Critical Thinking Paper

Pay For Play: An Argumentative Essay About The Payment Of Collegiate Student-Athletes
Chas Goldman
March 29, 2015

Critical Thinking PaperEmily Hanford

Collegiate student-athletes do not receive true full scholarships, yet they generate
billions of dollars for their schools and athletic associations, and work full time hours that
deprive them of a proper college education. The lack of pay for collegiate student-athletes
has also led to an inferior quality of play for fans. The NCAA (National Collegiate
Athletic Association), collegiate athletic conferences and individual schools must
compensate athletes for their efforts on the field.
Up until very recently, the idea of paying college players was unpopular and
widely dismissed (Johnson and Acquaviva). In the past few years the notion that players
should be paid has gained a tremendous amount of momentum. In March of 2014, a
regional director for the National Labor Relations Board ruled that football players from
Northwestern University could form a union. The director ruled that the athletes act as
employees for the University because they generate so much revenue for the school
(Koroma and Gregory). Northwestern has appealed the decision. In 2009, a former
UCLA basketball player named Ed OBannon filed a lawsuit against the NCAA because
his likeness was being used in a video game and he thought that he deserved
compensation. NCAA rules prohibit him from being paid. The federal judge in the case
ruled that college football and basketball players can earn a share of licensing revenues
from the use of their name, image and likeness (Koroma and Gregory). According to the
verdict, the athlete could only access the funds after they graduate or leave the school
(Class Action Complaint). Until then, the money would be held in a trust fund. The
NCAA has appealed the verdict and the ruling is not currently in effect. These verdicts

both happened within a year of one another and are a driving force behind the initiative to
pay college athletes.
The basic argument against paying college athletes has been that they already
receive compensation in the form of free higher education through athletic scholarships.
In most cases even a full scholarship doesnt cover the full cost of college. Athletes,
especially from poor backgrounds, have trouble paying for basic living expenses such as
books and food, which can cost anywhere from $2,000-$4,000 per year (Sherman). In
most cases a full scholarship doesnt cover these expenses. A study by the National
Collegiate Players Association and the Drexel University Sports Management
Department found that more than eighty percent of athletes who live on campus and get
full athletic scholarships actually live in poverty.
There has been some progress in this area; in August of 2014 the NCAA granted
the Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12) a certain amount of
autonomy. The first thing these conferences did was to require the expansion of the
benefits of full scholarships to include the basic living expenses that many athletes had to
pay themselves. The measure passed by an astounding 79-1 vote (Sherman). While there
has been progress in granting athletes at big schools true full scholarships, many athletes
at smaller schools still suffer from the uncovered costs of living expenses.
The NCAA is a massive business. The NCAA as a whole, makes $6 billion
annually (Robinson). The majority of that money comes from lucrative media deals that
give broadcasting companies the right to air the amateur games (Alesia). The players
and athletes are the workhorses who generate all this revenue. According to the study by
the NCPA and Drexel, from 2011-2015 football and mens basketball players will be

forced to forfeit over $6.2 billion Over a four year career, the lost value for the average
football and basketball player is $456,612 and $1,063,307, respectively. Student-athletes
generate billions of dollars but the staggering truth is that less than two percent of all
college athletes will play professionally (Manfred). That means more than ninety-eight
percent of all collegiate athletes will never bank a check for playing their sport because of
the unfair system that the NCAA has implemented.
Collegiate student-athletes are exploited and overworked. The average collegiate
student-athletes may spend more than 40 hours a week practicing (Jacobs). The athletes
cannot get jobs because they spend so much time playing their sport. The time
commitment of forty hours a week can make it hard for athletes to keep up with the
rigorous academic demands of college. This leads to a lot of athletes simply skipping
classes and becoming athletes over students. A lawsuit filed against the University of
North Carolina Chapel Hill and the NCAA claims that students were deprived of a
meaningful education while representing the school on the field (Jacobs). Athletes are
promised a free education but half of the revenue-producing athletes dont graduate
(Huma). These students are not able to enjoy the full benefits of a college education and
are restricted from making money because they are too busy working and generating
income for their schools.
The lack of pay has led to a deterioration of the quality of the college game. The
best athletes in college football and basketball usually leave school after just one year to
play in the NBA and NFL. College basketball and its fans have suffered a consistent
downswing since the mid 1990s with no end in sight. Increasing amounts of early entries
to the NBA have doomed NCAA basketball to a watered down version of the product it

