Josefczyk 1

Josh Josefczyk

English 1201-507

Professor Barnes

24 March 2019

Should College Athletes Be Paid?

For the last decade people have thought of the idea of paying college athletes in addition

to their scholarship. The big name college players like the Zion Williamsons and the Trevor

Lawrences have sparked the origin of this idea with their incredible skills and the amount of

money they draw in for their respective schools. The NCAA prohibits any advertising or

merchandise sales for college athletes, so they do not earn any profit from those sorts of things.

Jerseys are sold that could have the player’s number on it, but does not include their name on the

back. College sports video games like NCAA Football were also put to a stop for these same

legal reasons. The NCAA does so much to keep the players from making any money whether it

is the things that were just stated or illegal recruiting, but the real question is--why do they not

just pay college athletes? College Athletes should be paid for the money and interest they

generate for their school and the NCAA.

All athletes work very hard to get good at their craft, but college athletes have to work

especially hard. They run a tight schedule everyday and have many more responsibilities than

just a regular student at a university. Their entire college life is consumed by the sport they play

and it is basically looked at as more important than the actual schooling, especially if you are a
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very good athlete that is looking to go pro. With the amount of time and dedication these players

put into their programs they can basically be considered employees of the college or NCAA.

Two Michigan State law professors named Robert and Amy McCormick argue that Division I

athletes could actually be considered employees under the federal labor laws (Cooper 2011).

Some argue that the Fair Labor Standards Act can consider a college athlete an employee at the

school. It is definitely a valid argument to be made considering they generate more revenue and

draw more attention to schools than any other employee on the entire staff.

Everything an athlete does makes them an employee. The only reason they are not an

employee is because they are not paid. Professional athletes are considered employees because

they are paid for playing their sport. College athletes play the sport but receive zero

compensation and are punished for breaking that rule.

Student athletes spend most of their college life training and playing their sport. Some

sports like football and hockey have serious dangers and risks that are taken everyday. Risks of

CTE and other head trauma and some major injuries that can affect someone for the rest of their

life. One of the reasons professional athletes get paid so much is because they risk their body.

College athletes play at a very similar level and risk the same body harm as a professional athlete

would but are not compensated for the risks they take for others entertainment. Some might say

it is even harder to be a student athlete than a professional because of the schedule and

responsibilities that they have. They have to somehow be able to balance school and athletics

along with other personal responsibilities they may have. These athletes have to give up so much

for a chance at a professional career. When they are suppose to wake up early to train then go to
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class, practice afterward, have team meal, study film, go to another class and then have to do

homework, it would be hard to have any personal or social life.

In the article, “A Solution to the Pay for Play Dilema of College Athletes”, Roger M.

Grooves explains his plan to solve this issue. “The proposal… has three tiers: (1) a threshold

eligibility for NIL (name, image, likeness) compensation based on compliance with NCAA

eligibility rules to receive and maintain a scholarship during the student-athlete’s playing days at

the university... (2) post-graduate entitlement to NIL funds based on certain contractual promises

to only use the funds for educational expenses consistent with the Ninth Circuit opinion; (3) after

receipt of NIL compensation, the rule would authorize a recapture of any NIL funds found to

have been used for unauthorized non-educational purposes” (Grooves 2016). There are many

companies that work with the NCAA like Electronic Arts when they made NCAA Football or

2K with NCAA Basketball. They were not allowed to use NIL in their games so that the players

would not be provided any money even though the numbers were the same and the players

looked and played similar to the real life athletes. People who bought the games knew who the

players were despite not including their actual names. Eventually the NCAA had to crack down

and stop companies from making those games to prevent any problems. These solutions stated

by Grooves are legitimate and could eventually be good options for the NCAA.

A recent example that has happened on the player NIL topic is about Virginia Cavalier

guard Kyle Guy. Kyle Guy recently got engaged the week his team was suppose to play in the

Final Four. He and his now fiance posted to registry to their wedding online. He was then asked

to remove the registry by the NCAA because they did not want his NIL from basketball to be

used for collecting compensation from his wedding. He was instructed by the team to make it
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private to insure no issues with the NCAA. In the end the whole situation ended up working out

and Kyle Guy and his fiance no longer have any issues on the subject. It is just another

experience that proves how much of a burden the NCAA really is and how much they crack

down on any compensation players recieve.

Another recent example of the same NIL issue involves Duke standout freshmen Zion

Williamson. The NCAA is looking into a claim that Nike had paid his mother. The claim is that

Nike had bribed Zion along with four other basketball players to attend schools sponsored by the

Nike brand. The NCAA has to deal with so many of these allegations per year because players

are being supposedly bribed to go to different schools. All of these allegations would come to a

standstill if the players would just start being able to receive compensation. The NCAA would

have less to worry about and colleges could probably end up getting more talented recruits.

There are so many different sources using player’s NIL it is hard to think that none of

these players make any money from it. Anything from video games to social media uses college

athletes to make money for themselves. Big name players can grow a huge following on

Instagram or Twitter from their play as athletes, but they do not receive any money from the

companies or get any sponsorships like most influencers do. Big time televised games or

tournaments like the NCAA Tournament or the National Championship in college football draw

in tons of money based off how the players play. Just one win in a tournament can draw in a ton

of money and growth of popularity for a college. In 2018, number 16 seed UMBC beat number 1

Virginia and were flooded with an increase of popularity and exposure. All of this resulted in

$33 million in just television, print and internet impressions not even to mention the share the

school gets for a win in the tournament.

