draft where he will likely be the No. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. So while a few athletes would benefit financially, a greater number of students would see their athletic opportunities disappear. If these rules are Then there's the newly proposed College Athlete Economic Freedom Act, which would allow student-athletes to unionize and earn money off their likeness, name, and image. The big question is:what are the arguments for and against paid college athletes? Writing an essay on whether college athletes should or shouldnt be paid? For example, will the star quarterback receive the same amount as the backup catcher on the softball team? The scene is played out nationwide that same day across dozens of U.S. college campuses packed stadiums, network contracts, apparel deals, wealthy coaches. Ed OBannon, a former professional basketball player, won a lawsuit in 2014 where the NCAA was ordered to pay $44.4 million in attorneys fees and another $1.5 million in costs to lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Ed OBannon class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. ], [Editors Note: The MLA citation style requires double spacing within entries. No college should be required to pay athletes, and no pay structure needs to be planned. If college students challenge this prohibition, they will no longer be qualified to participate in any of the events organized by the NCAA. To continue to risk his future in an unjust system that doesnt allow him to be compensated just doesnt make sense, Huma said. We do have hungry nights that we dont have enough money to get food in. Everyone, that is, except the players. Feldman explained, That was a shape-shifting decision that in many ways fundamentally changed economics of college football and college football television. Or would you sit out the rest of the college season and enter the N.B.A. One of the most common reasons cited against paying college players is compensation. WebCon 2: Not Every Sports Team Brings in the Same Value True: The majority of money generated by the NCAA goes to scholarships for Division I and II athletes evenly. WebThe case decided Monday covered whether athletes can be paid for their services, beyond the basic cost of attendance, and whether the NCAA's rules against it violate antitrust laws. The reason why student athletes are not 2. 3, 2021), National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Facts: Tuition Costs of Colleges and Universities, nces.gov, 2019, NCAA, Finances of Intercollegiate Athletics, ncaa.org (accessed Mar. They give out 13 scholarships. Does this rule apply to payment structures, too, though? Its regulations state, "You are not eligible for participation in a sport if you have ever taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport [or] used your athletics skill for pay in any form in that sport. These scholarships, which aren't guaranteed, are awarded year to year and can be rescinded for numerous reasons, including injuries. The argument that athletes are paid with their free education is antiquated. Not So Much. These also happen to be the highest revenue-generating sports in college athletics. This is something that has been a growing issue in recent years. Recommendation: Find College Student Jobs on Salarship. Explore the NCAA site and think critically about the organization as the governing body of college athletics. and shoe companies like Nike are taking advantage of college athletes like Williamson? You dont have to get past the preface to find questions that feel at home in todays world: Many of the questions asked way back in 1929 continue to resurface today, and many of them have eventually ended up seeking answers in court. In what's called "head count" sports i.e., Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) football and Division I basketball for men, and Division I basketball, tennis, volleyball, and gymnastics for women students receive full athletic scholarships covering tuition and fees, room and board, and books. And if theyre unable to play, they will lose their athletic scholarship. Tuition shortfalls amount to thousands of dollars per year and leave about 85% of players to live below the poverty line. A decision is expected in June 2021. Many advocates against paying college athletes state that athletic scholarships are sufficient compensation for the athletes. This would possibly increase graduation rates, allow fans to see their favorite players mature through college, and ensure coaches are preparing athletes as much as possible for the next level. Should all athletes be paid? The NCAA is seemingly the final authority to decide whether college athletes should be paid to play college sports. WebCollege athletes shouldnt be compensated for playing sports at the collegiate level, but for their advertisement and use of their names in video games and products. Leaving aside barbs about the "student" part of "student-athlete," how is an athlete supposed to keep up with academics during their playing season? According to CNBC, 60% of NBA players go broke within five years of departing the league and 78% of former NFL players experience financial distress two years after retirement. Introduction [20]. Listen, 90 percent of these college guys are gonna spend it on tats, weed, kicks, Xboxes, beer and swag. Even though athletes are compensated with scholarships, it is often not sufficient to graduate debt-free from college. Nine other NCAA executives were paid more than $500,000 in 2018, with one paid more than $1.3 million. The age-old debate over whether college athletes should get paid is still alive and well. ], ProCon.org, "Paying College Athletes Top 3 Pros and Cons,", ProCon.org, "Paying College Athletes Top 3 Pros and Cons. The rest are termed "equivalency sports," which receive lump sums that are allocated among players according to a coach's determination. As of June 10, 2021, 18 states have passed NIL laws; five more states have passed bills that were awaiting the governors signature to become law; 14 states have introduced NIL bills; and one state has a bill passed by the Senate and awaiting a House vote, according to the Business of College Sports. By Jan. 2022, without a clear NIL structure from the NCAA, some schools were questioning how to navigate deals for players or whole teams without violating NCAA policy. [13] [14] [41], Gabe Feldman, JD, Professor of Sports Law, Director of the Sports Law Program and Associate Provost for NCAA compliance at Tulane University, noted that the last time the NCAA was at the Supreme Court was in 1984 (NCAA vs. the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma). WebNPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Ekow Yankah, author of The New Yorker essay, "Why N.C.A.A. I have gathered the weightiest arguments and an in-depth analysis of their validity. What good will the athletes scholarship do when he cant find time to work on them? California was the first state to pass a NIL (name, image, and likeness) law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2023. I mean the bottom line is, isnt this what they deserve for their labor? That is how the college sports economy works, even as Duke; its conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference; television networks; and, of course, Nike, the apparel company that sponsors Duke and made the shoe that so spectacularly ripped apart, reap billions of dollars from the efforts and talents of preprofessional athletes like Williamson. Students 13 and older are invited to comment. Its just not less-popular sports that paying athletes could threatenwomens programs could also find themselves in the crosshairs of budget-conscious administrators. The NCAA keept players in poverty and denied them ways to earn money, while making millions on their performance. 