Why NCAA Athletes Should be Paid
Mike Rifkin
JLM 312
Prof Moritz
4/16/17
Should College Athletes be Paid?
Paying college athletes is an issue that has been boiling for years. The NCAA is the beneficiary of this because these kids go out and play the game and don’t get compensated for it, that is on the division one level. Most people pay more attention to the division one level, they don’t realize their is a division two and three.
On the division three level Student athletes are not given scholarships, everybody is a walkon. Though the athletes do get help because they get financial aid or earn a merit scholarship based on academic performance. Division III, the largest division in terms of number of schools and number of participants in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, is comprised of more than 190,000 student-athletes and represents 450 colleges and universities throughout the country. Division III is also the only division that does not award athletic scholarships. Division 3 athletes have an opportunity to try out and walk onto the team. This from the NCAA website “ The students on the intercollegiate teams of Division III member schools come to college for an education and they play for the love of the game. Our student-athletes compete not because they expect a financial reward, but because they are driven to excel. The challenge and commitment to do their best comes from within. At the same time, student-athletes at Division III institutions share many characteristics with the much more visible scholarship athletes at Division I and II schools: they work just as hard in practice and compete just as intensely; they strive to win; and through competition, they learn lessons about discipline, leadership and teamwork. They are passionate about their sport.” So if the NCAA doesn’t see a major difference between the 3 divisions. Why don’t division 3 players get scholarships? This from ESPN.com “Nearly 60 percent of the NCAA’s revenue will be distributed directly to its Division I members, according to its budget, with approximately $120 million earmarked for grants-in-aid and another $60 million for student assistance. The NCAA says 96 percent of its annual revenue is returned to its member schools either in direct payments or in programs and services.” None of this money goes to players it goes to sponsors, and the schools that make money off of the players.
Not all athletes in the NCAA will wind up going pro, and sometimes they have the wrong people in their ears telling them what to do and that’s how they wind up broke or homeless. The NCAA has a 10 year 14 billion $ contract with Turner/CBS. They also have deals with other major outlets like ESPN to air their games and such, but why can’t part of their money go to the athletes? The Northwestern football team a few years ago decided to try and become a union the first of its kind. Their main argument was for players who have been diagnosed with concussions and how those people need help. With all we have learned when it comes to concussions and CTE it makes people wonder why the NCAA hasn’t stepped in and tried to help. Last year there were six lawsuits on concussions handed to the NCAA. They cited negligence over the handling of their concussions. Concussions are so impactful in today’s culture of sports that you would think the NCAA would help these guys. Dylan Reed suffered a concussion as a freshman at LIU Post said “ I suffered a concussion in the first week of practice, doctors didn’t clear me so I went back home and went to community college.”
These numbers show kids who play a sport in high school and college and the percentages of them making it to their respective professional league. 1.2% of basketball players who get drafted stay in the pros. All of these numbers are small so unless really gifted these players will make their professional debuts. Miguel Jackson a running back from Coram NY and played his college Football at Stony Brook said “ What if you are a kid who is from a small town and no big time school recruits you and you have to play at a small school.” Meaning not everyone can go to Alabama, USC, Oklahoma, etc and don’t get the same exposure that these other smaller schools. This chart shows the division one schools that are deemed most valuable. If you take a look it is all based on conferences that have some sort of television deal or are on television often.
Tyler Jones who was supposed play defense at Umass Lowell, but got his scholarship taken away when he got hurt training for the season said “ I lost everything, my scholarship, my chance to play college hockey, my chance to go to the school.” They took away his opportunity to do something he loved because he got hurt, they didn’t even help pay for the rehab. Jones said on moving back home “ I wanted to prove to them I deserved my scholarship back, any chance for money, the school makes money off of the product on the ice and us (players) get nothing.” Players put their bodies on the line all of the time and what do they receive? NCAA Divisions I and II schools provide more than $2.9 billion in athletics scholarships annually to more than 150,000 student-athletes if the schools are making 3 billion in scholarships why can they not have the ability to offer some of that money to the players. I understand kids are not trustworthy when it comes to money so as a university you put the money aside in a separate fund and give the players something once they graduate. From the NCAA website “according to the most recent Graduation Success Rate data, 82 percent of Division I freshmen scholarship student-athletes who entered college in 2004 earned a degree. In Division II, 73 percent of freshmen student-athletes who entered college in 2004 graduated. The graduation-rate data are based on a six-year cohort prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education.
The NCAA developed the Division I Graduation Success Rate in response to college and university presidents who wanted graduation data that more accurately reflect the mobility among all college students today. So it may be that time to start paying college athletes. These guys offer so much to their schools for 4 or more years but at the end of the day they are humans and deserve to be paid for this.
