The Paradox of the Student-Athlete

The NCAA is the most significant collegiate student-athletic program in the world. However, it did start from humble beginnings, with directors coming together for the sake of their students.

According to Taylor Branch, "In 1906, as a response to Theodore Roosevelt's lack of interest in college football, universities across the United States created the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States. The main focus to protect players in collegiate sports; they however changed their names to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)."

The focus changed over in the 1950s; however, as the prices of attending colleges and the impact of television increased, the programs' financial stability began to collapse. Nevertheless, along with this came a new president in the form of Walter Byers-the main reason why we have to have this conversation today.

He created a new law after World War II to " help" colleges and universities part of the NCAA; he called it the "Sanity Code." The Sanity Code allowed schools to award scholarships to prospective athletes, but only based on need - and even then, the scholarships were limited to tuition and incidental expenses (Sanderford and Siegfried).

In 2006, women's sports came under the NCAA's purview. During the 1980s, precipitating decades of sparring over the Title IX amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1972 - requiring gender equity in higher education (Branch).

What changed between then and now? Why is it important to keep the illusion of amateurism? First, the growth of television fostered unprecedented expansion in broadcast revenues; exposure via television also nudged the industry from one of local or regional interest to a national market.

This led to an explosion in the number of contests, televised games, and changes in the time of day or day of the week to accommodate endless broadcast and cable demands for lucrative live-sports programming (Branch).

So again, while it is one of the best nationwide organizations, most competitors go head to head to see who is the best. Only one percent of players make it to the pros. No one gets paid, workman's compensation, sponsorships, merchandise deals, and not even a good education.

These players give everything to be a part of the NCAA, yet they are shown nothing in return zero to one percent of the time. So for those reasons, college athletes should get a stipend. So why is that; these are three primary reasons why college athletes should be paid.

The athletes are expected to give up their rights in the name of amateurism. When the NCAA recruits players for division one sports at their colleges, they are given "forms," or a contract. In these "forms," it is outlined that the students are admitting to their amateur status, giving up all compensation for playing, and have agreed to abide by a mountain of rules in a +400-page manual (Long).

Students that play division-level sports get paid in the form of an "education"; it depends on where you go. It has been said that students can spend up to twelve hours a day in the sport of choice, a day. However, with meetings, workouts, practices, games, and so much more, these students are still expected to provide a good education, attend classes, and pass all exams without missing a beat.

The Cartel Behavior and Amateurism in College Sports states, "Almost all collegiate athletes are not afforded that flexibility by their coaches or athletic departments. As a result, many sports, including the significant revenue-producing sports of football and men's basketball, are comparable to full-time jobs.

When meals, study hall, practices, travel to and from games, the games themselves, film study, and meetings are considered; that is a massive chunk of a student-athlete's week in season. It is also helpful to note that this does not include attending classes and meetings around academics, which are an integral part of any student-athlete staying eligible.

Out of season, a student-athlete must maintain his/her eligibility, continue to make strides toward graduation, perfect their craft, attend practices, and often stay on campus for summer school. Compared with the demands of a typical full-time job and against other students' requirements and time constraints, it appears clear that student-athletes undoubtedly put in the time and effort to be continuously employed."

This backs up the evidence by explaining the many responsibilities from an athlete's perspective. Nevertheless, things can be worse; there have been cases of schools giving things to their student-athletes because they value sports more than the degree. Moreover, one major documented case of the infamous paper classes scandal.

For instance, the University of North Carolina used paper classes to get their athletes by. According to a USA Report, "While an initial internal study by UNC found 54 aberrant classes in the Department of Afro and African-American Studies (AFAM) from 2007–11, Martin's review expanded that to 216-course sections "with proven or potential anomalies" in the department dating back to 1997."

According to the report, the percentage of student-athletes in those classes was consistent with that of student-athletes in all classes in the AFAM department. Four hundred fifty-four suspected unauthorized grade changes were found in the department during that time. Fewer than ten were made per academic year until 2000–01, spiking from 2003–2007, when the majority were discovered.

The Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes (ASPSA), the subject of study in Sept. 2011, was not found to have colluded with instructors or administrators to steer athletes to no-show classes. Nevertheless, ASPSA employees were aware of specific AFAM courses called "term paper courses" in which there was little to no instruction and only a requirement of writing a 20–25 page paper at the end of the term."