showcased in its heyday (The Slow, Painful Deterioration). The best athletes might stay
in college if a form of payment was offered. By keeping the best players in the game in
school, the quality of play would be greatly increased. This would create greater
enjoyment for fans, generating the NCAA and schools more revenue with which they can
pay their athletes.
College student-athletes should be paid for their efforts on the field; however, the
development and implementation of a system that effectively pays athletes is difficult.
Currently the NCAA bans players from earning money off their sport in any way,
including endorsements (NCAA). One system that has been proposed is to lift the ban
and let players make money off their likeness and accept endorsements. The ban is
already under fire due to the OBannon case mentioned earlier. The NCAA defends the
ban on the basis that the players are amateurs (Levy). The athletes draw huge audiences
from around the globe and generating billions, the idea that they are amateurs is
preposterous. The lifting of the ban would cost schools and the NCAA nothing while
letting athletes capitalize on the opportunities that they have created for themselves.
Another idea that has been presented is to let the school pay the athletes.
According to Dan Levy, national lead writer for the Bleacher Report, a system in which
schools pay all athletes from football to diving is, not a sustainable business model for
most schools. Many schools athletic departments cannot even pay their staff so the idea
that all players can be paid is unreasonable. A more sensible model is for schools to pay
only the revenue-producing athletes; this system is more reasonable in terms of school
finances. A well thought out plan to pay only the revenue-producing athletes has not been

introduced. This is because different sports generate different revenue for different
schools.
The most reasonable way to pay college players is to combine the lifting of the
NCAA ban on endorsements with a system that lets agents become a part of the college
game (Levy). These agents could represent and pay any athlete they want, from future
NFL players to promising swimmers and track stars. This would make it possible for
every athlete to be paid and to be paid based on worth, as agents could pay athletes
whatever they want for the right to represent them. This system would come with some
important rules. Some rules Dan Levy has in mind are that, only sanctioned agents are
allowed to work with players and more importantly that all money given to players has
to be recorded, tracked and repaid within five years of a players graduation of declaration
of going pro. Agents can pay whom they want and they can pay them whatever they
want. The risk of the athletes being injured or not being good enough at the professional
level would be enough to keep agents in check about how much money they allocate each
athlete. If an athlete could not pay the agent back within five years, then the agent would
default and take a loss on the money. This would take responsibility for paying players
away from the schools without costing them any money while also giving athletes the
hard-earned money they deserve.
Student-athletes are robbed of thousands of dollars each year by unfair restrictions
and regulations placed on them by the NCAA. The athletes are exploited and work fulltime hours for their school, often without being compensated with a true full scholarship.
The time needed to play a sport can interfere with academic activities and deprive
students of a proper college experience. The work many athletes do also generates

billions for schools and the NCAA, leaving many coaches and colleges rich but leaving a
majority of the athletes in poverty. The NCAA and its schools need to lift a ban that
currently restricts athletes from seeking endorsement. While there will be difficulty
coming up with and enforcing systems that pay student-athletes, they must be fairly
compensated for the work that they do on the field.

Works Cited
Alesia, Mark. "How the NCAA Makes and Spends Money 2012-2013." indystar.com.
N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Koroma, Salima, and Sean Gregory. "The Long and Winding Road to Paying College
Players." Time.com. N.p., 8 Oct. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Levy, Dan. "Paying College Athletes Is Possible, If the NCAA System Gets Broken
(Or Fixed)." bleacherreport.com. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Manfred, Tony. "Here Are The Odds That Your Kid Becomes A Professional Athlete
(Hint: They're Small)."
NCPA, and Drexel University Department of Sports Management. "NCPA-2010 Drexel
University Department of Sport Management Study The $6 Billion
Heist: Robbing College Athletes Under the Guise of Amateurism."
usw.org. N.p., 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Robinson, Brenda. "College student athletes should be compensated - monetarily."
frostillustrated.com. N.p., 8 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Sherman, Mitch. "Full cost of attendance passes 79-1." espn.com. N.p., 18 Jan.
2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
"The Slow, Painful Deterioration of College Basketball." eggvan.com. N.p., 25
Dec. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Jacobs, Peter. "Here's The Insane Amount Of Time Student-Athletes Spend On
Practice." businessinsider.com. N.p., 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Huma, Ramogi. "A Fair Day's Pay for a Fair Day's Work." US News. U.S.News &
World Report, 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2015.

NCAA. "NCAA Compliance Information." grfx.cstv.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar.

2015.
"Class Action Complaint." wsj.com. N.p., 21 July 2009. Web. 10 May 2015.
<http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/072209obannonsuit.pdf>.

