SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID?

Should College Athletes Be Paid? A Bibliographic Essay Caleb Krueger Ottawa University

Author Note This paper was prepared for Research Techniques and Technologies, taught by Jan Lee.

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? Abstract Over the course of the past 20 or so years, a major topic in the sports world has been whether or not collegiate student-athletes should be paid or compensated for their play. Sides have been

taken, and the battle has raged on. Sports journalists around the world argue the topic, with some saying that college athletes should be paid because they dedicate over 50 hours a week to their sport and the NCAA hoards the billions and billions of dollars that they receive from marketing their athletes. The opposing side takes a much different approach, saying that collegiate studentathletes are students first and need to focus on school before they worry about making millions as a professional. The idea an amateur athlete has also become a trending topic in this argument. With the recent news of the Northwestern Univeristy football team winning a labor suit allowing them-- as well as all other college athletes--to unionize, the sports world could now start to see a lot more lawsuits along with possible reform from the NCAA. This essay will give resources and articles from a range of journalists that have different takes on the subject as well as what they believe should be done about this growing social issue.

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID?

Should College Athletes be Paid? A Bibliographic Essay With the topic of pay-for-play becoming a very relevant topic over the past two decades, many different ideas and opinions have been submitted to the public by anyone from top notch sports reporters to everyday people. This article will split the many different opinions into two major groups for study: 1. Why college athletes shouldnt be paid.

2. Why college athletes should be paid. Even though opinions will vary, they will all fall into these two very distinct categories. Each article will give an in-depth look into why college athletes should or shouldnt be paid.

Why College Athletes Shouldnt be Paid In an article titled Large majority opposes playing NCAA athletes, Washington PostABC News poll finds written by Alex Prewitt (2013) (a former ESPN columnist and University of Maryland athletics reporter), Prewitt reports on a poll that was conducted on the general public, asking whether or no they believe college athletes should be paid. Prewitt found that the poll said that a majority of the general public did not think that college athletes should be paid. Prewitt also reports on the many different demographic results that also came from the poll. This article is useful because it gives great information on what the general public thinks/feels about this topic, as well as differences in the votes for varying races, economic statuses, and genders.

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? Horace Mitchell and Marc Edelman (2013) co-wrote the article titled Should College Student-Athletes be paid? In this article, Mitchell and Edelman talk about both sides of the argument, splitting their article into the simple headings, YES and NO. Under the NO heading of the article, Horace Mitchell digs deep into the roots of the problem, reminding the

reader why student comes before athlete in the phrase student-athlete. Mitchell goes on to give many reasons as to why college athletes should remain un-paid. This article is very useful to anyone writing a research paper because it gives an in-depth look into both sides of the argument. In an article titled College athletes already have advantages and shouldnt be paid, written by Paul Daugherty of The Cincinnati Enquirer for Sports Illustrated.com, Daugherty explains reasons why he believes college athletes already receive an insane amount of incentives from being involved in Division 1 NCAA college athletics and how they do not need to be paid a salary. Daugherty talks about all of the incentives that college athletes receive, such as full-ride scholarships, free team-gear, and even private jet accommodations to away games. He also points out that most high level college-athletes use college as an audition for the pros, and explains what that means for college-athletes. Daugherty does an amazing job in this article of supplying the reader/researcher with many reasons as to why college athletes do not need to be paid. John Feinstein (2014) of The Washington Post wrote an article titled College athletes arent demanding pay; theyre demanding a voice; the NCAA would be wise to give them one, which explains how college-athletes arent really asking to be compensated for their play, but instead to simply be given a voice in the NCAA. Feinstein explains how the Northwestern football team that recently won a labor dispute with the National Labor Relations Board is not

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? asking for money like most people believe. Feinstein goes on to explain the things that collegeathletes are really asking for, such as more rights and a bigger voice in what the athletes are allowed to do. He also discusses the comments made by NCAA President Mark Emmert on Face the Nation, and how those comments did not help the NCAAs cause. Feinstein does a fantastic job going in depth on the subject and letting people know what it is that the Northwestern football team is really asking for.

Jeffrey Dorfman (2013), a contributor on Forbes.com and a former college athlete as well as former member of an athletic association board of directors, wrote an article titled Pay College Athletes? Theyre Already Paid Up To $125,000 Per Year. This article talks about how much money and incentives come from being a high level college-athlete. Dorfman goes on to explain many indirect forms of pay that college-athletes truly receive, such as free tuition, books, room and board, tutoring, and meal plans. Dorfman also explains how the best collegeathletes are even put into the easiest classes that they can take in order to simply stay eligible. Dorfman does a great job in this article of explaining his credibility first, and then moving on to what he believes from not only his own experiences but also things that he has discovered through his research into the topic. All of these articles may have the same opinion, but they also have much different forms of that opinion. Each author does a great job of explaining themselves as well as their beliefs about why college athletes shouldnt be paid. From Jeffery Dorfman saying that college athletes receive their pay in the form of scholarships, to Paul Daugherty saying that college athletes receive their benefits in the form of easy classes and free air-fare, all authors aim to achieve that same thing in each article: try to persuade the world to believe that college-athletes already receive a lot more of benefits than people think.

