Paying college athletes free essay sample

Here we go again; a stand-out high school athletic star has a choice that will determine the rest of his life. This is what happened to Koby Clemens son of baseball star pitcher Roger Clemens. He intended to play baseball on full scholarship at the University of Texas a NCAA college baseball power house. After graduating high school he was drafted into the MLB, an eighth round pick by the team his father played for. Now for the hard part, to go to college for free, or forgo is commitment to play at Texas and go pro. The decision came pretty easy for him as described by Harvey Araton a New York Times Journalist â€Å"Koby Clemens deliberated for about as long as it takes his father to deliver a split-finger fastball, and turned professional† (Araton). Koby was already driving a hummer, so his decision might not have been about the money he would earn, but when a pro team can offer $380 thousand for your first contract that would be hard for a teenage boy to pass up. We will write a custom essay sample on Paying college athletes or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This happens in all sports, athletes have to decide whether to go to college and leave early, or stay and graduate. This decision depends on their situation, but other factors do weigh in on their decision. Athletes should be able to benefit from their abilities, without the colleges taking advantage of the fact that they’re successful. This would cause players to stay in college, leading to more intelligent athletes. The NCAA or National Collegiate Athletic Association is the college association that creates the rules and regulates them. In Andrew Zimbalists’ book Unpaid Professionals he says because of no set rules, and lack of protective equipment people were dying, President Teddy Roosevelt demanded a change and in 1905 the NCAA was born (8). In 1997-98 the NCAA manual first page says â€Å"to maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body and, by doing so, retain a clear line of demarcation between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports† (1). This is the NCAA’s goal and saying that college athletes are student’s first athletes second they’re at college to get an education, sports are secondary. Firstly the NCAA rules and regulations helps the economics by taking advantage of their athletes. Thru TV contracts, licensing, sales of tickets, apparel, and sponsorships the big time sports basketball and football make their college multi millions and the NCAA a multi- billion dollar business. The NCAA earned $7. 13 billion in just two TV contracts for 8 years in two sports, March madness for basketball and bowl games for football. All this money is tax-deductible because schools are amateur programs promoting education (Eitzen). Therefore the NCAA profits most of its income. Student athletes are considered amateur and can only receive educational benefits. The athletes can’t make money but can make money for others. According to a study by Joyce Julius Associates, a research firm found that Texas AM quarterback, Johnny Manzel, produced $37 million worth of media coverage in which he didn’t see a single penny in that besides a free education (Fair or Foul). Thru licensing and sponsorships is where the college makes a lot of its income. The school sells there logo to manufactures to make products with their logo on it and also make jerseys or t-shirts with the players name on them. Major equipment and apparel companies sponsor teams and programs. Companies give the big Division 1 programs millions, free equipment, and apparel to use. According to Zimbalist, â€Å"Colleges receive free uniforms, athletic shoes, warm-ups, and equipment for the players on all of the teams and its staff, as well as cash to serve as bonus money for the coaches and athletic director† (137). The companies therefor receive free marketing from the players so the college and coaches make money but the players who put in the work don’t. The NCAA is highly a profitable organization using strict rules and regulations to produce free labor which generates there revenue. The rules and regulations of the NCAA also cause athletes to leave early or not go to college. To play a college sport you must pass thru a process call the NCAA clearing house which involves the athlete to answer amateurism questions, turn in their ACT score and turn in their high school transcript to prove his/her eligibility. To play in the NCAA the athlete must be an amateur. The NCAA prides its self on amateurism providing all the athletes’ equality and ensuring athletes’ priority is on an education first athlete second. From ncaa. org rules page provides the general rules for amateurism, In general, amateurism requirements do not allow: Contracts with professional teams Salary for participating in athletics Prize money above actual and necessary expenses Play with professionals Tryouts, practice or competition with a professional team Benefits from an agent or prospective agent Agreement to be represented by an agent Delayed initial full-time collegiate enrollment to participate in organized sports competition (Summary of NCAA) These are the basic rules that determine a player’s decision to leave. For Detroit Lions Quarter Back Matthew Stafford had a decision to make. He was a college standout and could declare himself for the NFL draft in which he was ranked to go in the first round, or he could stay in college risking a career ending injury and never going pro but getting a degree in the process. With what NFL teams pay a first round pick signee Stafford was looking at a huge payday by turning pro. According to Marc Weiszer’s article on Online Athens he was projected to