).

The college athletes put in a great effort in their games; also, at time they sustain injuries, yet they are paid nothing, which is not fair. In this context, some apologists come up with the argument that the amount of scholar ships, training, and other facilities provide players with $50k to $125k annually, which is a fair compensation for them, if they are not getting cash. Also, the outstanding players get into the spotlight, and in a way they get an opportunity to make money when they become professional players. In reality, the chances to become professional after college are below 2% apart from baseball, in which there is more than 11% chance. When it comes to supporting college athletes to get paid, people have mixed views. According to the YouGov survey in the year 2017, 27% Whites were in support for college athletes to get paid, whereas 52% African-Americans gave their opinion in support of college athletes to get paid (Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem). One can say that there is a difference of opinion on racial grounds as the survey showed that majority of African-Americans supported athletes to get paid in comparison with Whites.

Furthermore, the findings of the Political Research Quarterly suggested that holding negativity about blacks was the strongest element of disagreement from Whites regarding paying athletes (Wallsten, Kevin, et al). In addition, it’s not the matter of race only as there are other oppositions as well: men are more in favor of paying athletes as compared to women. Similarly, from political point of view Democrats support paying athletes more than the Republicans. People below 30 years of age are more in favor for athletes to get paid than the individuals over 65 years of age. Yet, the race remains the largest difference in terms of percentage.

There are two factors behind the difference of opinion on racial grounds. First, in football and basketball, that generate the major revenue, a large number of plyers at Division I schools are African-American (Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem). In this respect, their family members and the Black community are in the favor of the policy which undermines their efforts while others make profit (Cunningham, George, and Michael Sagas). Secondly, most of the white Americans are of the view that getting a sports scholarship serves the purpose for college athletes; the reason behind this approach is that they do not are under financial pressure which are often faced by African-American. However, the authorities may pull out of paying the scholarships in case the athlete gets injured. Therefore, the financial resources for injured athlete will already squeeze as a result of the policy, which may extremely stressful for the athlete who is already struggling to resume his sporting activities (Flowers, Courtney, and Jafus Kenyatta Cavil).

In fact, the scholarship largely depends on a plyer’s capability to play. The athletes who want to get paid already play with the fear that if they will get injured they may lose scholarship. In this case, they may not be able to concentrate on their sport. The sportsmen emerge from college, that is why it is necessary for athletes to perform without pressure, but if they will have the financial pressure in mind, they won’t be able to play with their full potential. If a reasonable amount is given to the college athletes, it would give them a peace of mind and an extra energy which could take them to the next level.

Those who are against paying college athletes do not come up with strong loci. However, those who are in favor of paying athletes want their welfare. The college athletes can be paid based on their performances. When people get proper reward for their efforts, the results are really amazing; same will be the case in college sports. There is another side to this debate; some people argue that paying college athletes may be a complex thing to do? They ask that made will be made by whom (college or the NCAA) (Cook, Justen)? What will be the overall structure of the pay? Will athletes get pay on monthly basis, quarterly basis? How often should they get salary? Should there be a salary cap? Among all these queries, still the major concern is: who would be paid, and who would not? In case, a handful of athletes are paid for their efforts at the college level, the question arises: will it not create resentment in those who would not be paid (Murphy, Sarah)? The football and basketball players provide a great entertainment for fans as these are the popular sport, so, they must be paid (Bradbury, Charles, and Joshua). On the other hand, the players of college soccer, baseball, lacrosse, and other sports do not deserve to be paid. This pick and choose may be detrimental for the sporting cause at college level (Piccioto).

Ideally, a uniform policy should be made so that all the athletes regardless of which sport they play should be given some reward. In this regard, the performance based reward always boosts the morale of students, also, it creates the sense of competition among all the athletes, and their performances get better when they see that their income will be proportional to their overall performance (Meyer, Jayma, and Andrew Zimbalist). Moreover, athletes at college level are highly enthusiastic. Their passion and interest for their game is commendable. However, there is a risk involved in it; in their spirit to give best to their game, many college athletes sustain serious injuries which at time end their career. Apart from the agonizing fact that severe injury stops their scholarship; the athletes are exposed to the danger of long-term or permanent damage, without getting paid. During the sport, if an athlete hurts his knee, the injury may cause a limp for rest of his life.

Also, suffering concussions can lead to dementia and high stress. The college athletes who willingly take those risks even during the training sessions definitely deserve to be paid. If athletes get paid for their hard work they put in during training sessions and otherwise, it will be a small attempt to acknowledge their efforts. Also, there is huge money already involved in college sports, so, if athletes get paid out of that, it’s worth it (Gillespie, Emily). Besides, big organizations are making profit by branding college athletes, making them wear brand outfit in the games without giving them anything in monetary terms. Therefore, small players think they are being used, and rightly so. Finally, if authorities are concerned about college athletes’ enthusiasm, hard work, efforts, passion, and the risk they are exposed to in terms of injury, they should be paid(Edelman, Marc).

Works Cited

Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem. "It's Time To Pay The Tab For America's College Athletes | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar". The Guardian, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/09/its-time-to-pay-the-tab-for-americas-college-athletes.

Bradbury, John Charles, and Joshua D. Pitts. "Full cost-of-attendance scholarships and college choice: Evidence from NCAA football." Journal of Sports Economics 19.7 (2018): 977-989.

Cook, Justen. "The Issue of Compensation: Should NCAA Athletes be Compensated Above Their Scholarships." (2018).

Cunningham, George B., and Michael Sagas. "Access discrimination in intercollegiate athletics." Journal of Sport and Social Issues 29.2 (2005): 148-163.

Druckman, James N., and Jacob E. Rothschild. "Playing with Pain: Social Class and Pain Reporting among College Student-Athletes." Sport Journal (2018).

Edelman, Marc. "From Student-Athletes to Employee-Athletes: Why a Pay for Play Model of College Sports Would Not Necessarily Make Educational Scholarships Taxable." BCL Rev. 58 (2017): 1137.

Eichner, E. Randy. "Caffeine Powder, Placebos for Athletes, and Muscle Breakdowns." Current sports medicine reports 17.7 (2018): 226-227.

Flowers, Courtney, and Jafus Kenyatta Cavil. "Sports and Hip-Hop, the “Winning at All Costs” Mentality: The Intersection of Academic Fraud and Snitching on Black College Athletes." Critical Race Theory: Black Athletic Sporting Experiences in the United States. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2017. 123-151.

Gillespie, Emily. "The Ethical and Financial Implications of Paying College Athletes." (2017).

Meyer, Jayma, and Andrew Zimbalist. "Reforming college sports: The case for a limited and conditional antitrust exemption." The Antitrust Bulletin 62.1 (2017): 31-61.

Murphy, Sarah. "Bring Your Own Trademark: Compensating College Football Players Through Trademark Royalties." BC INTELL. PROP. & TECH. F. 2018 (2018): 1.

Piccioto, Elad. "Should College Athletes Get Paid?". Theperspective.Com/, 2019, https://www.theperspective.com/debates/sports/college-athletes-get-paid/.

Sanderson, Allen R., and John J. Siegfried. "The case for paying college athletes." Journal of Economic Perspectives 29.1 (2015): 115-38.

Walker, Nefertiti A., and E. Nicole Melton. "The tipping point: The intersection of race, gender, and sexual orientation in intercollegiate sports." Journal of Sport Management 29.3 (2015): 257-271.

Wallsten, Kevin, et al. "Prejudice or principled conservatism? Racial resentment and white opinion toward paying college athletes." Political Research Quarterly 70.1 (2017): 209-222.