The way the NCAA handles its players shows that it is a broken system. Now more than ever this large corporation has been placed under the microscope as more and more people every single day are starting to realize the unfair treatment that these young adults are having to deal with. With television contracts and endorsement deals having pretty much become a requirement for just about any Division I sport in America, these players are under higher pressures than ever before to succeed not only on their respective playing field, but also in the classrooms as well. These young student-athletes hardly have time to trade in their shoulder pads for backpacks and get to class as their sports are more like a full-time job rather than an extra elective. With the competition in college academics and athletics increasing, the margin for error here is decreasing at an alarming rate. Does this mean we should assist these students by compensating them monetarily for their significant economic boost and time commitment they contribute to their respective schools or is simply continuing to award most of them an athletic scholarship enough to satisfy these student-athletes everyday demands? To answer that question, we must first consider what exactly the NCAA is and what they represent.

With a quick google search it is not hard to find out the answer to this question, according to this corporation’s main website, www.ncaa.org, their “core purpose” is to “govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.” Now according to this statement, the NCAA claims that they are here, essentially, to help regulate its participants’ athletics and to ensure that their education is their top priority. The NCAA wants to “prioritize academics… so college athletes can succeed on the field, in the classroom, and for life.” The common argument against these statements are commonly centered around the fact that these kids simply do not have enough time to “succeed… in the classroom.”  According to the University of South Carolina’s freshman Offensive Tackle, Eric Douglas, Division I student athletes have little to no free time as most of their time is either spent preparing for their upcoming game. Their days are filled with both on and off field workouts, meetings with coaches, and studying film sometimes late into the night; all of which is jam packed into the day around their school schedule. This leaves these student-athletes with no time for a job to help support themselves or their families’ financially. With all of this being said, we have yet to even delve into just how much money both Eric and other major athletes are raking in for their programs and universities. An article written in 2013 states that the “NCAA, as a whole, makes $6 billion annually” (“Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?”, usnews.com) with the majority of this money coming from the two biggest college sports of football and basketball. In fact, to secure a 30 second advertisement during the “March Madness” basketball tournament one must pay $700,000, an outrageous amount that the players themselves will never see. With big time Universities and Colleges benefitting off of their student-athletes why in the world are we not paying them for all they do? While this may be the common perception held by a majority of people that view these sports in their leisure, I will have to respectfully disagree: student-athletes under the NCAA should not be paid for competing at this level of competition no matter how much money they are bringing in.

The most common argument brought up by someone who approves of the payment of these athletes is that they deserve a part of the fortune that the schools gain from their efforts, essentially stating that they are employees of the NCAA. While this argument brings up a fair point, there are flaws in it. How would we handle this money problem? If we look at the numbers, the university that earns the highest revenue from their football program is the University of Texas at Austin, raking in over 120 million dollars, an outstanding amount (“Top Sports By Revenue”, collegeraptor.com). Naturally, their quarterback, the most important position in football, should be receiving some of that profit too, right? After all, is he not responsible for a large majority of that revenue? What about that senior who walked-on to the team his freshman year and hardly sees the field, how much of that approximate $120,000,000 has he earned? Who decides what player gets more than the other; would it be based each individual’s impact or would each player receive the same amount? 

When looking at other sports within an institution it is rather easy to determine that only a couple of sports are bringing in money for their schools. Drexel University, the highest profiting squash university in the nation, only receives a revenue of $835,053 (“Top Sports By Revenue”, collegeraptor.com) which pales greatly in comparison to that to the money brought in by UT Austin’s football program. With this being the case, how can one say that all Division I athletes deserve payment? While this presents a reasonable predicament to a possible solution, it does not mean compensation is not impossible. John R. Thelin brings up some interesting points when discussing this issue in his article. The scenario he brings to light is a “what if?” scenario in which instead of receiving an approximate $100,000 scholarship from their respective school, these athletes would instead be receiving this in salary form. After some serious number crunching regarding tuition costs and income taxes, on top of other charges, Mr. Thelin is able to come to the conclusion that these student-athletes would only be left with about $100 (“Why We Shouldn’t Pay Student Athletes”, Thelin). This of course would vary according to the specific state’s tax codes and whether or not these students were travelling out of state for tuition. It is also important to note that while these institutions are bringing in copious amounts of money, a large majority of it goes right back into their programs, helping to improve team oriented things such as newer training facilities and locker rooms (“Should Athletes be paid?”, Marshall). With only $100 in hand, the scholarship model that is being threatened may not seem so bad after all. It is not as if these athletes aren’t being compensated at all either, they are being rewarded with a free, higher level education. 