go number one in the draft with a projected payday of $35 million guaranteed (Weiszer). Stafford choose the money and got drafted first overall, with not being paid to play college football and the fact that you can get paid multi millions in the NFL helped determine Stafford’s decision. Amateurism isn’t the only rules the NCAA enforce that help players decide when they leave college. Athletes must also worry about other rules and regulations such as ethical conduct, financial aid, employment earnings, academic standards, drugs, and other various rules (Summary of NCAA). Ethical conduct includes being in good sportsmanship at all times, always being honest with the NCAA, never giving information to sport gamblers and never participating in sports betting. Financial aid can only be given to you from the university, for reason other than athletic ability, and from anyone you’re legally or naturally dependent on. If athletes have a job they must get only paid for work they have done and must be paid accurately for the work he/she is doing. One rule the NCAA really emphasizes is being student first and there are many guidelines to the academic standards rule. A basic breakdown is that you must be a full time student, and be in good academic standings according to the college you go to. The NCAA doesn’t allow any drug use and if caught there are many consequences you will receive. All these rules are for the better well being of the athletes and help them become the best athletes they can be. The only downfall is the quantity of the rules and little rules most players would never think of. Players are responsible for knowing all these rules which for some players is a hard task to do and it makes them leave early. Rules and regulations determine when athletes leave for the pros but so do the rules for the professional programs. Another reason the rules and regulations cause players to leave and not graduate is because they have nothing set up with the professional programs to keep kids in college. The differences for professional sports in the recruiting process for athletes determine how the rules and regulations in the NCAA affect their choice when to go pro. For basketball and football players, because of how their professional programs are set up, usually have to play two years of college and then most of the highly rated players leave. For hockey and baseball there are alternative routes for players to skip college. Hockey players have huge decisions in their life when turning 16. If you’re a highly talented player you have two options keep playing high school then go to the college you committed to or leave home and go play major juniors, a league based in Canada in which you get paid which would forgo your college eligibility. Many of the best hockey players choose the major junior route. They choose this because they can be paid, but mostly they can have an agent and make the process to the pros a lot easier. For baseball players many highly talented players go straight to the minors of the MLB where they can offer huge signing bonuses and make the climb up to the big show easier. Rules and regulations are a factor in the decision process but so is an athlete’s academic standing and will to go to college. The NCAA recruiting process sets up some players to fail. In Stanley Eitzens article Slaves of Big-Time college sports for USA today magazine he talked about a 1999 report by the NCAA division 1 determined how many athletes enrolled in 1992-93 had graduated after six years. For all male athletes it was only 54%, for football 50% and for basketball 41% (Eitzen). For big time athletic programs the athletes get special treatments by the admissions process to get them into the school (Eitzen). The athletes are usually less prepared for college and are in the bottom quarter of the freshman class. There whole life is based on playing sports and when they get to college it’s the same thing. They have no time to study or they don’t study because some still have to provide for their family and worry about going professional. Many athletes for football and basketball come from low income families and if it wasn’t for their athletic ability they would have never been able to go to college. Some athlete’s barley even graduated high school and when they get to college their mind is usually on the sport they play and providing for their family instead of their schooling. Former Iowa State University football coach Jim Walden has said, â€Å"Not more than 20% of the football players go to college for an education† (Qtd. By Eitzen). Most guys coming into a big time division 1 school think they do not need to get a degree because they will go pro. Players’ decisions also comes from their living situation in college. Lastly the rules and regulations the NCAA players need to abide by have some players living under the poverty line. Sheryl Nance-Nash’s â€Å"NCAA Rules Trap many College Athletes in Poverty† for dailyfinance. com she talks about a study conducted by National College Players Association and Drexel Universitys department of sport management. In this study they found that most college athletes are living under the poverty line. â€Å"The study looked at football and basketball teams from Football Bowl Subdivision colleges and calculated athletes out-of-pocket education-related expenses (over and above their full scholarships), and compared the room-and-board portion of players scholarships to the federal poverty line as well as to coaches and athletic administrators salaries. It then used NFL and NBA collecting bargaining agreements to estimate the fair market value of FBS football and basketball players† (Nance-Nash). The result of the study shows that the