This proves that the idea of trading money for education is entirely underhanded and can be used to advance many educators. An education is not a way to pay someone, especially when the education is stale or it becomes too much for the individual. Nevertheless, that is not why some students get involved with sports; they have unique opportunities, like dealing with the coaches!

Students have the opportunity to learn from world-renowned coaches from across the country; the coaches, however, turn out to be less than stellar. Many videos are floating around the web of college coaches abusing their players, threatening to kill them, insulting their manhood, assaulting them with their sports gear, and even cursing at them to the point it makes your ears bleed.

According to Sanderson and Siefirgend, "Several college coaches have gained celebrity status and corresponding compensation packages. For example, among head football coaches, Alabama's Nick Saban earns over $7 million annually. Ohio State's Urban Meyer has a base salary of $4.6 million per year, not counting numerous incentive clauses. Among head basketball coaches, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski earns $9.7 million per year, and Kentucky's John Calipari is above $7 million per year.

The median head football coach among the 126 Football Bowl Subdivision institutions earned $1.9 million in 2013; the comparable head basketball coach's salary was $1.2 million. As a result, Ohio State's Urban Meyer is sidelined. At the same time, his school tries to discern whether or not he acted appropriately in handling the domestic abuse allegations against wide receiver coach Zach Smith.

At Maryland, head coach D.J. Durkin is also on leave. At the same time, the program deals with the fallout of disturbing allegations of player abuse in the wake of the death of lineman Jordan McNair. Strength coach Rick Court is no longer with the school, and more changes could be pending."

Nevertheless, it is horrible that the coaches can be paid upwards of 7.5 million dollars and abuse payless children that want to be professional athletes. However, that is because the schools cannot afford to pay for the salaries kids would want, but that is not entirely true either.

Many colleges and universities claim to be in poverty. However, due to a loophole in the rules of spending at those same establishments, schools keep their profits off the books while buying luxuries for the same athletes they are "unable" to pay. Various reports say, "With so many people paying for tickets and watching on television, college sports has become Very Big Business.

According to various reports, the football teams at Texas, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Penn State - to name just a few big-revenue football schools - each earn between $40 million and $80 million in profits a year, even after paying coaches multimillion-dollar salaries.

This is also followed up by Branch, "First, many college athletes are admitted to schools to which they might not otherwise have access, and where they receive high-level coaching, training, and media exposure, thus enhancing their future earning power.

Of course, college may have more minor benefits for those who do not graduate. Low graduation rates in big-time athletic programs have received considerable publicity. However, overall, graduation rates for athletes and nonathletes are pretty similar. Suppose the cost of providing these indirect benefits is high enough. In that case, the total compensation to players might indeed equal their marginal revenue product.

However, at least for the top stars, the marginal revenue product figures and the evidence of under-the-table payments cited earlier suggest that even after taking into account schools' costs of training and the like, total labor payments would still be less than marginal revenue products,"

This backs up the statement that schools will tend to use money in different ways in order to keep their status. However, they will also find different people to help best represent their "mission" in keeping what they hold dear.

The problems from there only get worse because people depend on their scholarships. That is their way through school. So what happens to injured players doing their seasons or can no longer play due to the sport? Nothing (Long).

However, what about the players who make it? It will pay off for them in the end. However, the worst part about that fact is that only two percent of the people who play collegiate sports become professional athletes in their fields, even less for women. The thing about all this is; that no one is saying you need to pay them millions, the exact amounts (based on value), or that all schools need to play their players. However, the idea that no one gets paid when work-study students receive $10 per hour is unsettling.

Moreover, doing nothing at all is not working anymore with student debt through the roof, and retention rates at an all-time low; to do nothing at all, is letting the problem become a disease. This needs to be addressed quickly in the upcoming years because these events are getting bigger, yet the students stay in a paradox.

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Works Cited

Branch, Taylor, "The Shame of College Sports." The Atlantic, The Atlantic Monthly Group, October 2011. http://www.workplacebullying.org/multi/pdf/branch.pdf

Fraley, Oscar, " Bigger Paychecks Make Bears Pick over Buckeyes." The Evening News, United Press Sports. October 1950.

Kahn, Lawrence, "Cartel Behavior and Amateurism in College Sports." N/A, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2007. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.21.1.209

Long, James, "Legal Analysis of NCAA Student-Athletes Worker's Compensation Status." Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange, University of Tennessee, December 2017. https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=3179&context=utk_chanhonoproj

Sanderson, Allen and John, Siegfried, "The Case of Paying College Athletes." N/A, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2015. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.29.1.115