Annotated Bibliography
Alesia, Mark. "How the NCAA Makes and Spends Money 2012-2013." indystar.com.
N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. I used this source to research how the NCAA makes
and spends money.
Barrett, Paul. "The Insurgents Who Could Bring Down the NCAA." Bloomberg.com.
N.p., 21 Aug. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. Research about law cases against NCAA
including Northwestern football unionizing and the O'Bannon case.
Bayless, Skip. "Unleash the boosters." espn.com. N.p., 25 July 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Skip Bayless is an ESPN analyst and host of the show First Take who has worked
as a sports columnist in Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago. This article
provides an idea on how to pay college athletes and is supported by an in depth
explanation. The article is from the point of view of someone who believes that
college athletes should be paid.
Fischer-Baum, Reuben. "Infographic: Is Your State's Highest-Paid Employee A Coach?
(Probably)." deadspin.com. N.p., 9 May 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. An info
graphic detailing the highest paid public employee in each state.

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Frederick, Brian. "Fans Must Understand That College Sports Is Big Business." US
News. U.S.News & World Report, 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. Learned and
gained insight on how the NCAA uses the myth of "amatuer athletics."
Hayes, Chris. "Fat profits at NCAA while athletes play for free." msnbc.com. N.p., 1 Apr.
2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. Found information about a study conducted by NCPA
and Drexel that helped tremendously with my paper.
Huma, Ramogi. "A Fair Day's Pay for a Fair Day's Work." US News. U.S.News & World
Report, 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 03 Mar. 2015. I used this source in my argument about
how players work full time hours playing their sport.
Jacobs, Peter. "Here's The Insane Amount Of Time Student-Athletes Spend On Practice."
businessinsider.com. N.p., 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. An article detailing
how much time athletes spend practicing and a lawsuit filed against the NCAA
that claims that student-athletes are deprived a meaningful education.
Johnson, Dennis A., and John Acquaviva. "Point/Counterpoint: Paying College Athletes |
The Sport Journal." The Sport Journal. N.p., 15 June 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2015.
This source detailed the plantation like system that the NCAA runs, also speaks
about counter arguments to my paper.
Koroma, Salima, and Sean Gregory. "The Long and Winding Road to Paying College
Players." Time.com. N.p., 8 Oct. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://time.com/3479821/college-payers-compensation-payment/>. I used this
source to research the O'Bannon trial, to learn about big 5 power conferences and
to research for how much full scholarships don't cover.

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Levy, Dan. "Paying College Athletes Is Possible, If the NCAA System Gets Broken (Or
Fixed)." bleacherreport.com. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. This source
provided me with information about ideas on how to pay college athletes and was
quoted and cited multiple times in my paper.
Manfred, Tony. "Here Are The Odds That Your Kid Becomes A Professional Athlete
(Hint: They're Small)." businessinsider.com. N.p., 10 Feb. 2012. Web. 30 Mar.
2015. Article detailing the percentage of college athletes who will play
professionally.
NCAA. "NCAA Compliance Information." grfx.cstv.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
<http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/samf/genrel/auto_pdf/SSHNCAARulesandR
egs.pdf>. The source is a rules and regulations handbook for the NCAA. I used
the source to research the rules of the NCAA.
NCPA, and Drexel University Department of Sports Management. "NCPA-2010 Drexel
University Department of Sport Management Study The $6 Billion
Heist: Robbing College Athletes Under the Guise of Amateurism." usw.org. N.p.,
2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://assets.usw.org/ncpa/pdfs/6-Billion-HeistStudy_Major-Findings.pdf>. This study investigates how much money the
average college football and basketball players is robbed of each year and the
percentage of players who live below the federal poverty line.
Robinson, Brenda. "College student athletes should be compensated - monetarily."
frostillustrated.com. N.p., 8 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.frostillustrated.com/2014/college-student-athletes-should-be-

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compensated-monetarily/>. This source provided information on how much the

NCAA makes annually and gave insight on practices such as pimping the poor.
Sherman, Mitch. "Full cost of attendance passes 79-1." espn.com. N.p., 18 Jan. 2015.
Web. 30 Mar. 2015. This article details the measure passed by the coalition of the
power five conferences to extend the benefits of full scholarships to include basic
living expenses.
"The Slow, Painful Deterioration of College Basketball." eggvan.com. N.p., 25 Dec.
2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. <http://eggvan.com/the-slow-painful-deterioration-ofcollege-basketball/>. Blog post expressing the fact that the quality of the college
came has deteriorated due to players leaving for the NFL and NBA.
Strachan, Maxwell. "NCAA Schools Can Absolutely Afford To Pay College Athletes,
Economists Say." huffingtonpost.com. N.p., 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
This article details where the money that colleges generate from athletics goes.
Economists argue that the money is there to pay players.
Zola, Warren. "NCAA Amateurism Is an Illusion." US News. U.S.News & World Report,
1 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 Mar. 2015. This article details the illusion of amateur
college sports. I used the source to learn about how the NCAA exploits athletes.
"Class Action Complaint." wsj.com. N.p., 21 July 2009. Web. 10 May 2015.
<http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/072209obannonsuit.pdf>.
The original Ed O'Bannon case file.

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