scholarships given still leave 85% of athletes living on campus and 86% living off campus living under the poverty line. It also shows that colleges are making multi millions off their athletic programs but their athletes are barley getting thru. College player are allowed to use food stamps and receive welfare. Having taxpayers pay for the athletes well being which if the NCAA wasn’t acting like a rich greedy business man and changed some of its rules the players could benefit from their athletic ability. In Zimbalist’s book he talks about a Duke Basketball player Kenny Blankeney who was on a full scholarship and could barley pay his bills. The full scholarship covered all school expenses and gave him $725 to pay for rent, food and other bills because he live off campus. But that was hardly enough he came from a poor family and he couldn’t work because of the strict basketball schedule he was on. While playing at Duke they won two national championships and averaged almost a million dollars of income each year (17-18). While Blankeney and his teammates were barely making ends meet the college was profiting off their work. Blankeney says in the book â€Å"End of the month, we all talk about it. We’re hanging together – broke. A scholarship just isn’t enough† (18). The rules and regulation can cause many problems for athletes but some say the rules and regulations are good for the players. There are people that argue that changing the rules is not necessary. Most Division 1 athletes receive scholarships, which allow them to go to school for free. This is a fair exchange for the athletic services provided. Jason Whitlock a columnist for the Kansas City Star and host for radio talk shows says in an article he wrote for espn. com there are people in the U. S. and all around the world that would love to go to the big time universities and some of the athletes take this for granted (Whitlock). He also says, â€Å"They need to be slapped back into reality. We need to stress to them that the educational opportunity they’ve been afforded is more valuable than the â€Å"pocket money† an outside source can provide† (Whitlock). The athletes need to realize what they have in front of them a free exceptional education and a spot in the lime light. Playing in front of thousands of fans, being on national TV, people you don’t even know wearing your jersey, and the best exposure to the professional sports. These positives should be enough for a college student. Another argument against changing the rules is most college students have to work as much as they can during the school year not only to pay for school but other bills. These students usually end up with huge amounts of debt when they graduate and for athletes they have none. In an article Paul Daugherty wrote for sports illustrated he writes about how college athletes should be thankful for the opportunity to play. College athletes are some of the best athletes around the world and knowing they will get noticed they have no need to get a resume together like the students around them their resume is their ability on the court. With this resume they are often treated like kings staying in first class hotels, charted jets, and playing in championship games receiving items from the games sponsor. For the academic part players are assigned tutors, have study tables and have other benefits a regular student would not receive. Athletes have very good built in connections in the workforce. Once an athlete graduates most will be set up with a job. Unlike a regular student where the job hunts is one the hardest parts (Daugherty). Some people call college athletes slaves but they are hardly that they choose to play and on most college campuses a highly privileged class. He also said â€Å"Bob Knight once said the best argument against paying players is that it diminishes the value of an education. Thats as true now as it has ever been. For every athlete demanding a paycheck, there are 10 deserving non-athletes who cant afford to walk in the door. To whom a college degree would mean more than a direct deposit every couple of weeks† (Daugherty). This saying for some people education is more important than getting paid; playing in college is a privilege and if they want to abuse that privilege there is other athletes who won’t. The rules and regulations don’t make students leave early or not attend at all. College is not for everyone and some athletes just can’t handle the school work. When athletes leave it is their choice and leave because they believe it’s the right choice to better their career. The argument of NCAA changing its ways and rules has been debated ever since the NCAA came about. Koby Clemens choice to turn pro and not go to college was his choice. The fact that college athletes can’t earn money from their sport may be a deterrent to players that choose to not go to college but there are often many other reason. There have been many athletes who have skipped college and succeeded and many who have not. There are also many athletes who graduated and had a successful career and many who have not too. There should be some changes in the rules that allow athletes to at least make profit off themselves thru endorsements, making appearances, signing autographs, and other money making deals where they earn money from other sources then their college. With a change like this I believe the better athletes in all sports would choose the college route and stay all four years and graduate. Where they can still earn money while getting a degree. This could produce better games and maybe a higher earning potential for the NCAA. But for now the college level will still be an amateur sport and still producing the best athletes in the world.