Auburn Pay-to-Pay Scandal. 2011. Orlando Sentinel. Web. 3 Nov 2012.Over the last few decades, college sports have erupted in popularity. Because of this tremendous growth lucrative television deals such as the 14 year, $10.8 million deal signed by CBS for March Madness are becoming ever more prevalent (Nocera).
Head coaches of Division 1 football and basketball programs are routinely making millions of dollars a year, yet many argue this incredible economic growth in college athletics is being handled incorrectly. Many universities have received crippling penalties for breaking the rules and allowing or knowing of players receiving money.
Some say that until the true “employees” -the athletes- are paid fairly, the NCAA is broken.
This is simply not true.
College athletes receive countless benefits already because of their athletic abilities and do not need any more.
Collegiate athletes already receive payment in the form of a university education. Most students attend college without the benefit of a scholarship to pay for the costs. Athletes are one of the lucky groups that have their talents rewarded at the university level.
By being a great wide receiver or a skilled pitcher, many athletes have the ability to attend and pay for college. They already have a leg up on many of their peers.
I myself was lucky enough to earn a scholarship through my academic achievement and was able to pay for tuition because of it. Like athletes, I worked hard for my scholarship. I don’t get paid to continue my academic achievements, and college athletes should not be paid for continued athletic achievements.
Student athletes already earned a reward for their abilities, and must work to keep that reward.
Each athlete is already being paid through scholarships. They don’t need to be paid a salary, that is what going pro or finishing a degree is for. The time to earn money is after college is over. A salary would merely be an unnecessary distraction to the players and would take the “student” out of student athlete.
Paying the players also takes away one of the best aspects of college sports. The athletes play for their teammates, their love of the game, and their school, but certainly not for money. By paying the players, they are no longer amateurs and one of the reasons college football is popular is taken away.
College athletes should not be paid for their playing. Many already receive preferential treatment over their peers and have the opportunity to receive a great education at the university level.
Paying student-athletes would ruin the amazing experience that is college athletics and would be unfair to both the athletes themselves and everyone else involved.
Works Cited
Forde, Pat. “Time has come to talk about pay-to-play”. ESPN. 12 Jul. 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.Lipsky, Drew. “The NCAA Pay for Play Debate: Should College Athletes Get Paid?”. Yahoo Sports. 29 Dec. 2011.
Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Meshefejian, Krikor. “Pay to Play: Should College Athletes Be Paid?”. 2008. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Neuharth, Al. “Is pay to play OK for college athletes?”. USA Today. 10 Jun. 2011. Academic Search Premeir.
Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Nocera, Joe. “Let’s Start Paying College Athletes.” The New York Times. 30 Dec. 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
By: Hunter Rees
Interesting topic--I'm thrilled to be reading so many fun posts on this blog. A couple things though; I would have liked to see a few more in-text citations. A little more solid information per opinion and reasoning would benefit the ethos of your paper. Also, I think it would be good to address the opposing view a little more, so we know you're aware of the benefits of their getting paid, but you still oppose it. It makes your argument that much stronger. Great work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. With the research for the issue paper, I'll definitely have more outside information and therefore more citations. I agree I need more background and a stronger refutation, but because this was such a short post, it was hard to really address the counter arguments well and inform the reader about each opinion, but with the full paper I definitely will add those things.
DeleteLike Kate, I find this is a good, interesting topic. However, while reading I felt like you often repeated yourself. A simple fix is to just come up with some more solid, strong arguments. For example, I learned in my psych class this year that there is an observed, studied phenomenon called the "overjustification effect," where external rewards result in the loss of intrinsic rewards, such as the simple pleasure of doing something. In other words, college football players, if payed, may lose any love of the game they had, and simply play for the money. This could potentially harm the NFL, if college players decide to not "go pro." As Kate said, adding counter-arguments will also strengthen your paper, and help avoid repeating the same ideas.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion about the "overjustification effect". That definitely sounds like something I could add to my paper. With more research and more space to write, I will certainly be able to solidify the arguments I already have, as well as add a few more.
DeleteOne of the first things I noticed, like Diana stated, was that there were a few repetitive parts of your post. I noticed it in the first few paragraphs and in the last few. But I think that can be combatted with a little more research so you have a few more arguments or counter-arguments. Your post does sound pretty one-sided so counter-arguments are definitely necessary for your issues paper. You have chose a great topic that is very current and prevalent! Great Job!
ReplyDeleteYou're right that I have a lot of repetition, and much of that is due to the amount of research I did for the post. While I have solid research, I focused only on a couple of arguments, which made my post very repetitive. In the full paper I plan on doing additional research and making sure I really don't repeat myself.
DeleteYou had some very strong points and a good overall argument. However, I would go more into why it would ruin their playing and the experience for the fans. Because some would argue that life isn't fair and constantly trying to make it fair between athletes and non-athletes is unreasonable. Also, I would just stick to few big arguments instead of inserting small points that are left unexplained such as "Many already receive preferential treatment over their peers..." And are you sure that ALL college athletes receive scholarships? Even those who try out for the team after they come to college and then get in? Or people in less popular sports such as track? You did a good job though and brought up some great points.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions. I need to do a little research to see what percentage of athletes receive scholarships, and I also need to focus my argument a little better, and thoroughly explain each point I bring up.
Delete