English Position Paper Notes

(8)

A $25,000 scholarship may seem like a lot of money, but it really only covers the basics. It covers thousands of dollars in mysterious, unknown university fees, tuition, housing, a meal-plan and multiple hundred-dollar textbooks.

(4)

At other schools, college coaches regulate student-athlete speech on Facebook and Twitter — even when their sport is not in session.

(4)

At some schools, the road to the NCAA men's basketball championship may require student-athletes to miss up to a quarter of all class days during their Spring semester.

(8)

Athletes earn their schools hundreds of thousands of dollars, increase enrollment, and if they do well, provide a recruiting piece for generations. Top NCAA executives are getting $1 million per year while an athlete can't earn $50 from signing a few autographs.

(3)

"Look at March Madness. Most of the guys are black, they're coming from inner-city neighborhoods, and — in many cases — broken families with modest incomes," he says. "CBS is going to pay the NCAA $800 million this year to broadcast the tournament, and the guys who are responsible for playing are getting ripped off. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves." The NCAA could not be reached for comment.

(2)

Big time college football and basketball programs generate billions of dollars a year in TV and marketing contracts, ticket sales, and merchandising.

(1)

Do students with good performance get high amount of money compared to other members?

(7)

Farniok said - "Free education? Yeah, but at what expense?

(8)

First, their own coaches. Many coaches earn at least $100,000 per year to coach one of the major sports like baseball, basketball, or football at a school. These coaches will receive bonuses for getting to the playoffs, winning championships, or breaking school records. You know what athletes receive as a bonus? Nothing.

(7)

Former Iowa State center Tom Farniok wants to be a strength coach someday. Last year he worked 40 hours in an unpaid offseason internship. During the regular season, he would leave his house at 5:20 a.m. for conditioning before going to go class and practice. He was usually home by 9 p.m. -- to do homework.

(8)

If each athlete got $2,000 paid over the course of the semester, this would give them some spending cash and an opportunity to start managing their money. Most athletic programs can't afford to pay athletes on their own, so the NCAA and their executives need to figure out a way to start compensating their golden geese.

(4)

If not for college football, think about Boise State's challenges in national marketing. With these factors in mind, Division I football and men's basketball players do not merely play a sport of leisure. Rather, they are core members of their university's marketing team, as well as the labor force behind a lucrative secondary industry in hosting organized sporting events.

(4)

In 40 of the 50 U.S. states, the highest paid public official is currently the head coach of a state university's football or men's basketball team.

(6)

Is that fair to other student-athletes? Furthermore, where should the money come from? Is it the responsibility of the school to pay these athletes or the NCAA? Other questions include how much should students-athletes be paid, how often, will it work in a similar way that professional contracts work, etc?

(5)

It is argued that payment caps set by the NCAA are holding down benefits that otherwise would go to top-performing athletes, many of them African Americans from low-income families, while top coaches and athletic department personnel receive disproportionately high salaries.

(6)

PRO: College athletes put their bodies on the line each game they play. EX. In the 2013 NCAA tournament Louisville player Kevin Ware suffered a horrific injury to his lower right leg while attempting to block an opposing player's shot. Six months later, Ware was healed and back to practicing. He was lucky. There have been instances of players becoming paralyzed by hits or tackles on football fields or other injuries that have ended player's careers before they even get started. These athletes are sacrificing their bodies and physical health at a chance to play a game they love, and possibly make it to the professional level.

(6)

PRO: Paying college athletes would help to begin creating a sense of financial awareness.

(6)

PRO: These student-athletes bring in an incredible amount of money. Journalist Michael Wilbon has written that seeing the $11 billion deal between the NCAA and CBS/Turner Sports for March Madness between 2011 and 2024 prompted him to change his mind about paying student-athletes. This deal shows the amount of money the NCAA is bringing in over the course of one month alone. March Madness is one of the most watched sporting events in the country. Yet the money being made off this event is not trickling down to the players, who are the stars of the tournament.

(1)

Paying college athlete's issues are hard to resolve as it requires proper analysis and opinions not just the one who imposed the idea but the athletes as well. Yes it provides lots of benefits to athletes but it can also result to any complexities in the long run.

(5)

Researchers recommend, schools should compensate student-athletes according to the value they provide, whether that value comes in the form of measurable revenue or more subjective benefits.

(8)

Second is the NCAA. Recently, the NCAA and CBS signed a $10.8 billion television agreement over 14 years. The NCAA is also considered a non-profit company.

