Sources
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/418140-ncaa-not-doing-a-favor-to-athletes-by-banning-endorsements
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/13/ncaa-rules-trap-many-college-athletes-in-poverty/
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Finances/Revenue
http://sportslaw.uslegal.com/sports-agents-and-contracts/ncaa-sports-contracts-and-amateurism/
Jon Hocking
4/26/12
Eng. 101
Argument Essay
The
NCAA requires that the student athletes be amateurs in their sport. To remain
an amateur the athlete can’t be paid, sign a contract with a professional
sports organization, have your name on a draft list, use their athletic skills
for pay in any form, or play on a professional team. This means players can’t accept endorsements
even though it doesn’t cost the college or NCAA any money. If the NCAA let
players accept endorsements it could keep star players at that college for
another 2 years because the players wouldn’t be as concerned with going pro
because they are already being paid. It doesn’t seem fair to players who help
earn their college millions of dollars every year. Since college sports can
require as much time as a fulltime job, the players have no time to earn money.
During
2011-2012 the NCAA had annual revenue of 845.9 million (National Collegiate
Athletic Association). After making this
much money you would think that they would be more than happy to let the
players make a little money. Letting the
players accept endorsements would also help make more money for the NCAA
because star players would be less concerned with going pro after two years if
they were already being paid. The NCAA traps athletes from poverty. Since a
high number of athletes have a chance to play their sport professionally come
from a low income family most chose money over and education. Instead of
players completing their college education and then going pro, a lot of players
from low income families are forced to go pro to support themselves and their
families.
Endorsements
don’t make the game. They wouldn’t create an unfair advantage for any player or
team. This might even make players work harder and strive to get better if they
knew they could be offered an endorsement deal. It makes no sense that a star
player like Reggie Bush can’t sign a 5 million dollar endorsement with Adidas until
he leaves college. So how are these athletes supposed to make money? Student athletes
can work but have a limit of only being able to make $2,000 a year. This is not
nearly the amount of money needed to support yourself let alone your family.
If
an English writes a book there are no restrictions on how much money that
individual can make from the sales of their book. Suppose a health student
discovers a cure for a disease. That student would receive the profits from it.
There shouldn’t be a difference on who can be paid for their work in college
and who can’t.
NCAA
claims on its website that it is “committed to the best interests, education
and athletics participation of student-athletes. Removing the potential income
through endorsements only hurts the players. It’s should come
to no surprise when star players like Reggie Bush get caught accepting money
and gifts that violate the NCAA rules. Many colleges just give scholarships to
players just to make the university money. They realize that many college
athletes don’t graduate. More than half
the teams that’s made it to the 2006 NCAA men’s basketball team failed to
graduate 50% of their players over 6 years. To me it seems that the NCAA doesn’t
care about the players they just care how much money they make the NCAA.