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? Why College Athletes Should be Paid Ken Belson (2010) wrote an article titled Star College Quarterback Is Worth in which he talks about the Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton, and the surfaced news that his father sought north of $200,000 from recruiters in exchange for his sons talents. Belson goes on to discuss how Cam Newton was changing the landscape of Auburn football, and all of the things that he had done to help the school and the NCAA make money. Belson goes on to explain how Newton, and all other college players, should be paid because of the amount of revenue that they produce. In an article written by Frank Deford (2011) titled Bust the Amateur Myth, Deford talks about why he believes college athletes should be paid. As a journalist, Deford has been

elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. In this article, he goes in depth on his beliefs, explaining to the reader how college athletes are the only people on earth that are not paid for playing a high level of athletics in which a large sum of money is involved. Deford explains how big of a deal this really is, and how the young adults that play in college athletics are being ripped off and bamboozled. Deford also looks into the idea of the high profile athletes becoming only student-employees instead of student-athletes and how this will kill two birds with one stone. Share the Wealth, an article written by Harry Edwards (2011), is a persuasive article in which Edwards discusses steps that he believes the NCAA needs to take in order to share the billions and billions of dollars that they make each year. He explains many reasons as to why it will benefit both the NCAA as well as corporate sponsors, athletes, and sports agents. This article can be used to gage possible ways to compensate college athletes while still benefiting the NCAA.

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? Tyson Hartnett (2013) wrote an article for The Huffington Post titled Why college athletes should be paid. Hartnett, a former NCAA athlete and professional basketball player, talks about his own experiences dealing with NCAA rules and having to live the college life. Hartnett talks about how being a college athlete means dedicating anywhere from fifty to 70

hours a week to your sport and not having a time for a part-time job. He also discusses ways that he believes the NCAA can alleviate the problem between themselves and their athletes. In doing so, he gives a solution that he thinks will be a means to an end for both the athletes and the NCAA. Tyson Hartnett does a great job speaking for the athletes in this article, as well as talking about possible reasons as to why the NCAA hasnt already changed and what is stopping them now. Returning to the other half of the Horace Mitchell and Marc Edelman article from before, Edelman writes opposite of Mitchell stating why he believes that college athletes should be paid. Edelman touches base on the amount of money that is made by the NCAA, its administrators, and athletic programs every year. He also talks about the amount of money earned by college head coaches in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), and how the NCAA manages to keep that money from reaching the hands of college athletes. Edelman does a fantastic job of explaining how the NCAA keeps the billions of dollars in revenue from its athletes, which makes this a great article for research. Ben Strauss and Steve Eder (2014) of the New York Times co wrote an article titled College Players Granted Right to Form Union. In this article, Strauss and Eder write about the news of Northwestern University football team winning its bid to form student-athlete labor unions. The authors explainin depthwhy this decision was made by the National Labor Relations Board, as well as possible implications that may arise from this decision. Both authors

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? predict many possible implications, including possible lawsuits by current and former student-

athletes, as well as reform by the NCAA. Strauss and Eder do a great job reporting on this news, which is a major step for college-athletes striving for justice. Reginald Stuart (2012), who was added to the Society of Professional Journalist in 2006, wrote an article titled Is Winning Everything?In this article, Stuart focuses on the growing issue of college-athletes leaving school early in order to go professional and make millions of dollars. Stuart does an amazing job referencing the University of Kentuckys mens basketball program and how they deal with this issue on a yearly basis, as well as how head coach John Calipari feels about his players leaving early for the NBA. Stuart attributes this issue to how the NCAA refuses to pay its student-athletes and how this problem can be solved. Stuart is a worldclass journalist with years of experience, which makes this article very reliable and gives Stuart a high amount of credibility in this article. All of these articles are pretty straight forward. All of the authors explain why they believe college athletes should be paid. However, they all go on to explain how these could be possible, and what the athletes, colleges, and NCAA should do to fix it as well as benefit from it.

Summary To summarize, there are two very clear sides to this argument: college athletes should be paid and college athletes shouldnt be paid. After giving many different sources that cover both sides of the argument, it is very clear that there are many different opinions on the subject. However, there are still only two clear sides to the argument. By using the sources I have given, you should be able to write a very well-rounded research paper, whether it be on both sides of the argument or just one side.

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? References Belson, K. (2010, November 14). A Star College Quarterback Is Worth .. New York Times. p. 2. Daugherty, P. (2012). College athletes already have advantages and shouldnt be paid. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved from sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/paul_daugherty/01/20/no.pay/ Deford, F. (2011). Bust the Amateur Myth. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 58(17), A8. Dorfman, J. (2013) Pay College Athletes? Theyre Already Paid Up To $125,000 Per Year. Forbes. Retrieved From http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2013/08/29/paycollege-athletes-theyre-already-paid-up-to-125000year/ Edwards, H. (2011). Share the Wealth. Chronicle of Higher Education, 58(17), A7-A8. Feinstein, J. (2014). College athletes arent demanding pay; theyre demanding a voice; the NCAA would be wise to give them one. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/college-athletes-arent-demanding-paytheyre-demanding-a-voice-the-ncaa-would-be-wise-to-give-themone/2014/03/31/5120ca3e-b8d3-11e3-96ae-f2c36d2b1245_story.html Hartnett, T. (2013, October 21) Why college athletes should be paid. The Huffington Post.

Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tyson-hartnett/college-athletes-should-bepaid_b_4133847.html. Mitchell, H., & Edelman, M. (2013). Should College Student-Athletes Be Paid?. U.S. News Digital Weekly, 5(52), 17. Prewitt, A. (2013, March 22). Large majority opposes playing NCAA athletes, Washington PostABC News poll finds. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/large-majority-opposes-paying-ncaa-

SHOULD COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID? 10 athletes-washington-post-abc-news-poll-finds/2014/03/22/c411a32e-b130-11e3-95e839bef8e9a48b_story.html. Strauss, B., & Eder, S. (2014, March 27). College Players Granted Right To Form Union. (Cover story). New York Times. pp. A1-A3. Stuart, R. (2012). IS WINNING EVERYTHING?. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 29(8), 16-17.