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Andrew Wade
Dr. Elizabeth de Mahy
ENG 101
27 April 2017
Research Proposal: Paying Student Athletes
College athletics are a national pastime that are a major part of American culture. The
ability to study with a rigorous college academic schedule and balance that with the highest form
of amateur athletics is a widely recognized talent. Despite this, not many people recognize the
business side behind college athletics. As media rights and sponsorship deals are sky high, more
and more revenue seems to be flowing into athletic departments across the country. The NCAA
and athletic departments have full control over their athletes, profiting off ticket sales or mer-
chandise. These college athletes train and practice similar to that of professional athletes. Ac–
cording to Allen Sanderson, the NCAA “has never been more vulnerable” referencing the criti-
cism the NCAA as a whole has received in recent years. The NCAA has stuck to their principle
that these athletes are amateurs, and students before anything. The NCAA and athletic depart-
ments are corrupting their own athletes into thinking they are amateurs.
In the “$4 billion market for licensed merchandised” (Wong), the NCAA stands alone at
the top. Despite the incredible amount of revenue brought into the NCAA and their member in-
stitutions, those who drive the sales numbers, the athletes, do not touch any of it. The NCAA and
major athletic departments across the nation profit directly from their student athletes. A major
source of income are ticket sales to the games and competitions. Based on a report done by
ESPN, some of the top football institutions in the nation will make over $25 million just from
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ticket sales alone. The NCAA reported on their website that they generate approximately $5.6
billion from ticket sales in total. In addition to the profits from ticket sales, merchandise and
memorabilia is also a major source of revenue for athletic departments. Everything from coffee
mugs to car magnets are sold on college campuses and online. In addition to this, the team’s most
popular player’s jerseys are also sold by the University. This is unfair, because the number of the
player is placed on the back of the jersey, yet the player’s last name is prohibited from being on
the back. The NCAA does this to keep the identity of the player ‘anonymous’, thus they will not
have to pay the player for his profits of his jersey sales. While the player dedicated everything to
make a name for themselves, it is not he who profits from it. It’s one of the many loopholes that
the NCAA and athletic departments have found in a way to deceive the athletes on which they
