RUNNING HEAD: SHOULD COLLEGES PAY 1
Should Colleges pay their scholarship student athletes
Would you work for room, board and a monthly stipend? Would you sign a contract with
an organization to where you would be committed to them for at least a year of your life for that
amount? Would you consider this, if your status as a citizen would be lifted to where your name
is known around the state to where you might be considered famous; as you know a lot of places
will give famous people perks that you and I would not normally receive such as discounts for
pictures being taken at a place of business or even given things for free because of your name;
you see I was always taught that a good name is better than riches. Think about it, you can sign
a contract with an organization that can make your name famous, if you work hard and are good
at what you do, that’s all it would take, on top of that you will receive a world class education. I
mean with all that on your side, this seems like a great deal or is it. Things not mentioned within
the contract are that you can’t benefit from your name or even accept any kind advantage from
your name or likeness thereof, but the school can benefit from your name. Knowing that would
you do it, for most people including myself the answer would be a resounding “NO”, as written
in the article Roadblocks: Examining TitleIX & the Fair compensation of Division I
Intercollegiate athletes by Robert Grimmett- Norris, but some hold the side of this being
something that we should hold on to, as written in the article Assessing the Economic Concerns
of the Pay-For-Play Issue in Collegiate Sports Brynlee K. Forik, or is there an entirely different
aspect that everyone is missing in the questions; Why aren’t colleges paying their student
athletes? Or allowing them to earn extra money while on scholarship and why are we
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questioning student athletes when they decide to leave college early to pursue a professional
career in their chosen sport?
I don’t only believe they should pay their scholarship athletes, but how much should be
getting paid is the question. Paying athletes should be done in a manner to where it’s a teaching
tool for the young men or women that are involved. The underlying issue here is why the
schools do not want to take responsibility for the athletes if they do pay them.
Yes, there will be plenty of different perspectives on this topic and the one that I have
will be fought against in many different ways, but there are a few that I did run across and made
perfect sense in why our colleges should not pay their student athletes; the most compelling
would be that of amateurism.
Amateur competition is the basic principle of college athletics and the NCAA. Colleges’
maintaining an amateur status is crucial to preserving an academic environment in which getting
a quality education is the first priority and being an athlete is second. The NCAA membership
has adopted amateurism rules to ensure the student’s priority remains on obtaining a quality
educational experience and that all of student-athletes are competing equitably. In general,
amateurism requirements do not allow: Contracts with professional teams, salary for
participating in athletics, prize money above actual and necessary expenses, play with
professionals, tryouts, practice or competition with a professional team, benefits from an agent or
prospective agent, agreement to be represented by an agent. Saying all of that, only the students
playing sports must be certified as amateurs and the schools must be the ones to make sure they
get certified. All of this is done to make sure that all Division I and Division II schools are
operating on the same playing field, so that one school doesn’t offer the student athlete more
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than just a scholarship to come to their school. All that being said and take into account that the
average 4 year scholarship averages about $100,000 over the 4 years of eligibility, then the point
of not paying the student athlete is made and the door should be closed on that, so why is this
even debatable. Here is the issue; schools should be certified in amateurism to be able to certify
any of the students correct? If that is true then, how can schools break 4 of the 7 basic rules for
you to be an amateur? I mean if you have a team of amateurs on the field playing for you, then
you have an amateur team, so how is it that the team or school receive money for play, or how
are they awarded money above actual necessary expenses. College basketball teams are often
found overseas playing and practicing against professionals, with these rules being broken,
doesn’t it make them professionals or eligible for pay. So how does the athletic department get
away with this being in amateur status, but not having to abide by the rules; easy, your athletic
