These athletes have to remember that they are here for education first and that this is not their jobs no matter what their coaches tell them. “You don't give young people what they want. You give them what they need. College athletes don't need money. They need additional opportunities to educate themselves. They need a deeper understanding of why it's important to be educated” (Whitlock, 2005). They should be more worried about their academic status rather than what they should be paid and what they are worth to the school they are attending. If more money was invested into helping these student athletes become more educated it would justify them being paid and would benefit both the athlete and school.
“The direction in which we should be going is this: We should invest our profits in the education of these athletes. Education is a currency that many athletes don't respect. That's fine. We shouldn't concern ourselves with giving young people what they want. We should give them what they need. These young athletes, particularly the ones from economically- and educationally-disadvantaged backgrounds, need educational coaching staffs, men and women who travel with the team and meet with the players on a daily basis. I'm serious. A football team needs a 10-man education coaching staff that is totally independent of the football staff and just as powerful. The education staff should report to the school president, not the athletics director. The school presidents should be involved because football and basketball have a huge impact on the way the universities are viewed nationally, and because those sports generate money for the rest of the university. The education staff could monitor class attendance, communicate with professors, teach/tutor on road trips, serve as mentors. Many black athletes arrive on predominantly-white campuses devoid of the necessary social skills to fit in comfortably. The education staff could help in that area. The education staff could help all athletes deal with issues relating to the abuse of alcohol, sexual harassment, performance-enhancing drugs, etc. The education staff could be in charge of an athlete's eligibility for practice or games. Skip class for no reason? No practice. Corruption of the education staff would be very risky. The group would report directly to the school president. If a newspaper or media outlet uncovered widespread corruption, an athletic director wouldn't lose his job – a school president would” (Whitlock, 2005).
This example justifies what I was talking about within rewarding the athletes with education and was a clear example.
Their education is the first priority and that is already being paid for. Being able to go to school without having to worry about how your tuition, housing and meals are going to be paid for is a great feeling and puts them financially in a better situation than other students. There are plenty of other students out there who got into college and didn’t get the financial aid they thought they were going to receive and have to take out huge student loans that are going to put them in financial debt for while once they graduate college. These athletes will have all of their school paid for and will have a chance to land a multi-million dollar job from a professional sports team. Then there are other students who are working two jobs to help pay for books, food and a place to live and are just getting by all while juggling the trouble of doing well in school. All student athletes have to worry about is going to practice, their school work and playing well in their games and no worries whether or not they can afford to stay in school.
There are many other benefits that come with receiving an athletic scholarship. Besides their education being paid for, student athletes are also being compensated with free amenities such as housing, meals, textbooks, equipment and special priority with classes. Specifically at Towson University, they are given the first chance and opportunity to sign up and pick their classes over all other students. It allows the athletes to choose their classes based around when they have practices and this shows another sign of how athletics takes priority over academics. This means that some athletes may be choosing classes that just fit their schedule instead of classes required for their degree in a sense diminishing their educational purposes. Working within the Towson University Athletic Department last semester gave me an inside perspective of the amount of equipment given to athletes. Year after year they receive the same sweat shirts, t-shirts, gloves, cleats, etc… This can add up to be hundreds of wasted dollars in repeated equipment given to the student athletes that could be used in other departments. Athletics spends excess money on wasted equipment rather than donating money to science and other educational departments on campus. This proves that athletics is a preference on Towson University’s campus over all other campus life.
Another reason for why student athletes shouldn’t be paid is because colleges simply don’t have the money to do so. There are plenty more colleges that have lost money from athletics rather than earning a profit. “Without subsidies, athletics departments at 19 of the 119 schools in Division I-A (now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision) made money in fiscal 2006 — up from 18 in '05 and '06 — and 16 did so over the three-year period. A little more than half of the I-A schools (67 of 119) made money on football or men's basketball (68) in fiscal 2006, based on revenues those programs generated” (Berkowitz, 2008). If the NCAA were to institute student athletes receiving payment they would have to find a way to make it so all athletes are being paid the same amount at all universities. This would be a challenge for many schools that don’t have a well known product. Schools such as University of Texas, University of Georgia, and Penn State University have recorded a profit for the 2011 football season (Finnegan & Wiener-Bronner, 2011). These are the top three that would be able to allocate money to all of its players for participating in a varsity sport. On the other side of the spectrum you have Texas State University, San Jose State University, and Southern Methodist University who would not have the budget to pay all of its student athletes based on their loss of revenue during the season.
There are other alternatives for athletes to make money besides being paid for playing their respective sports such as getting an on campus job. “NCAA currently allows athletes to have part-time jobs (on-campus is limited to $2,000)” (Sigmon, 2012). For a student athlete who has a busy schedule filled with practices, classes, and games, $2,000 is a respectable amount given the limited number of hours they have to work. If universities created more jobs on campus specifically for student athletes, it would give those more opportunities to earn extra money that they otherwise wouldn’t have. This wouldn’t take away from other students who want to work on campus because the university won’t have to create an excess amount of jobs. Student athletes have different off-season’s allowing them to rotate the jobs when their sport comes into season. Meaning in the fall baseball players can work on campus and come spring when baseball season starts the football players can take their jobs because they are in their offseason. Rotating jobs between student athletes like this is not an issue because during their respective season, they will need to be focused on playing and classes whereas during their offseason they can focus on holding a job and going to class. This is another way universities can compensate their student athletes without budgeting a salary for players and working around given out equal payments to all of its student athletes.
The argument of whether or not student athletes should or should not be paid for play brings up alternating opinions. Coming from an athletes’ perspective they see their service to the team as a money making method through the dedication, commitment, and athletic abilities they provide for the school. Therefore they feel as though they should be equally compensated for their services. On the other hand, you have those who believe that they signed their letter of commitment to their school in return for a free education and added life experiences, and that is enough of an exchange that they do no need to be rewarded with payment of play. Their education can bring them a lot farther in life than their athletic abilities; therefore, academics should take precedence over athletics. Student athletes should not be paid just because college is an educational institution not an athletic company so their first and primary focus should be on class rather than playing a varsity sport.
Bibliography
Berkowitz, S. (2008, June 6). Few athletics programs in black; most need aid. USA Today .
Cooper, K. (2011). Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play? Diverse: Issues in Higher Education , 28 (10), 12-13.
Finnegan, L. &.-B. (2011, May 25). The Most Profitable College Football Teams. Retrieved April 7, 2012, from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/30/the-most-profitable-colle_n_802810.html#s217317&title=University_of_Texas
Sigmon, T. (2012, April 9). Intercollegiate Athletics. 36. Towson, MD, United States.
Sturgill, S. (2010). Should Student-Athletes Get Paid? Retrieved April 7, 2012, from The Sport Digest: http://thesportdigest.com/archive/article/should-student-athletes-get-paid
Whitlock, J. (2005, March 17). Pay athletes, with an education. Retrieved April 7, 2012, from ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=whitlock/050317&num=1