Money: How Much Should Student Athletes Receive?
- Hayden Sturgell
- Nov 16, 2015
- 5 min read
Since the beginning of college sports, student athletes have only been allowed to receive a waiver covering tuition, room and board, and books. It has been a rule that no athlete should receive any type of payment other than what the scholarship is allowed to cover. However, if they are caught receiving any other payment or gifts, athletic suspension and removal of the scholarship will take place. But with additional expenses that are expected to be paid by the athlete from their pocket, an additional payment has become necessary and needs to be granted to cover these cost.
The past two decades have been the best and the worst for the NCAA. With all the upcoming fame in collegiate sports, the NCAA is now bringing in more money than its ever seen since the beginning in 1910. In just the past year, the NCAA brought in more money than it did in approximately any decade from the 1950’s through the 1980’s. The rise in broadcasting aided a boost to national popularity. Now, people are not restricted to just seeing, or hearing about the locals playing. They can see or hear any game going on across the nation. With the rise and all the success, the NCAA has recently acquired, some of their original roots are beginning to swat towards change. Of all the points dating back to the beginning of NCAA, the payment of student athletes beyond scholarship has really gained attention.
Although, the payment of players would make great sacrifices and be a major problem, there should be some sort of extra enhancement to just the academic scholarship they have received. The athletes are bringing in revenue for the college and its funding. They do what they are asked and told in order to retain this scholarship year after year. By doing this, they should be paid and there are reasons to why they should. The main reason to which athletes deserve pay is because they are employees for the college. Not one employee in the world does not receive pay for their work. No one works for free. According to Robert McCormick, former attorney for the National Relations Labor Board, “Common law has three tests: the right of others to control a person’s activities, whether that person is compensated and if that person is economically dependent on that compensation.” (para. 20). If the athlete meets all three of the laws that classifies them as a citizen, McCormick believes that they deserve the pay of an employee. McCormick also feels that, “There are more demands put on these young men than any employee of the university” (para. 2). He feels as if these players are held to higher standards than any other employee that works for a college. If they fit the three laws and are held to these standards, they should be classified an employee and receive pay.
The athletes of these colleges are employees and the NCAA is the company they work for. The NCAA has seen dramatic increases in the amount of money that has been collected eachyear since 2004. Just considering football, in 2004, the NCAA brought in a total revenue of 28.3 million dollars. In 2013, the NCAA brought in a total of 61.9 million dollars. That is a difference between the years of 33.6 million dollars. The rise in revenue is due to several factors: television contracts and sponsorships, 39 football bowl games, and now, a 4 team playoff. The value of a dollar now is nowhere near what it was in 2004, making the numbers skew a little, because the 61.9 million dollars now would account for 48.2 million dollars in 2004, that is a difference of 13.7 million dollars. That is nearly an increase of half the amount that is just brought in by football. In 2013, there were 611 football players who received scholarships, meaning each player potentially brought in roughly $102,000. With that income, the players should be able to receive their share of the money considering its their name that puts on the school’s colors and brings it in through fan bases (Sanderson, Siegfried, pg. 119).
Furthermore, athletes do not necessarily have a say in what they want to receive a major in, which impacts the rest of their lives after their sports career ends. Amy McCormick states, “Athletes don’t have free choice of what major they take if the classes conflict with practice schedules, and that’s one fact that flies in the face of the idea that they’re primarily students and secondarily athletes.” (para. 5). If the athlete cannot even decide what he or she wants to be after sports, then how is it their choice of what they want to do? When not being able to decide what they want to become because of an interference with a sport, proves they are working under the college, who puts them somewhere that works around their practices and games. When the path of an athlete gets paved by the athletics, they are basically following orders from the boss, which justifies they are an athlete before a student.
Even though the athletic scholarship may cover the cost of tuition, including room and board, books, and fees, it does not cover the complete cost of attendance. The elements listed may seem to be all that is needed to pay for a higher education, but it is slightly off. Additional money is required to cover the objects not in fine print. Former NCAA President Myles Brand even stated, “Ideally, the value of an athletically related scholarship would be increased to cover the full-cost of attendance, calculated at between $2,000 to $3000 more per year than is currently provided, I favor this approach of providing the full cost of attendance.” (para. 24). Therefore, there are additional cost that are not accounted for in the scholarship that are left for the athlete to cover. According to Dr. Dennis Johnson, “However, even with a full scholarship, an athlete will have to pay somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000 out of pocket to bridge the cost-of-living gap. Therefore, the full athletic scholarship does not provide a “free” education.” (para. 25). Therefore, an extra payment beyond scholarship would be necessary in order for the athlete topay for these expenses such as travel, sundries, and other expenses paid out of pocket by the athlete that the scholarship does not cover.
In conclusion, the NCAA’s original supporting laws need come to an end or at least some minor changes be made, accompanying that things have changed over the past century. The NCAA needs to realize that these athletes are more than the average student. In the world today, things change from year to year. The roots of the NCAA jurisdiction have stayed implanted since in 1910, but need to be uprooted so new seeds can be planted.