Another argument that is brought up is the fact that these young athletes are working harder than ever to reach great heights, such as competing at the professional level (“College Athletes Deserve to be Paid,” Douglas). Once again this is quite a sustainable argument, until it is looked into with greater detail. Athletes that fear they will have wasted their whole lives by working towards their goal of making it to the professional ranks only to be derailed by a major injury, are overlooking a few important facts. First of all, as previously stated, a free college education has been made available to them, which many could only dream of being afforded this opportunity. Furthermore, these athletes are considered amateur, not professional, for a reason. The whole purpose of college is to gain an education so that you may have a better chance of succeeding in your career of choice in the future. A large majority of college athletes have lost sight of this, with many leaving their respective schools early to achieve their professional dreams. By paying these athletes you are taking away the incentive that this collegiate level offers them. This also ruins the purity of the sport. Children do not fall in love with their sport because of the exponential money-making opportunities it grants them, they enjoy their sport because it is a release from the real world and something they genuinely love doing. By adding money into the scenario, we see many of these passionate young men turn into money-crazed “divas” whom may have lost their love for their game as it has turned into a job. These young men deserve to still enjoy the purity and escape that sports can afford them before a seven-figure paycheck becomes involved. Finally, who says that all sports are equally dangerous to their participants? It is quite obvious that sports such as football and ice hockey are dangerous and can commonly lead to numerous injuries, some even career ending. Contrary to this though, swimming and golf are not nearly as intense and injuries, especially career-ending, are very uncommon and unlikely to occur at the same rate as the more violent ones listed above. With this in mind, how can the injury argument still be used when some are more likely to lead to injury than others (“Should Athletes be paid?”, Marshall)?

It is understandable that these athletes are seeking money that equals their contributions on the field/court/rink/etc., but the possibility of this occurring is quite low and so is the probability of this ever occurring. Instead, maybe the NCAA needs to be held more accountable for its actions. Its mission is to help these students succeed not only on in their sport, but also in the classroom, right? If this is the case then maybe there should be stricter and more reasonable rules placed on these schools. With athletes spending over 30 hours a week perfecting their craft, they are being overworked and the NCAA does not regulate this (“College Athletes Deserved to be Paid”, Douglas). How can one be expected to succeed in the classroom when, for most, it is not the most important thing for them. Let us look at a specific case in former Ohio State University student-athlete and current San Diego Chargers quarterback Cardale Jones. Coming into college, just as many before him, Cardale did not value school. To further this point, he even sent out a tweet that he ended up regretted putting out that had said he didn’t come to OSU to “play school” he came to play football, insinuating that the education was not the most important part of his journey here. What was even more shocking about this is after winning a national championship as the starting quarterback for his school, despite being eligible to enter the NFL draft and make millions of dollars, Mr. Jones declared that he was staying in school because earning a college degree was more important to him. The most shocking part of this story is not that he had a change of heart, but it was the reaction from the world that is most disgusting and proves the NCAA does not truly uphold its previously stated belief. The world was shocked about Cardale Jones decision because it was not one that was very popular. This seemed like a perfect opportunity for him to make the leap to the professional ranks as his draft stock would most likely never be higher, but in an unprecedented move he went against the grain (“Why Student Athletes Continue to Fail”, time.com). Shouldn’t this move have been applauded? Why was it that the overwhelming majority of people were shocked by this move, and why was it that some were confused and thought he was making the wrong decision here? Education should come first and foremost, just as stated in the NCAA mission statement, but this movement by the former Buckeye reveals the true culture and the real nature of the NCAA and that is to make money. While everyone is busy petitioning for this business to pay their athletes why are we not admonishing them for not encouraging and incentivizing an education more? How is it that some college athletes are allowed to leave their school to enter the pro’s after only spending one year there? If the NCAA truly valued school over athletics shouldn’t there be stricter rules here? Maybe this is on us too, though. The culture we live in does not make this degree necessary, and some programs are even considered a joke in regard to their student-athletes’ success in the classroom. The University of Alabama is often referenced as an institution that has many athletes that are only “excelling” academically due to preferential treatment and a much weaker course load than that of a regular student. On multiple occasion a school has been caught for infractions regarding students cheating and being dismissed from their programs because of their struggles to sustain good standing on both the field and in the classroom. Schools such as the University of Kentucky or Duke are common “one and done” schools for their athletes and that right there seems to be the bigger problem. If these athletes need money to help their families financially, there are other scenarios in which they can do so, including travelling overseas to compete professionally as seen by young athletes such as Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Brandon Jennings- a former NBA player. If one does choose to attend a University to become a student-athlete, it is paramount that we emphasis that you are a student first, and an athlete second. There’s a reason, after all, that “student” is placed in front of “athlete” in the phrase “student-athlete” (“Why Student Athletes Continue to Fail”, time.com).

Our problem with the NCAA should not be about whether or not we should pay these young adults for the blood, sweat, and tears they put into their programs because that time will come if they want it bad enough and are talented enough. Rather we should be asking more out of this system. We should be pressing hard for a fairer treatment of our sons and daughters and for a better example to set. With all of the fun and excitement sports provide us, we have to realize that these kids, right out of high school, are more than just helmets and pads; these people deserve to have a life after their sport and gaining an education is the only way for them to do that. While it is obvious that the NCAA is a broken system, it may not be broken in the way you had originally thought.  
