The NCAA, founded in 1906, has been around for well over 100 years and is currently the sole organization responsible for regulating collegiate athletes among hundreds of institutions across America. According to NCAA rules and regulations, no college athlete is allowed to receive any form of compensation or endorsement while participating in college athletics. These rules have been repetitively challenged, but the NCAA has yet to make any changes to them, leaving many people in question if the NCAA will ever change them. Since the start of the century, the NCAA has faced a lot of pressure urging them to provide payment for college athletes. College athletes have never been paid in the history of the NCAA, however, many people, including myself, believe that now is the time to start giving these athletes the compensation that they deserve. 

Although many people believe college athletes are already being given enough with the scholarships and other benefits that the universities are providing them, they do not realize that these athletes are forced to play in a corrupt system that doesn’t set them up for success. The majority of student athletes are given a so-called “free education” in the form of a scholarship. However, a student athlete’s education is limited due to their rigorous schedules and requirements which sets them up for failure later in life. The truth is that the NCAA and many universities put these students’ collegiate athletic careers before their education and well-being. Student athletes spend so much time on sports while in college, that it’s hard to believe they received a proper education during their time in school. Therefore, for many student athletes, when their athletic career is over, being a student athlete wasn’t as glamorous as it appeared to be.

The NCAA claims that their mission is for student athletes to grow as individuals on the playing field and in the classroom. Not only is it their goal to help maintain the health and well-being of these student athletes but for these athletes to graduate with a degree as well. However, there have been many cases where the actions of the NCAA do not support their words. An example of this would be the NCAA basketball and football championships. Each year, the championship games for both basketball and football are held on a Monday. This is an inconvenience for the players though because they most likely have class on Monday and Tuesday. The NCAA continues to host these games on a Monday even though they are aware that the players have to miss class for it. The primary reason that these games are held on a Monday is money. When a game is held on a Monday, it is more likely to have a larger number of viewers. More viewers means more money which means more revenue for the NCAA, a so-called “non-profit.” In 2013, when Florida State was in the football championship, the game was held on the same day as their first day of the spring semester. If the NCAA held these games on a Saturday, or perhaps even over winter break while the student athletes are off from school, it would allow these athletes who already miss enough class throughout the regular season, to be better prepared for the start of the spring semester and to do better in class. However, the NCAA prioritizes its money and viewers over its student athletes, therefore these student athletes continue to face challenges when it comes to their education.

College athletic programs across America are making millions of dollars in revenue while the athletes who are primarily responsible for the money that these schools are bringing in are receiving nothing. With collegiate programs earning nearly $200 million a year in revenue, it is flabbergasting knowing that college athletes aren’t receiving a penny of that. Today, college athletics is one of the top sports industries in the world; with the NCAA being the primary governing body of college sports, it is important that they are held accountable for the decisions that they make. Without people questioning the NCAA and demanding changes to be made, college athletes will continue to be oppressed by the NCAA’s unjust rules and regulations. Student athletes deserve to be paid because they work the hours of a full-time job, they don’t have time to receive money in other ways, and they will be more likely to spend more time in college.

College athletes dedicate more time to their sport and school than most people realize. On average, a typical college athlete spends somewhere between 40 and 50 hours a week practicing, playing, and fulfilling other obligations required of their sport. With that in mind, it is important to realize that these student athletes are practically working a full-time job while balancing school work and other things in their life; but aren’t receiving any compensation for it while athletic programs are making millions of dollars. College athletes should be rewarded for the extra time they spend making up school work. Even when a student athletes’ season is over, their sport still continues into the offseason. They continue to have practice and meetings all year until the season comes around again. With the large time commitment these athletes have and with school on top, they obviously have no time for a job which means no extra spending money either. While the NCAA and universities have high expectations for their athletes to put on a money-making performance day in and day out, in order to help provide revenue, these athletes also have lives of their own to maintain. Because of their tough time commitments, it is challenging for student athletes to maintain good grades and take part in other extracurriculars as well. These athletes put so much time and commitment into sports that whenever they have downtime, it is spent doing school work due to the amount of class they miss. Student athletes spend so much time fulfilling obligations and benefitting their school that they don’t have much time for themselves, yet they still earn nothing from the hard work that is put in. Maintaining good grades requires a bit of overtime for these student athletes preventing them from being able to earn money in other ways. Because college athletes help generate so much revenue, colleges should financially compensate players for their contributions to their universities.