1, 2021), Colin Dwyer, California Governor Signs Bill Allowing College Athletes to Profit from Endorsements, npr.org, Sep. 30, 2019, Rudy Hill and Jonatha D. Wohlwend, Florida Law Will Allow College Athletes to Profit from Name, Image, and Likeness Starting Summer 2021, June, 25, 2020, Ben Pickman, Colorado Governor Signs Bills Allowing NCAA Athletes to Profit Off Name, Likeness, si.com, Mar. That means all of its income should be spent on collegiate sports organizations. WebCollege athletes make their schools millions of dollars, so they should naturally receive a cut of the action. If so, how? Here Are Some Pros and Cons HuffPost, Should College Athletes Be Paid? Will the coach make these determinations? The highest-paid college football coachthe University of Alabamas Nick Sabanearns $9.3 million a year and is the highest-paid public employee in the country. In other words, even if 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. A February 2020 USA Today article found that the average total pay for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football head coaches in 2020-21 was $2.7 million. Wouldnt paying them eliminate a lot of these issues? There are two main reasons why college athletes should be paid. 8, 2020, Steve Goldstein, Nine out of 10 New Jobs Are Going to Those with a College Degree, marketwatch.com, June 5, 2018, Gallup, A Study of NCAA Student-Athletes: Undergraduate Experiences and Post-College Outcomes, gallup.com, 2020, Greta Anderson, Study: College Athletes Have Better Academic, Life Outcomes, insiderhighered.com, June 24, 2020, Griffin Connolly, Wealth distribution is bad except when it comes to college athletes' money, top Republican senator suggests, theindependent.co.uk, Sep. 15, 2020, B. David Ridpath, A Path Forward for Reforming College Sports, jamesgmartin.center, Jan. 15, 2020, Molly Hensley-Clancy, NCAA Vows to Improve Conditions at Womens Basketball Tournament, as Outcry Continues, washingtonpost.com, Mar. It is no surprise that doing sports consumes a solid number of things. Below are a few potential pros and cons of paying college athletes. Graduate scholarships would there not be the only remuneration that student-athletes receive. Might some form of financial compensation make this compromise easier to take? Zion Williamsons Injury Has Some Saying He Should Quit Duke, Paying Students to Play Would Ruin College Sports, College Athletes Getting Paid? For BC, the effect was a 30% increase in applications over two years. Paying players would destroy that illusion, the N.C.A.A. If colleges paid athletes even close to their worth, they would provide an incentive for the athletes to stay in college and earn degrees, rather than leaving college for a paycheck. The savings from the athletes collegiate career should be enough to allow the college athlete to pay for his education in the event that he/she would want to shift his/her focus on academics than on sports. If the bill passes, the law will go into effect on January 1, 2023. None of the largest ones are NFL stadiums. [39]. Or is a college scholarship and other non-monetary perks like the opportunity to play in front of cheering fans enough? They argue that athletes receive sufficient education-related benefits and that universities should not pay athletes. WebTwo writers take opposing sides in the debate over paying college athletes And spare me the theyre being extorted thing. Yet the average scholarship is roughly $18,000, which doesn't cover out-of-state tuition and fees at most public schools or the total cost of attending a private school. The NCAA assumes Congress eventually will pass a federal law providing consistent standards for NIL endeavors, though members of Congress cannot seem to agree on the parameters. It's not about finding the right answer because there is no right answer. Overall, the average Division I player is worth $170,098 per year with the 351 Division I basketball programs taking in more than 4.5 million in revenue on average each year. These athletes are bringing in incredible amounts of revenue to these schools why arent they receiving what is due? Is it unfair? 5. The economics of a paid-athlete system is messy at best. [24], B. David Ridpath, EdD, Associate Professor of Sports Administration at Ohio University, noted, The only amateur quality about college athletics is that colleges refuse to pay their players. Ridpath explained, The United States is the only country in the world that has a significant portion of elite athletic development and commercialized sport embedded within its education systems. More broadly, a study showed that when a football team "rises from mediocre to great," applications increase 18.7%. A testament to the disparate allocation of funds generated by college sports, of the $18.9 billion in athletics revenue in 2019, $3.6 billion went toward financial aid for student-athletes, and $3.7 billion was used for coaches compensation. In fiscal year 2019, the collective expenses of the 65 Power Five schoolsthe largest and richest Division I schools in the NCAAexceeded revenue by $7 million. But California was quickly followed by more states. The NCAA is not above the law.. Governor of California Gavin Newsom, stated, Collegiate student athletes put everything on the line their physical health, future career prospects and years of their lives to compete. He is a mathematician who graduated from EPFL. Not about finding the right answer athletic opportunities disappear make their schools millions of dollars year. Benefits and that universities should not pay athletes sports organizations, [ Editors Note: the MLA citation requires. Sit out the rest are termed `` equivalency sports, college athletes should be paid to college! Bc, the N.C.A.A rule apply to payment structures, too,?... Being extorted thing rescinded for numerous reasons, including injuries $ 9.3 million a and. 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