Payday

Last week we explored the possibility of taking away scholarships in order to affect student athlete performance. However, this week the topic lies at the opposite end of the spectrum. What would happen if college athletes received additional compensation for their efforts outside of scholarships? This would change the entire scope of college athletics.

By giving college athletes money, it would allow them to focus more on their academic lives. Several collegiate level athletes are desperate for money. They come from poor and underprivileged families. Therefore, they are less inclined to perform well academically simply due to the fact that they must make it to the pro level as soon as possible in order to start making money. The benefit of paying college athletes would be that it could prevent this from happening and allow student athletes to be students as well.

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This system would without a doubt be possible due to the fact that the NCAA makes a ridiculous amount of money. During March Madness alone, the NCAA makes almost one billion dollars. During the final four, they make $700,000 for a simple 30 second ad. These are simply astounding numbers, and universities that perform well often get a cut of these large earnings on top of what the university already makes on their athletic programs.

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However, if the problem is money then there are still other options. Players could be compensated by their worth and popularity. For example, only those athletes who do well and receive endorsements and outside funding opportunities will receive compensation during their collegiate years. They would simply collect all the money that they make. If an athlete is able to receive an endorsement from Nike or Under Armour at the collegiate level then they are able to collect all of their earnings. This only makes sense due to the fact that the endorsement entirely comes based on the player’s level of ability.

Nevertheless, there are still those that would argue that college athletes should not be paid. However, even from a legal aspect it seems that the NCAA and colleges around the nation should be required to pay their athletes. An article in the Chicago Tribune argues that the NCAA limits player compensation. When looking at this from a business aspect it is a violation of section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Therefore, by law the NCAA and universities are required to allow athlete endorsements and are obligated to share their wealth with their athletes.

Recently, a story regarding this issue came to light. Star LSU running back, Leonard Fournette, was accused of selling merchandise of his own, which is currently in violation of NCAA rules. The accusation is that Fournette’s family established a website in which they attempted to sell autographed merchandise from the athlete. Fournette has since been placed under investigation regarding his involvement in this incident. However, people came to look at it a very different way. Why shouldn’t the running back be able to sign merchandise with his own signature on it? His performance as a player are what gives that signature any worth in the first place.

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Nevertheless, to this day student athletes are still losing this battle. Courts have ruled against them a countless amount of times. This has greatly affected the scope of the student athlete dilemma. Whenever athletes only have money on their mind they simply cannot receive a full college education. This cause them to only remain in college for 1 or 2 years at the most. They want to make it to the pros and make money as soon as possible. Education has seemingly become irrelevant to them.

Overall, it is obvious that there is a problem with student athletes not being the best students in collegiate sports. The thought of paying them may actually fix the problem. However, it could also cause them to become greedy and as a result want to go on to the professional level even more. So perhaps money may not be the solution at all. There are various setbacks to paying athletes as well. However, this is a topic for a different post. Now it seems that the choice of paying college athletes seems inevitable.