While college athletes receive no form of pay for their hard work and commitment, major college officials and executives in the NCAA, as well as coaches, have some of the largest salaries in America. The average salary of an NCAA Division 1 basketball coach is almost $1.5 million. Mike Krzyzewski, a head coach in the ACC and the highest paid Division 1 basketball coach has a salary of almost 7.2 million a year. After analyzing some of these statistics, it is easy to understand why college athletes aren’t paid. In 40 states in the U.S, the highest paid public employee is the head coach of a college football or basketball team. In North Carolina, the average income per household is $45,000 while the tax rate is almost 6%. Therefore, each taxpayer in North Carolina pays a little under $3,000 in income tax each year to help pay for the salaries of these coaches. College coaches aren’t the only ones in college athletics making large salaries. In 2010, Mike Emmert became the president of the NCAA. He signed a contract agreeing to $1.7 million a year. The president before him only made $900,000. This means that Mike Emmert signed a contract that is nearly $1 million more than his predecessor to become the resident of what is considered to be a non-profit organization.

The large salaries that these officials are making also brings up a point about how there are many rules set up by the NCAA that are unfair to college athletes. An example would be how the NCAA denies student athletes the ability to use their likeness as a way to earn money. There is no reason that a student athlete shouldn’t be allowed to benefit off their own game-worn apparel and autographs. These athletes are not property of the NCAA, so why should they be denied the right to sell what belongs to them? Although the players are denied this ability, the coaches are allowed to use their likeness to earn a profit. Many coaches in the NCAA have signed contracts with companies providing them with additional revenue on top of the large salaries that they already have. If coaches can use their likeness to earn money, why shouldn’t college athletes be able to do the same? College athletes are also partially responsible for the contracts that the coaches sign, because when the players on a team perform well, it brings publicity to the school and coach who is then more likely to receive an endorsement deal. 

Another reason that student athletes deserve to be given compensation, is that they may be convinced to stay in college longer. Many student athletes come from financially unstable backgrounds and are tempted to leave school early in pursuit of money that they can make playing professionally. According to the National College Players Association, 86% of college athletes live below the poverty line. Knowing that they have financial support in college may encourage them to stay for a couple more years. Not only would this benefit the athletes but it would benefit the athletic programs as well. If this were the case, sports teams wouldn’t have to worry about rebuilding their lineup due to losing a player who entered the draft after their freshman season.

In business, there is a formula used to determine a person’s, property’s, or business’ market value. This formula is known as “fair market value.” In college athletics, many student athletes who are a part of major programs have a fair market value. Many athletes from top football and basketball programs in the NCAA have a fair market value that exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars. If a player’s worth is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of dollars, why shouldn’t they be paid? Some may argue that the price of their free tuition reaches upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars as well. However, many athletes fair market value exceeds the price of their tuition. Although the market value of some of these student athletes are sky high, they still are yet to receive anything for it. What many people don’t realize is how much a high-profile athlete at a high-profile school can bring in for their university. When an athlete or a team succeeds at a national level, it brings a lot of publicity to the school that is being represented that wouldn’t happen otherwise. An example of this is the 2017 NCAA Basketball Tournament. The University of South Carolina made an unprecedented run to the Final Four, which brought in a large amount of revenue and interest to the University. With this added publicity, South Carolina’s application numbers increased by 25% for the next year. It is commonly forgotten that major sports like football and basketball also provide support for the smaller sports that don’t bring in much revenue. It is important that these smaller sports like swimming, rowing, and track, are being supported by the bigger sports because the athletes deserve to have the chance to play just as much. However, smaller sports give out the same scholarships as the major sports, which means a swimmer who is offered a scholarship which makes their college lose money is receiving the same amount of money that a football player is receiving; but the football player is helping the school bring in thousands of dollars. Although a complex system must be created in order to pay college athletes, I believe that with the right mindset and the variety of resources that the NCCA has, it can be accomplished. I also believe that all student athletes should be paid, no matter how big or small the program that they are a part of is.

Although student athletes are yet to receive any form of payment, it is time to make a change to the unjust system that the NCAA enforces without any regulation. The NCAA continues to allow rules and regulations that greatly benefit them to be left uninvestigated while minor infractions that benefit student athletes come with great consequences. The NCAA also claims to be a “non-profit” organization and receives the tax benefits of being one, however, they generate billions of dollars every year. With the amount of money that they bring in, the NCAA should be able to compensate its athletes a little bit. Many student athletes struggle to make ends meet and are being taken advantage of by wealthy executives who don’t care about their well-being. Without the aid of boosters, the college, or the NCAA, many student athletes struggle to properly provide for themselves because by spending over 40 hours a week in practice, they don’t have enough time to earn a job. That is why I believe that college athletes deserve the right to use their likeness in order to sell autographs and merchandise. Student athletes deserve to receive compensation for their hard work and dedication to their university. If these student athletes help generate so much money for the NCAA and their universities, they deserve to be compensated enough to live a normal college life as well. Reduce the large salaries of the head coaches, athletic directors, and NCAA executives and there will easily be enough funds to compensate these student athletes. Until we start to challenge the NCAA, no changes will be made in the current economic monopoly that the NCAA is. The NCAA was intended to look out for the safety and well-being of its athletes. If we start to stray away from the true purpose of the NCAA, student athletes will continue to suffer once their athletic careers are over.
