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Scott Hughes

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

March 31, 2019

Players or Unpaid Employees?

Collegiate athletes spend most of their lives’ training for a specific sport. Some spend

almost all their time outside of school just working on the specific sport they love. College

athletes should be rewarded for all their hard work and dedication. Although some can earn a

scholarship to the school they are going to attend, they should be compensated for the amount of

revenue they bring their schools. That would bring a new element of college sports with

economic influence on which school to attend. Collegiate athletes should be compensated in

ways other than scholarships because, athletes devote their whole life to sports, athletes cannot

afford to eat every meal of the day, some players will not make it pro and need something to get

their life started.

Colleges are taking advantage of the athletes’ talents. “The NCAA (National Collegiate

Athletic Association) gets a cut; universities get a cut; coaches get a cut. The only ones not

cashing in, it seems, are the players themselves” (New York Times). Although everyone is

doing a lot of work, the players are the ones performing. “The most distinguished professor at

the University of Alabama won't make $5.9 million in his entire tenure in Tuscaloosa; Nick

Saban will make that this year” (ESPN). Although Nick Saban is a great coach and is well
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deserving of his money, the players are the ones going out and earning Saban his money. As

many people know, being a college athlete takes a lot of hard work and dedication. It also

requires many hours in the gym, court, field, etc. “Collegiate student-athletes may spend more

than 40 hours a week practicing, leaving little time to keep up with academic commitments,

according to a recent lawsuit against the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the

NCAA, the organization that governs college sports.” (Jacobs) Having that much time distracting

athletes from schoolwork and many other aspects of college, athletes could miss out on valuable

information and skills needed to pursue the career path chosen, in case of the athlete not being

able to turn pro. Not very many people could maintain a decent GPA having no time set aside

for academics.

Colleges make plenty of money off athletics. Something should be given in return for

how much money the athletes bring to the school. “All television revenue, ticket and jersey

sales, likeness promotions and other sources of income go to the NCAA, the schools, the

coaches, the event staffs and everyone else involved in the business—except for the athletes

creating the value” (Johnson). Without a doubt, nobody would watch or attend college sporting

events if it was not for the special, exciting talents brought into the school to play the sport they

love, The NCAA needs to do something about this almost crime done to these athletes. “They

find it appropriate to use them as a vehicle for institutional promotion during sporting events that

have nothing to do with education. The reality is, they care almost exclusively about a football

player’s talent and marketability—nothing more, nothing less. The “student athlete” is a false

concept” (Johnson). Student athletes are forced to focus on being an athlete way more than a

student. Student athletes need to be on some sort of salary-based recruitment that could benefit

their lives more. College athletes do not need to be paid like professional athletes, but they
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should have some sort of salary to help get their life started if athletics do not work out for the

young students.

Not all sports bring any money into the school. There are less popular sports such as

swimming, track, tennis, etc. Athletes of those sports should not be paid or be paid very little

based on how much money they bring to the school. Many people agree that community college

sports tend to not be near as popular as Division 1 athletics. This is very true. But athletes of any

level spend a lot of time training to get better and try to pursue a career in athletics. People need

to realize how much time and effort the college athletes put into what they do. Very few humans

can handle that amount of stress and little time to get all the things done that is needed. This

could very well affect if athletes will earn the degree they chose or be able to handle more years

of college.

Most college athletes are too poor to be living off their parent’s money. There are many

more costs to school than tuition. The athletes do not have a chance to get a job and earn money

to pay for the little costs of food, clothes, school supplies, etc. “All the free gear and coaching

lessons in the world cannot help you when you're hungry. Shabazz Napier is one of the biggest

stars on a college basketball team in the national championship game, yet he claims there have

been nights where he's "starving" because he does not have money to buy food”

(Zucker). Shabazz Napier is now a pro athlete, but athletes going to sleep starving is just

unacceptable. Athletes are not able to put the nutrients back into their body that they lost. That

is very bad for an athlete considering how rough college sports are on the human body.

“Proponents of paying college athletes argue that there are plenty of cases just like Napier's out

there. Scholarships and stipends do not cover all of a student-athlete's expenses, and those

athletes are not living like kings, despite helping to bring millions of dollars to their respective
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schools” (Zucker). College athletes are seen as being the “kings” and “queens” of their school,

but in reality, they are not living as well as most students attending the college.

College athletes have the same risk of injury as professional athletes. Any football player

can get hit hard enough to get brain and other serious injuries. Some injuries may be career

ending and possibly life changing. "Austin told ESPN's Holly Rowe. "They found the gene in my

blood sample. They told me that my arteries in my heart are enlarged and that if I overwork

myself and push too hard that my heart could rupture. The draft is four days away, and I had a

dream that my name was going to be called"(ESPN). Isiah Austin was a higher projected draft

pick who will never be able to live out his dream of playing professional basketball. Austin

could have made a lot of money playing the game he loved, but he ends his basketball career

with nothing to fall on considering he planned to be an NBA basketball player. Many athletes

fear being injured bad enough to where they must give up the game they love. Anybody, at any

point in time can get injured while playing a sport. The least the NCAA can do is give them

something to fall back on while they get their life together and figure out a backup plan.

Although I strongly believe in collegiate athletes being paid, there are some

complications and issues that could come with this. Some people may be offended with the

amount of money certain sports programs athletes are receiving. Another example of how it

could go wrong is if the players take advantage of having extra money and get themselves into

trouble. Having extra money comes with a lot of temptations, especially being a college student.

One more issue I can see is certain universities being able to offer more to recruits.
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Works Cited

Goldman, Lee. “Sports and Antitrust: Should College Students be Paid to Play?” HeinOnline.

Date accessed 12 March 2019.

Johnson, Greg. “The NCAA Makes Billions and Student Athletes Get None of It” Student

Nation. The Nation. Date accessed 12 March 2019.

Majerol, Veronica. “Should College Athletes be Paid?” Proquest. New York Times Upfront. 15

September 2014 Accessed 11 March 2019.

Wilbon, Michael. “College Athletes Deserve to Be Paid.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 18

July 2011, www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6778847/college-athletes-

deservepaid.

Zucker, Joseph. “Shabazz Napier Says He Goes to Bed Starving Because He Can't Afford Food”

Bleacher Report. Date accessed 12 March 2019.