College Athletes Deserve to be Paid for the Valuable Services That They Provide to the Athletic Department and University

In today’s society, there is constant debate on whether or not college athletes deserve to be paid for their services. This issue resonates across the country, affecting both coasts and everything in between. With athletic scandals infecting the sanctity of college campuses at an alarming rate, and the perceived exploitation of naïve and innocent adolescents compounding the desperate situation it is clear that there is only one choice, and that is to in fact compensate these kids. 

The real meaning of a Collegiate “Student-Athlete”

A collegiate “student-athlete” is defined as a participant in an organized competitive sport sponsored by the educational institution in which he or she is enrolled.

A college athlete must dedicate almost all of his or her time to practices, workouts, and games - and this is all year round; there is no vacation – there is no off-season.  Invaluable time that could be spent in the library preparing for exams or furthering their career prospects off of the field is instead spent in the gym to get bigger and stronger. Precious free time outside of classes and organized team activities is often controlled by coaches who encourage and implicitly mandate a further commitment to their craft. 

On top of this enormous commitment, these full-time students must juggle all of the homework they receive and the studying that is regularly required in order to keep up with their classes. Quite frankly, this puts these “student-athlete’s” behind the eight ball when it comes to their grades and studies.

Benefits from Scholarships, in addition to differences in sports, present issues on why “Student-Athletes” don’t deserve to be paid

Although most of the signs indicate that “student-athletes” do in fact deserve to be paid, there are reasons that exist that would try and prove otherwise.

According to Dennis Johnson and John Acquaviva at “The Sport Journal” A scholarship already covers the cost of tuition, room, board, and textbooks among other things. In addition to those benefits, playing a sport for a university also entitles you to “other benefits to the athlete include the regular use of pristine gyms, well-manicured fields, athlete-only (and often team-only) workout facilities, sports medicine care, the opportunity to travel via away games, specialized meal plans and free foot gear and athletic attire. These are already more benefits that a “student-athlete” receives than that of a typical college student.

Adam Beissel, Lecturer of Physical Cultural Studies in the Department of Kinesiology here on the campus of the University of Maryland, weighed in with his take on what a scholarship already entails.

With Professor Beissel’s comments in mind, it all ties back into the argument that college is a privilege that is not given, but earned. It is a shortsighted and narrow-minded belief that paying Student-Athletes would solve long-term issues. Education is money within itself and if you can get a quality education, there is no reason to believe that you can’t translate that into future success. 

Another aspect that hinders the argument in favor of having college athletes get paid lies in the hands of the monumental, yet sometimes controversial ruling of Title IX. Because of Title IX, which forbids gender discrimination in all aspects of college, college universities would have to compensate every single athlete the school has whether they are male or female and also importantly, whether or not they are a revenue sport or a non-revenue sport. Because this deals with the law, it makes it very hard for universities to come up with a way around this issue.

Adam Beissel again goes on to discuss how you would have to go about paying athletes whether it be based on their individual value or if it would be a stipend across the board.

He acknowledges it is an uphill task and mentions that if it was “a simple solution we would have probably arrived at it already.” With that being said, he acknowledges that it is difficult to pay everyone equal value considering the fact that not all the teams are revenue-generating sports, which would then lead to discrepancy’s in pay.

Money talks, it’s time to listen: Many problems have arisen from lack of pay. 

Although it may seem that there may be more of a case in favor of not paying “student-athletes”, there are just as many reasons to refute that argument and plead the case in favor of “student-athletes” receiving compensation.

One example of a reason on why they do deserve to get paid stems from money coming in one way or another, whether it be under the table or in plain sight. Because the universities cannot legally pay the players now, many scandals have surfaced stemming from unauthorized payments and improper benefits being doled out to underprivileged teenagers, enticing them to come play at their school (with hope that there will be more where that came from).

The recent booster scandal that surfaced at The University of Miami (FL) exemplifies just the scenario being described. Although the University of Miami may not have been able to offer the best academic environment or the best chance to win on the football field, they were able to make up for it in improper benefits, which included not only monetary benefits of thousands of dollars, but also valuable possessions such as cars and other significant objects.

