Brendan Gleason

17 November 2015
Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
For my research paper, I am going to be studying the topic of paying college athletes. In
particular, I am going to be arguing that although college football has transformed into a major
revenue collecting business, the NCAA should retain their policy, and not allow college football
players to be paid for playing. This is a topic that interests me because I enjoy watching both
collegiate and professional sports, and for me there is a clear distinction between the two, which
I think is related to the fact that professionals get paid, and college athletes dont. For this topic,
I am going to examine how college football has turned into a business, and how that is related
to the increase revenue collected by the universities. I will also look at the pros and cons to
both sides of the argument to pay college athletes, and ultimately make a case as to why they
should not be paid.
Sources:
1. Johnson, Richard G., Ronan, James, Kreger, Wayne S., Krisinger, Josh.
"Paying the Few Elite College Footballers Is a Fumble." Wall Street Journal [New
York, N.Y.] 06 Feb. 2014: A.16. Print.
In this article, four different authors provide their insight on why paying college football
players would be a bad decision. It seems as though these contributors are various
writers for the Wall Street Journal who express their opinions on why college football
players shouldnt be paid, and back up their ideas with facts and statistics. This source
is aimed towards the college football enthusiast who believes college football players
should be paid, because throughout the article, the authors really are just refuting any
argument someone may have in favor of paying the players. Johnson suggests the fact
that there is an 8% illiteracy rate among student athletes at UNC, arguing that schools
should spend money on their education department, rather than paying their athletes.
Ronan makes the argument that the student athletes are receiving an education for free,
setting them up for future success, something money cant do. Finally, Kreger alludes to
Title IX, stating that paying college football players, would also require colleges to pay
female athletes in sports that cant bring in as much revenue, which creates a problem.
All three of these claims can add factual evidence to my argument that college athletes
should not be paid.
2. "Paying Athletes Jeopardizes College Football's Integrity." University
Wire[Carlsbad] 24 Sept. 2014: 24. Print.
This article has an unknown author, but it is from the Daily Trojan, which is a University
of Southern California publication. This shows that the source is one closely related to
the subject of paying college football players, as the University of Southern California is

in fact a big time college football school. This article is directed towards the college
football fanatic, someone who is very invested in the game and has a strong passion for
the game of college football. The article makes several appeals to the pathos of the
audience. The authors main argument is about preserving the tradition and culture of
college football, and how paying the athletes would take away from those factors that
make college football as great as it is. The author talks of how the fans love to see the
Cinderella teams, the underdogs, have success against the big name teams, and how
those underdogs would become distant from the big name schools, as the bigger
schools could just pay the best recruits the most money. This article adds another
element to the argument of not paying college football players, and makes that appeal to
pathos to go along with the logical appeal that is made in the other articles. This will add
another dimension to my major argument in my paper.
3. Bachman, Rachel, and Matthew Futterman. "College Football's Big-Money,
Big-Risk Business Model." Wall Street Journal [New York, N.Y.] 10 Dec. 2012: B.1.
Print.
In this article, two Wall Street Journal authors collaborate to share the basics on the the
big money involved in the business of college football. The article is aimed at the
college football fans who spend their Saturdays sitting in front of their TV and watch
college football on cable television, which they pay a lot of money for. The article uses a
lot of statistical evidence, and numbers to make an argument that college football is, in
fact, a major business. The authors mention a lot about the contracts that are held
between different college football conferences and television providers, paying special
attention to the fact that media rights payments have, on average, tripled in the latest
rounds of deals, rising to $1.25 billion. The authors also make certain to mention how
the game of college football has changed as a result of attempting to bring in the most
revenue. Teams are playing more games, changing conferences, and abandoning
rivalries that have stood for many years, just to be able to maximize the revenue college
football can bring in from the television companies. This statistical evidence that the
author provides backs up the claims made in other articles, and puts some actual data to
those claims. I can use those numbers to set the stage for my main argument, and it
can show how much of a business the sport of college football has actually turned into.
4. Navarette, Johnny. "College Football Players Deserve Pay." University Wire
[Carlsbad] 07 Apr. 2014: University Wire, Apr 7, 2014. Print.
In this article, the author, Johnny Navarette , gives reasons as to why college football
players deserve to be paid to play. This article is directed towards the college football
fans who strongly believe college athletes should not be paid, because he attempts to
change their views by adding facts and claims of his own. Navarette provides ample
reasons as to why players should be paid, citing the fact that college football is a
business form of entertainment worth millions and billions of dollars to have those
athletes on TV. Navarette states that these players have turned into celebrities due to
the sold out stadiums and the large amounts of jersey sales, all in part to playing football

for their universities. While Navarette does in fact make some good points, I believe I
can use the arguments he makes in his article, and refute all of those arguments with
claims as to why the student athletes should not be paid. I can acknowledge the
opposite side of the argument, but then immediately refute it, using claims made in other
articles, in order to strengthen my argument.
5. Lawrence, Paul R. Unsportsmanlike Conduct : The National Collegiate
Athletic Association and the Business of College Football. New York: Praeger,
1987. Print.
In this book, the author, Paul R. Lawrence discusses the business of college football,
mostly referencing the early stages of college football turning into a business.
Lawrences book is directed towards the college football historian who is interested in
the origins of the new world of college football where it is more than just a sport, but
rather a true business. Lawrence describes the origins of the college football business,
speaking a lot about the beginnings of college football being televised, and the first
NCAA television plans (78-82). These television plans are the basis from which the
television contracts today are derived from, because that is where it all started, and the
television world has evolved a lot since then. This section of the book is used to inform
the reader as to how it all began, and the reader can then explore how everything has
changed and evolved by comparing to the present day college football world. I can use
this source to provide a start point to the college football business plan, and then use
information from the other sources to describe and analyze how the business has
evolved and changed throughout the years.
6. Jones, Noval. "Big Time College Football: Money for Nothing, Labor for
Free." The Jacksonville Free Press [Jacksonville, Fla.] 15 Sept. 2011: 4. Print.
The author of this article, Noval Jones, a writer for The Jacksonville Free Press,
describes the ins and outs of the money aspect of college football, and how college
football can be such a successful business. Jones aims this article to the uninformed
football fan who is unfamiliar with how much money college football makes as a
business. Jones uses multiple statistical numbers to quantify some of the deals made in
college football and how that money affects the sport of college football. Jones talks
about the issues that arise due to not paying college football players, such as the players
making decision that violate NCAA regulations, but then also provides solutions to the
problems that arent just to straight up pay college football players. Jones gives
alternate options, which I believe I can use in my paper to provide a viable solution to the
issue, where the athletes arent getting paid, but there is a system set up to provide the
athletes with benefits, such as a graduate fund, that will help them down the road, when
their professional careers dont pan out, and they need a degree to get a real job. This
provides a middle ground that makes sense between the two extremes of the argument.