Athletes Compensation For Their Hard Work example essay topic

1,759 words
Athletes are dominated, managed, and controlled. They do not receive a wage compensation for their contribution to economic returns. Athletes are sometimes mistreated physically and mentally; and denied rights and freedoms of other citizens. The debate over whether or not to pay collegiate athletes, specifically Division 1, has increased greatly. Many people believe college athletic associations; such as the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Associations) treat college athletes unfairly. College athletes have been dedicating time, hard work, and much more to their schools' athletic departments.

People are making millions of dollars off of these athletes while, they are living in poverty. Things need to change; these players need to start being rewarded for their dedication. The NCAA has so much control over the athletes that they even control the educational requirements of the athletes. In order to be eligible for an athlete to play in college they must have at least a 2.5 high school grade point average in a curriculum of 13 core courses. Also they are required to score a minimum score of 700 points on the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) or a minimum score of 15 points on the ACT (American College Testing Program).

If an athlete passes all the requirements and is able to play they must then take a course load of at least 12 hours, and by the end of the semester pass a total of nine hours. These requirements may not seem to difficult to achieve but one must remember while playing a college sport time is limited and the some of the athletes struggle to find time to get everything done. (Zimbalist 27-28) If college athletes were to be paid, where would the money come from? The money can come from several different places: sale of tickets, corporate sponsors, endorsement contracts, and the sale of apparel. One example of the extravagant donations a school receives is the advertising package the University of Colorado has with the Coors Brewing Company. The package cost Coors an excess of $300,000 for radio, TV, scoreboard advertising.

Aside for this advertising package, Coors Brewing CO. also donated $5,000,000 to have the name of the basketball arena changed to The Coors Event Center. Another way athletic departments make money is from royalties of merchandise sales. The last few years the NCAA generated over $100,000,000 from the sale of merchandise and apparel. One school, the University of Michigan, generates over $6,000,000 of that by themselves. Besides for school's individual contracts the conferences also raise money.

One of the latest contracts signed by NCAA is the Bowl Championship Series. This is a contract with ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation) which gives the NCAA $930,000,000 a year. This money is then divided up to the teams involved. Teams will receive from $13,000 to $17,000 just for one game (Eit zen 2). Contracts can also be signed with endorsement companies. These contracts are signed with the individual coaches of the sports.

The contracts have players wearing a specific name brand of equipment such as shoes and pads. One may ask what is wrong with players getting free equipment to play in. The problem with this is that if a player has a preference of one type of equipment of another it does not matter cause the coach makes the decision what the players will wear. The coaches not only will make the decisions of what equipment they will wear but will make money of the endorsement contract. In other words the players are the ones wearing the equipment and the coaches are the ones getting rich off of it. According to Walt Byers "coaches own the athlete's feet, the university own the athlete's bodies, and the supervisors retain large rewards" (Wulf 1).

Another source of money could be generated from boosters. Many schools and athletic teams have booster clubs that generate money. Some of this money could go to giving the athletes compensation for their hard work. (Zimbalist 73) An athlete scholarship covers room, board, and tuition.

Universities estimate the cost of attendance runs between $1,500 and $2,500 a year beyond the basics covered by athletic scholarships. (Looney 2) Some of the athletes that are participating in the NCAA are not from wealthy backgrounds. Their families cannot afford to give them $1,500 to $2,500 a year. In this case the athletes will have to work to survive in school. Until recently college athletes were not able to work during the season according to NCAA rules.

Now that athletes are permitted to work, there are limitations that make it hard for athletes to find a job. One of the limitations that the NCAA has is that college athletes are not able to work for companies that are owned by alumni of the school. In some places this is difficult cause in college towns everyone one has some kind of tie to the school. Another limitation to an athlete working is his or her schedule. Student athletes have very limited time due to attending classes, schoolwork, practices, and games (which include traveling all over the country). After a student athlete does all of this, they hardly have time left to spend with friends to relax.

Many jobs require work on the weekends, when teams play mostly on weekends, who is going to hire them. If an athlete does get a job then they will have to give up the little time that they have to themselves or time for studying in order to work. Another problem with the laws set up by the NCAA is the security of an athlete. Athletes who sign four-year scholarships are obligated to play at the school they signed with for four years. If an athlete for any reason would like to transfer schools he or she would have to sit out for one year. For instance if a coach terminates his or her position with a school, the athlete does not have the option to transfer with the coach.

Another unjust part of the NCAA scholarship rules is the security of players's scholarships. If an athlete gets hurt in his or her first year, for example, then he or she does not receive any of the money he or she was presumed to receive for the rest of his or her college career. In addition, and perhaps the most troubling, at the end of every year, the coach has the option of renewing or not renewing a player's scholarship based on that season's performance (An stine 4). With all of these rule and regulations set up by the NCAA there is only one way to make sure schools and athletes do not break them. This is to have people watch the athletes. Athletes are drug tested at random, have surveillance in their rooms, and people to follow them around.

Some schools even go to the extreme of having "spies" at bars and other popular hangouts on campuses. This way schools know what their players are doing and with whom they are doing it. One of the latest examples of players getting caught is the scandal with the University of Wisconsin. Twenty-six athletes were suspended for receiving discounts on shoes and other apparel at an athletic store in Madison. (Bag nato 1) The NCAA's major defense for their rules is to protect the innocence of college athletics. They say that by doing this they make sure that college athletes are still at an amateur status.

If this is true then why are Olympic athletes paid and still considered amateur athletes? For example if an Olympian wins a gold medal they are then paid $15,000 from the U.S. Olympic committee and the nation governing body of the winner's sport (Zimbalist 142). Also the athletes are able to capitalize on endorsements and other additional bonuses, most of which are illegal in college athletics. The innocence of the game is already in jeopardy due to sports agents. Studies show that that nearly 75 percent of underclassmen athletes have received cash or gifts from agents.

Also, studies show that 90 percent of projected first round draft picks have had contact with agents (Wulf 94). If an athlete was compensated for his or her hard work and dedication, he or she would be less liable to break laws because of his or her need for money would be less. Numerous people make a living off of the players, such as coaches, athletic directors, and NCAA executives. Many of these people would not have a job if it were not for the athletes at their schools. It is believed by some that paying athletes, which include all sports, female and male, may be a little hard to do financially. This is true, but why can't the athletes be able to cash in on the deals the coaches sign.

For example, if a coach signs a deal with a company worth $300,000, why shouldn't it be split between the players? (Eit zin 2) If it is divided among fifteen players on a basketball team, that is $20,000 per athlete. Or in the case of a larger team such as football it is still about $5,000 per athlete. There are so many different methods of solving this problem; it is about time that the NCAA starts to look at them.

College athletes across the country are dedicating four to five years of their lives for a university and not receiving any compensation for their commitment. People need to realize that it is hard for an athlete to survive while going to college because he or she has no time to work. The work an athlete does, rewards the school with endorsements from which the athlete receives no compensation. While working for a scholarship that may be revoked for a variety of reasons, the athlete is constantly tested and watched to make sure he or she does not break any NCAA rules. College athletes are struggling to survive and need financial help. College athletes make many individuals a lot of money and it is time that something is given back to them.