(8)

Some players, if they come from a low-income household, get a few hundred dollars each semester from Pell Grants which enables them to buy chicken soup instead of chicken-flavored ramen

(4)

Success in college sports is also believed to improve the application rates and caliber of admitted students at certain universities.

(4)

The typical Division I college football player devotes 43.3 hours per week to his sport — 3.3 more hours than the typical American work week.

(4)

The year that Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy as the nation's outstanding college football player, Boston College's undergraduate admissions increased by 25 points and its average SAT score of admitted freshmen skyrocketed by 110 points.

(8)

Third, the athletic programs. Universities bring in hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to their athletic programs each year. Through donations, ticket sales, media rights, advertising, and anything else with a price tag, these athletes are symbols for their school and their program. If a school makes a huge scientific achievement, they will be in the newspaper for a few days. The athletic teams, however, are in the newspaper the entire year.

(4)

This year, the University of Alabama reported $143.3 Million in athletic revenues — more than all 30 NHL teams and 25 of the 30 NBA teams.

(2)

Under NCAA rules, they've been considered "amateurs" who aren't allowed to profit from their sports.

(8)

The flip side of this is that not all sports teams are profitable. For example, some less popular teams like swimming, tennis, or volleyball don't earn the university much money, and the bigger sports like basketball and football make up for the lost revenue. So why would we pay athletes if entire teams are struggling to survive?

(4)

Although the NCAA claims college athletes are just students, the NCAA's own tournament schedules require college athletes to miss classes for nationally televised games that bring in revenue.

(6)

College football, as well as men's and women's basketball, are the money makers as far as collegiate athletics is concerned. Most other programs are actually cash strapped. Therefore, the issue becomes should only football and basketball college athletes be paid?

(8)

Contrary to what all the opponents believe, being an athlete is a full-time job. On a typical day, a player will wake up before classes, get a lift or conditioning session in, go to class until 3 or 4 p.m., go to practice, go to mandatory study hall, and then finish homework or study for a test.

(4)

Instead, a substantial share of college sports' revenues stay "in the hands of a select few administrators, athletic directors, and coaches."

(6)

Lots of athletes are very financially irresponsible. The ESPN documentary Broke gave an inside view of the financial woes of many professional athletes, noting that around 60% of NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. Many of these players blamed poor investments, trusting unethical financial advisors and lavish spending habits as the reason for their money troubles. If schools were to begin paying players, they could also help these students build a foundation of financial literacy. This would allow them to introduce these students to financial investors who had their best interests in mind. Whether or not these college athletes went on to play professionally, they would at least, have some type of financial literacy to carry with them into whatever career they choose. This would (hopefully) set them up a better financial future.

(4)

Meanwhile, Forbes reported in December that University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban's new contract will pay him over $7 million per year from his university.

(4)

Meanwhile, Patrick Ewing's basketball performance during the 1982-83 NCAA season helped generate a 47% increase in undergraduate applications and a forty-point rise in freshman SAT scores during the following admissions cycle at Georgetown University.

(4)

Meanwhile, the annual NCAA men's basketball tournament affects more than six days of classes (truly "Madness" if the players aren't "employees").

(4)

Much of the huge revenues collected from college athletics do not go directly back into the classroom.

(4)

Of course, there are many colleges that use their athletes as core marketers of the university. If not for college basketball players, think about how much more money Gonzaga University would need to spend on building name recognition to prospective students not located on the West Coast.

(2)

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.

(7)

The NCAA allows athletes to work but the time demands of their sports make that virtually impossible, even in their offseason.

(4)

The NCAA currently produces nearly $11 Billion in annual revenue from college sports — more than the estimated total league revenues of both the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.

(6)

The NCAA will still have its $11 billion contract with CBS/Turner Sports and college athletes will continue giving it their all at a shot at making it to the professional level.

(3)

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which regulates 23 sports at 1,200 schools across the US, has repeatedly argued student-athletes shouldn't get salaries. They say this "undermines the purpose of college: an education. Student-athletes are not employees, and their participation in college sports is voluntary."

(3)

The average college basketball or football player doesn't even make $1.

(3)

The average pro basketball player makes $24.7 million over his 4.8 year career.

(3)

The average pro football player makes $6.7 million over his 3.5 year career.

(4)

The average salary for a premier NCAA Division I men's basketball coach also exceeded $1 Million.

(4)

When the NCAA was first founded in 1905, the opposition to paying student-athletes was akin to the opposition to paying coaches. (If you doubt this, research early criticism of Alonzo Stagg). But, coaches today get paid, and handsomely too. Last year, the average salary for a BCS eligible football coach was $2.05 million.

(3)

While they may receive full or partial academic scholarships, not a single college athlete is paid.