arguemental topic

Should college athletes be able to accept endorsement deals?

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.