Roberson 1

Blaine Roberson

Mr. Jason Higgins

Comp. II 1213 Sec. 030

30 March 2015

Essay 3

The National Collegiate Athlete Association (NCAA) makes roughly six

billion dollars annually off of all college sports (usnews.com). There has been

a debate for the past several years about whether or not college athletes

should be paid for the sport that they play. Many people would argue that

college athletes should not be paid because they are in college and it is not a

job but others will contest that they should. College athletes should not get

paid as much as professional athletes, but they deserve some sort of

payment for their efforts, their names in video games, and all of the

merchandise that is sold with either their name or number on it.

Rachel Bachman is my first source that I used. The main points of her

article were to discuss the six million dollar deal between ESPN and the

NCAA for the college football playoffs. She talked about the setup of the

playoffs and how they will be performed. Bachman wrote briefly about the

places the games will be played and how other NCAA sports do not get this

kind of attention from ESPN as well as fans. This article is useful for my

paper because it discusses prices that the two major companies have

negotiated as well as quotes from the president of ESPN. This topic has been

the biggest discussion amongst fans and players throughout college football.
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This argument helps my paper out because she presents the same argument

as I do. She presents the prices worked out between the two major

companies to show how much money is spent and how much money is spent

and the fact that the players receive zero income from all of the money that

they produce.

Steve Berkowitz, a writer and editor for USA Todays sports enterprise

and investigations, is the next source that I used. He covered the Ed

OBannon case in which OBannon sued the NCAA for using his number and

signature to collect money from fans and other players. His main points in his

argument that Mr. Berkowitz wrote about were that college players should

receive some sort of income from either ESPN, NCAA, or EA Sports for the

video games. Berkowitz also discussed what Ed OBannon wanted out of the

lawsuit. OBannon wanted the correct names, numbers, and all of the

physical characteristics of the players to be put on the video games. This

article was useful for my essay because it discussed the fact that not only

ESPN, but the NCAA and EA Sports is making money off of the players and

the players were not benefited from everything that had their name on it.

This helps my paper because I wrote about how the players should receive

some sort of pay, especially if they are put in video games. The major point

of Berkowitzs article was that players should receive income from the video

game companies if they use their numbers and names.

Molly Block wrote the next source that I used and her article argues

against my points. Mollys main points in this document is that if a collegiate

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athlete is already receiving some sort of payment by the university,

scholarships, than they do not deserve to be paid for playing a sport. She

goes on to talk about how it would not be fair for the peers of the athletes to

not be paid because they are attending the same school as the athlete

except the athlete gets paid on top of their scholarship while the friend might

get a scholarship for grades, not for being good at a sport. This article will be

helpful in my essay because it will make a good debate. Molly Block sees

blue and I see red. I will be able to further my argument with this article as

one of my sources. I decided to throw this article in there because I needed

someone that saw a different point of this argument because it will help me

argue against her and it will make for a good debate. I have to agree with

some of her points about the scholarships and stuff but I still believe that

they deserve some sort of payment for their merchandise sold with their

name on it.

Marc Edelman is an Associate Professor of Law at the Zicklin School of

Business in New York. Edelman mainly focuses on sports, fantasy sports, and

online gaming. Marc Edelman even has articles in Forbes magazine covering

money and sports. Mr. Marc Edelmans article covers the millions of dollars

spent on rights, advertisement, and television networks that cover the

college sports. Edelman mentions plenty of numbers and statistics on how

much money is spent on these players. Edelmans stance is not totally one-

sided though. Edelman is in the middle on this argument. I used his article

because he points out both the good and bad of both sides. I do agree with
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this fact except for when one year all of the players get paid and then the

next year none of the players will get paid. Other than that point, Marc

Edelmans article helps out my essay substantially. The reason that it helps

my essay out so much is because it sees both sides of the argument

therefore making the article double-sided and reasonably easier to use in my

essay.

Tom Farrey is a reporter and journalist for ESPN. His stories have also

appeared on SportsCenter, E:60, and ABCs World News Tonight. Two of his

pieces have also won two Emmy Awards. Farrey has reported sports from all

over the world from the US, to Iraq, to Africa, and even Australia. Mr. Farrey

interviewed many coaches from multiple different universities to get their

opinions and thoughts on the situation. The main points of the article were to

show that Ed OBannon and a few other players stuck up for all of the

student athletes in the NCAA. The NCAA was forced to pay forty million

dollars to the players that were involved in the EA Sports video games and

for the profit that was made off of the players names and numbers. This

article was useful for my essay because it involved the players suing the

NCAA and EA Sports. Ed OBannon was also a major argument in my paper. It

was also helpful because it discussed the issue of college athletes being paid

and that is what my essay is over. Tom Farrey discussed the same argument

as one of my previous articles but he picks out points that were not talked

about in the other source.

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The last source that I am choosing was written by Kate Murphy. Along

with Molly Block, she disagrees with my argument. Murphy starts off her

document with a couple questions, one of them being, Since when does

getting a chance to play a game that you love every single day constitute as

a job? I think this is her most effective point in this article because she does

have a very excellent point. She breaks down her article into multiple

different sections in which she touches on. She covers education and

scholarships, money allocations, and the life that student-athletes live. The

main points in Kathy Murphys argument are that student-athletes are called

student-athletes for a reason. They are attending the university to obtain a

degree in whatever they choose, not to play a sport at the collegiate level

and get paid for it. This article is helpful in my argument because Kathy

Murphy and I have polar-opposite views on whether or not college athletes

should receive some sort of income. She does make very good points about

students being at the university to get an education and not to play sports. If

the student-athletes want to receive pay for their hustle and grind, make it to

the pro level.

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Work Cited

Bachman, Rachel. ESPN Strikes Deal for College Football Playoff. wsj.com,

21 November 2012. Web. 11 March 2015.

Berkowitz, Steve. Judge releases ruling on OBannon case: NCAA loses.

usatoday.com. 8 August 2014. Web. 11 March 2015.

Block, Molly. College Athletes should not Receive Payment for Playing.

Star.txstate.edu. n/d. 11 March 2015.

Edelman, Marc. The Case for Paying College Athletes. Usnews.com. 6

January 2014. 11 March 2015.

Farrey, Tom. Players, game makers settle for $40M. espn.go.com. 31 May

2014. 11 March 2015.

Murphy, Kate. Privilege, not job: College Athletes should not be Paid.

Elonpendulum.com. 13 April 2014.