Why and How College Athletes Should be Paid Student E

Why and How College Athletes Should be Paid Kevin Ware’s Injury & Exploitation Reasons that college athletes are not paid Response Reasons colleges athletes should be paid Popular proposed system Solution Questions Works Cited

Kevin Ware’s Injury

Ware’s Injury Exploited (“Kevin Ware”)

Reasons Athletes are Not Paid NCAA Considers them amateurs – “Student First” “Student-Athlete” Ernest Nemeth vs. University of Denver – Colorado Supreme Court, 1953 (McCormick) “Prevent the dreaded notion that NCAA athletes could be thought of as employees” – NCAA Exec. Dir. Walter Byers (qtd. in McCormick) Response “Student First” claim is untrue Athletes pick classes and majors around sports schedule (Cooper) Western Oklahoma State College (Wolverton) Athletes are employees (McCormick) Control, economic relationship, work leads to profit

Reasons Athletes are Not Paid Scholarships can be worth $80,000 and $150,000 (Ford) Many see this as fair payment Most college athletes receive no scholarship money (Ford) Scholarship value does not compare to revenue that the players bring their schools (Miller) Many believe the massive amounts that athletes make as professionals justifies the fact that they are not paid in college Most college athletes do not play professional sports (“NCAA Public Service Announcement”)

Why College Athletes Should be Paid Ticket sales and broadcasting rights bring in massive sums of money Michigan Football sold $70 million worth of tickets in 2011 (Michigan Ticket Prices; NCAA Attendance Report) NCAA makes $125 million a year for broadcasting rights to BCS games NCAA makes $771 million a year for broadcasting rights to NCAA Tournament NCAA and schools profit from jersey sales Schools only sell jerseys with numbers of star players Professional athletes are paid for sales of their jerseys

Why College Athletes Should be Paid Division I College Athlete Graduation rates (NCAA Research Staff)

Why College Athletes Should be Paid Paying athletes will raise graduation rates College athletes have no time to make money Talented football and basketball players leave school early to play professionally NBA Draft Statistics (NBA Draft History) Last college graduate selected first: Kenyon Martin in 2000 None of the first 16 picks in 2012 graduated 9 of the last 10 American-born first overall picks attended college for 1 year or less If the athletes were paid in school, they would have less reason to leave school early, and more would graduate.

Popular Proposed System Universities directly pay the students Flat pay rate for all players Schools without funds to pay players could cut less popular sports and decrease the amount of scholarships to make more money available (Dohrmann) Not an ideal scenario

Solution Remove rules preventing college athletes from making money off of their name and likeness NCAA will be able to use player names for sales, and the players will receive a portion This will increase: Jersey and t-shirt sales Videogame sales Allow players to sign endorsement deals Athletic companies would be willing to pay college athletes to appear in advertisements Could lead to a step toward parity

Conclusion College athletes put in hours of work and make millions for their schools, often risking their health and well-being. These athletes need to be paid, and the best possible solution is to lift some of the rules that prevent players from being able to make money.

Questions Do you agree that college athletes should be paid? Do you agree that the best way to pay them is by allowing them to make money from sales and endorsements?

Works Cited Cooper, Kenneth J. "Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play? Michigan State Law Professors Robert and Amy McCormick Say Division I Athletes Qualify as 'Employees' Under Federal Labor Laws." Diverse Issues in Higher Education 28.10 (2011): 12. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. Dohrmann, George. “Pay for Play.” Sports Illustrated 115.18 (2011): 52-59. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Ford, William J. “Even Playing Field? Winning Athletic Program Can Bring Millions of Dollars and Instant Notoriety to A School. But Some Say College Athletes are Getting Played in the Process.” Diverse Issues in Higher Education 28.6 (2011): 11. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21 Feb. 2013 Hayes, Chris. “Fat Profits at NCAA while Athletes Play for Free.” msnbc. 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2013. “Kevin Ware T-shirts Pulled by Adidas.” Sporting News. 5. Apr. 2013. Web. 9 Apr. 2013. “Michigan Athletics Announces Ticket Prices for 2011 Season.” MGoBlue. University of Michigan, 14 Mar 2011. Web. 21 Feb 2013.

Works Cited Miller, Anthony W. “NCAA Division I Athletics: Amateurism and Exploitation.” The Sport Journal 14.1 (2011). Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. “NBA Draft History.” National Basketball Association. 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 6 Mar. 2013. NCAA. “NCAA Public Service Announcement.” Online video clip. YouTube, 24 Apr. 2008. Web. 16 Apr. 2013. “NCAA Accumulated Attendance Report.” Oracle Reports. 10 Jan 2012. Web. 21 Feb 2013. NCAA Research Staff. “Trends in Graduation-Success Rates and Federal Graduation Rates at NCAA Division I Institutions.” National Collegiate Athletic Association. Oct. 2012. Web. 4 Apr. 2013. Wolverton, Brad. "Need 3 Quick Credits to Play Ball? Call Western Oklahoma." The Chronicle of Higher Education 59.12 (2012). Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.