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Although a lot of former college athletes and analysts have strong opinions on why these

athletes should be paid, there are still many counter claims that people have toward this issue.

Thomas Von Borstel from UWIRE weighs in saying, “The NCAA's failures will not change if

student-athletes are paid salaries. Paying student-athletes is akin to legalizing steroid use. To air

out the corruption only instigates deeper scandal and exploitation”(Von Borstel 2018). He is not

a former player so he does not have the same experience with the issue that others may have. He

bases his opinion mainly on the NCAA as a whole and the paying players issue as just an

additional problem with the NCAA. Him comparing paying players to steroids is a terrible

comparison that does not help his argument that student athletes should not be paid. There are a

lot of benefits that would come if student athletes were paid. Nothing healthy or beneficial would
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come of legalizing steroids in sports.

Figure 1. This chart is showing the average revenue generated by an FBS school in 14 different

sports (Nudelman 2017).

With issues like these there are so many viewpoints that people can take on the matter.

Corey J. Davis’s viewpoint is saying, “Don't pay college athletes... Wait a minute. Isn't the

purpose of college to provide an education?”(McDavis 2019). He takes the argument that college

is for education and not for giving jobs to athletes. It is a valid argument, but when colleges are

supposedly “non-profit” and end up bringing in millions every year because of their athletes they

recruit it stops being about education and more about sports. Do education programs at schools
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raise that much money? These athletes are being used for the money they bring in for the school

and the school is trying to say that they are repaying the athletes by giving them free education.

Education does not cost multi millions of dollars.

In conclusion, college athletes need to be paid. They put their time and bodies on

the line for a school who pays them back with free education. Free education is nothing

compared to the millions of dollars the schools pull in every year being nonprofit and not being

taxed. Paying players would also be able to solve a bunch of problems probing the NCAA. So

many scandals of paying players while recruiting would all be solved if every school could

legally pay the players. The schools would also be able to keep the best athletes in college for

more than one year. The only reason the great athletes even go to college is because they have to

before they go pro. The one and done rule would be dramatically affected if players were

influenced to stay more than one years with an actual salary to support themselves and their

family.
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Works Cited

Bush, Joel. “Student or Professional Athlete - Tax Implications in the United States If College

Athletes Were to Be Classified as Paid Employees.” ​Labor Law Journal,​ vol. 68, no. 1,

Spring 2017, pp. 58–63. ​EBSCOhost,​

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=​https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=bth&AN=121769969&site=eds-live​.

Cooper, Kenneth J. “Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play? Michigan State Law Professors

Robert and Amy McCormick Say Division I College Athletes Qualify as ‘Employees’

under Federal Labor Laws.” ​Diverse Issues in Higher Education​, no. 10, 2011, p. 12.

EBSCOhost​,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=​https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.267608796&site=eds-live​.

DeVenzio, D. “College Athletes Should Be Paid: Viewpoint 3.” ​In Egendorf, L.K. (Ed.), Sports

and Athletes, San Diego, Calif., Greenhaven Press, C1999, p.73-77;188.,​ 1999.

EBSCOhost​,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=​https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=s3h&AN=SPHS-916339&site=eds-live​.

Groves, Roger M. “A Solution for the Pay for Play Dilemma of College Athletes: A Novel

Compensation Structure Tethered to Amateurism and Education.” ​Texas Review of

Entertainment & Sports Law​, vol. 17, no. 2, Spring 2016, pp. 101–143. ​EBSCOhost​,
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sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=​https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=s3h&AN=118306657&site=eds-live​.

McDavis, Cody J. “Should College Athletes Be Paid?” ​The New York Times,​ 2019, p. A22.

EBSCOhost​,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=​https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=edsgov&AN=edsgcl.577336192&site=eds-live​.

Nocera, Joe, and Bob Williams. “Should College Athletes Be Paid?” ​Junior Scholastic,​ vol. 119,

no. 10, Mar. 2017, p. 22. ​EBSCOhost,​

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=​https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

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prh&AN=121561103&site=eds-live.

Nudleman, Mike “NCAA Average Revenue by Sport.” ​Business Insider,​ Business Insider, 5 Oct.

2017, www.businessinsider.com/college-sports-football-revenue-2017-10.

“Video: College Athletes Should Be Paid, Ex-UCLA Star Says.” ​Bloomberg Television Video

Content,​ CriticalMention, Inc., 2013.

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=edsgea&AN=edsgcl.325374247&site=eds-live, ​EBSCOhost,​

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=​https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=edsgea&AN=edsgcl.325374247&site=eds-live​.

Von Borstel, Thomas. “Should Student-Athletes Be Paid? One from TU Weighs In.” ​UWIRE

Text,​ 2018. ​EBSCOhost,​

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b=edsggo&AN=edsgcl.530807256&site=eds-live​.

Weiss, Maddie, and Nathan Noble. “Should College Athletes Be Paid?” ​Scholastic News/Weekly

Reader Edition 4​, no. 18, 2018, p. 7. ​EBSCOhost​,

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b=edsggo&AN=edsgcl.533245349&site=eds-live.

Zalan, Kira. “Should College Student-Athletes Be Paid?” ​U.S. News & World Report Weekly,​ no.

52, 2013, p. 17. ​EBSCOhost​,

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b=edsggo&AN=edsgcl.356647672&site=eds-live​.