People say that playing a sport in college is like having a job. So, should these players be paid as such? in 2019 when Zion Williamson (the eventual #1 pick in the NBA draft) was required to wear Nikes due to Duke’s affiliation with them and broke through the shoe, causing Nike’s stocks to plummet. Nike may have lost money using Zion’s image and likeness but overall every year the company gains money from their equipment deals with the universities. Colleges year in and year out get millions of dollars off the image and likeness of the players they recruit to be a part of their program. Heck even companies paid the universities to have them in their video games and used the very same players of those teams in the game only to not pay them or list their last names on the jerseys. To me it seems like quite a double standard.
The colleges and video game companies can use them to get money but they themselves aren’t given a cut. The argument about a free education is valid. However, if the players were given a percent of the money made off of them they’d be able to pay for their own education and then some. Back in June, a class action lawsuit was made by multiple players against the NCAA. The article talks about how nike displays the highs and lows of using a players image and likeness, yet the universities build multi-million dollar arenas, pay coaches millions of dollars, and have billion dollar tv deals all because of the colleges athletes. The first instance this was brought to light was July, 2013. In this instance many players came out and said how they completely disagreed with the fact EA Sports was using their image and likeness without compensation. They eventually won the legal battle and the games are no longer made. Now I ask, how is it fair to understand that they should be paid for that but not their actual ability? Their skills are showcased throughout their college seasons yet don’t get a percentage of the money they make the university.
The video above from CNN’s crossfire discusses both sides of the story listing good arguments for why student athletes shouldn’t be paid while also sort of freezing the opposition into one point. The analysts discussed how the universities gain millions of dollars off of college football, however only 23 out of 208 of the schools in 2012 actually turned a profit. This meaning that the millions of dollars that these universities receive just off of college football wouldn’t be able to go towards player salaries if only a few of the universities can pay them. The other issue that is yet to be in question is what would happen to the other sports that are at the universities if they decided to pay the men’s college basketball and football players. If the universities chose in the end to pay these student athletes some of the sports that don’t bring in revenue for the school but give other student athletes a chance at more manageable education would suffer. The argument for paying athletes from Kareem Abdul-Jabaar on the segment was that the universities million dollars that come in from the players should go to them is almost entirely debunked. If only 11% of the schools actually turn a profit however big or small it is, how would they have all student athletes get paid for the schools that don’t turn a profit?
https://gunnoracle.com/16157/sports/college-athletes-shouldnt-get-paid/
In high school the athletes don’t get paid and instead get and education, however they still have to pay for the education. Those same athletes also don’t get a cut of the money granted high schools are much smaller than universities but they still provide the school with revenue. In college, the student athletes receive a free education along with having a place to outlet their talents and gain more publicity than ever before. It is unfair to put a salary on a student athlete trying to pursue not only their dreams but an education. Full scholarships are up to $53,000, which is a significant portion of the NFL minimum rookie salary of $465,000 and the NBA minimum salary of $815,615. That being said only 1.1% of the college football players and 1.5% of the college basketball athletes end up going to the NBA or NFL. Therefore, 97.4% of the other student athletes are getting a scholarship at a prestigious college but won’t end up achieving the dream they intended. Why would the universities pay these athletes if they already barely turn a profit, and 97.4% of them aren’t deemed good enough. If colleges pay their players in addition to scholarship, some colleges might go into a financial crisis. Eight of the Big 12 conferences schools were in debt in 2014. The university of Texas was over 200 million dollars in debt. If these universities were to pay the 480,000 student athletes a salary, it would only make the situation worse for the colleges already empty pockets. Colleges also give the student athletes a chance to show their talent and possibly get to the next level, whether it be the NFL or NBA. Colleges may not pay the players with actual money but they pay the players with experience. If they are interviewed or their games are broadcasted its giving them the small experience of what life as a professional could be like. Gaining a lot of publicity from college eventually gets these players endorsements that help them in the future. “Among the 30 players who got drafted first round in the 2017 NBA draft, 16 already had endorsements deal without playing 1 season in the NBA.” (Jamisen Ma) The universities have professional coaches, athletic trainers, and nutritionists, resulting in money being funneled to the athletic program benefitting the players. Giving the student athletes a salary to go along with all of that would be going a little too far. If colleges were to pay their student athletes it would only worsen the sports we love. Yes the bigger schools usually get the top recruits and make the most amount of money. However, the players decision usually comes down to the coach and whether they’re a fit with the program. Instead if the colleges were to give the student athletes money it would come down to who the highest bidder is. Referencing what Kareem Abdul-Jabaar said in the above video on March Madness alone tbs and cbs split a billion dollar profit just on the tournament. If the players are paid it’s well within the realm of possibility that college sports would turn into an amateur version of the NBA. The elite institutions such as Duke and Kentucky ,who put 15 million dollars into their basketball programs, to create superteams like we see in the NBA. Our beloved March Madness would turn from something with cindarella stories into the tiny colleges being pounded by the heavily funded superteams. This in the end would most likely cause less viewership, like we saw in the bubble this season in the NBA, hurting the colleges as well as tbs and cbs’ pockets. The final point is that if the athletes are in desperate need of money they can play overseas but most student athletes decide not to because of the publicity colleges give these students. So, if everything is working out why change it?
Under NCAA rules student athletes are able to lose their scholarships after an injury, leaving them with the payment of their education and their hospital bills. The NFL does not allow teams to release players of their contracts while being injured, unless a settlement is made by the team and the player. An easy way for the NCAA to correct this problem is to pay the players a salary. If the players are granted a salary that would mean just like the NFL does they can create a settlement opportunity with the player possibly giving them enough money to cover their hospital bills and then some. The article above also shows how sometimes team doctors mess up and miss a serious injury. When that happens and they go to a second opinion, at their own expense, and it does reveal a serious injury those players have to pay for their recovery time. In the case of Hardrick, his scholarship was dropped and has severe knee pain to this day. What Huma’s goal is to try to help these cases and make sure these student athletes will never have to pay out of pocket for these injuries. Once again though we fall back into the fact that because these student athletes are not paid even if Huma succeeds in their goal they won’t be able to afford college without their scholarships forcing these once student athletes to drop out.
https://www.ncaa.org/static/champion/the-one-and-done-dilemma/
Due to the NCAAs subborn behavior towards paying student athletes universities will suffer the cost of top talents going to the NBA early. Yes this happened once before and required students to go to college for at least one year. However, the NBA has created a new policy in the G League (NBA’s minor league) allowing players to have one year in the development program while also being paid upwards of 500,000 dollars. Not only do we have the NBA making a change but in 2007 the NCAA required athletes to go to college for a year bringing about the one-and-done. In 2018 only 11 out of the 60 players drafted were seniors. Due to the NCAA not paying these student athletes and the age restriction on the NBA we see kids instead of staying all four years and getting a degree like many players did back in the 1980s, go one-and-done. If the NCAA were to pay the student athletes any sort of salary I think the one-and-done era would end and we would see more athletes going to the NBA as mature adults instead of kids who weren’t worried about getting an education. Many will say the scholarships are a way of paying the players yet the one-and-done era has basically ended those claims because these students don’t end up finishing their education.
In the end
Student athletes have lost the era of getting an education and without payment these student athletes won’t stay to get it. Their image and likeness is used for publicity of the school however they’re able to showcase their skills on a higher level being in college. These students are given many tools at their disposal to gain an education and let their skills shine on the brightest stage at the moment. 97.4% of these athletes will never make it but 100% of them are given the opportunity to show what they can do. So I ask you, should student athletes be paid?
Cosner Rhetoric 