Another issue that arises is when prominent, upper-level athletes are struck with devastating, career-ending injuries. These Student-Athletes, in many cases, invest their life hopes and dreams into the school’s athletic program, often sacrificing their bodies and their health in a manner that can shatter their dreams dramatically. 

A perfect example of this was recently reported in the news. Marcus Lattimore, a sophomore running back at the University of South Carolina recently suffered his second major knee injury in as many seasons. Marcus was a high profile player until this injury knocked the wind out of his sails. He was a Heisman candidate, a great individual, and not to mention had the highest selling jersey in the school, with hundreds of thousands of fans donning his number 5 (even though you can’t brand name athletes in college).

Marcus’ future was football-dependent and now doctors are speculating that he could potentially never set foot on a football field again. Boom! Now all of that is gone in the instant twist of a leg. No compensation, only a hug and “I’m sorry” and then it is on to the next piece of meat for the program. Here is a young man who put so much of his heart and soul into his craft, his passion, and now he is being forced to suffer an uncertain future for the rest of his life.

Professional athletes are compensated for situations like this, college coaches are compensated for this, and there is no doubt that these Student-Athletes deserve the same type of compensation. 

To further back these claims, there was a recent study done entitled “The Price of Poverty in Big Time College Sport” which reported that almost half of FBS colleges were caught violating rules between the time span of 2001-2010. 

In addition to those findings, it was recorded also that at the “University of Texas, their football players fair market value was $513,922 in 2010 but they lived $778 below the federal poverty line and had a $3,624 scholarship shortfall.”

Through this it is evident that these big time athletes in college sports receive a substantial amount less than what they are actually worth.

“Student-Athlete’s” Bring in the Cash; Therefore they Deserve to Make the Cash

Whether it is believed or not, the “student-athlete’s” on campus are generating most of the revenue for the athletic programs and the universities.

A prime example of universities taking advantage of the popularity of their Student-Athletes to gain handsome financial benefits took place at Duke University when then student JJ Redick was a basketball star there.

Andrew Zivic of Imprint Magazine stated “School officials, however, have no problem exploiting well known players to make money for themselves. Technically, the number on a college basketball or football jersey is supposed to represent the whole team, not an individual. If a person goes to buy a Duke shirt, though, the only choice offered is number four, which is, of course, Redick’s. Duke officials do not mind profiting from the use of Redick's number, but he makes no money from his jersey sales. The same thing happens with college football and basketball video games. The numbers are supposed to be random, but most of the numbers in the game are the same as the athletes on the different teams. People buy the games knowing that they can be their favorite players because the numbers will match up with the stars of the team. Millions of dollars are made off of video game and jersey sales every year. The players who market those products with their play on the courts and fields do not see any money from the marketing opportunities they create.”

Although that example dates a few years back, this exploitation is still going on today. In the bookstore here on campus of the University of Maryland, just as recently as one semester ago, the two basketball jerseys being sold were number 5 and number 25, which happened to be worn on the men’s basketball team by their two best players Nick Faust, and lottery pick Alex Len, respectively. The bottom line is, these players should be respected and rewarded in a proper manner because if it weren’t for these young men, the immense revenue that the school pulls in would be substantially lower.

Adam Beissel again was asked his opinion on whether or not he believed “student-athlete’s” deserve to be compensated and he was steadfast in his belief that they do deserve some sort of compensation.

That being said, rather than recognizing and legitimizing the value that the Student-Athletes bring to the universities, the powers that be have created a flawed system that protects the financial stream of money to the universities at the expense of the “Student-Athlete”, failing to recognize that the psyche and physical well-being of many adolescents are being put at risk.  

Unfortunately, this often results in college athletes getting paid in less than honorable ways – whether or not the NCAA wants to acknowledge it. It is time to end the argument once and for all and pay these “student-athletes".

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