Peer Responses

Pineda 1

David Pineda

Prof. Angelina Misaghi

English 1

March 12, 2021

Research Paper Draft

Playing under the brightest lights, crowd chanting, pressure at its highest, with games on

the line; this is why we watch college sports. It is undeniable that college sports take the whole

country by storm when their respected seasons come around. We eagerly wait around to see what

new talent is going to rise from the pack and become a household name. This repeats year after

year and we see these new waves of athletes each bringing something different to the sport. From

a fans perspective what else can we ask for? These athletes keep us at the edge of our seats and

once one wave of players has gone on to bigger and better things a new wave comes and

continues entertaining us. However, when the perspective changes to an athlete's point of view

we begin to see it a little different.

As amazing as being a college level athlete might sound there are many

challenges and obstacles that they endure. For instance having a national spotlight as you try

your best as a 18 or 19 year old kid to make it from the amateurs to the pros. Perhaps it's trying

to manage 6 hour a day of practice and the 10 hours a day of school related activities. But none

of these challenges compare to the biggest obstacle that these young athletes face. If you pay

close attention you can see that year after year these athletes are being exploited by the NCAA.

College athletes are being exploited by the NCAA; they are highly marketable players and never

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see the money that they generate. As wholesome as the NCAA can seem there is much going on

behind the scenes. The NCAA and the Universities are million dollar organizations and are

tasked with promoting and marketing these young athletes. Now it is sad to say but these young

athletes are getting the short end of the stick. The more popular these national events grow the

more that these students are robbed and it shows a real and unforgivable discrepancy.

The fact that the NCAA is exploiting these young athletes is clear. Although there are

many ways in which this is happening, I was able to find that there are two very distinctive ways

that they exploit these student athletes. One of the ways is by having these students train like

professional athletes and priorities their athletic careers over their academic ones. The other way

is the more obvious one and of course the most impactful, the financial exploitation of the

athletes.

How does having long days of training affect these young student athletes? So by

requiring long days of training and in some cases not giving them enough time in a day to deal

with their financial problems, like for example getting a job. These students tend to have an issue

with having a full energy draining day of training and still having to deal with their academics.

Now according to an article called “Student Athletes Say NCAA ‘Exploited’ Them in Antitrust

Trial” written by Helen Christophi, “Justine Hartman said she sometimes skipped classes

because she was too hungry and tired to concentrate following daily six-hour basketball

practices.” Now the NCAA likes for their student athletes to succeed because that means money

for the university but are they putting into consideration what the athletes need in order to

succeed academically and athletically? The answer is no. Another example from the same article

states, “We don’t have the means to excel at the highest level academically,” Hartman said. “We

go without a lot. There are many with similar experiences, where they’re hungry and too tired” to

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focus on academics.” Now we can see how this seems to be a recurring theme throughout the

student athletes and it's taking a lot from the players who are not even getting paid to do all that

work. It forces us to reevaluate how these universities look at these young adults. Do they see

them as a tool that will generate them money or are they actually concerned about making sure

they excel academically and athletically? Now that we recognize the struggle these student

athletes go through on a daily basis, let's see how they are being exploited financially.

The financial exploitation of these athletes is the biggest robbery of all time. We see how

hard these athletes are being trained, to the point where they don't have energy for school. Now

imagine working that hard and not getting paid a single penny. According to an article called,

“Fiscal Year 2019 Division I Revenues and Expenses-Key Findings” by the NCAA, “The total

athletics revenue reported among all NCAA athletics departments in 2019 was $18.9 billion. Of

that amount, approximately $10.6 billion (56%) was generated by the athletics departments.” So

if we pay attention to the numbers 19 billion dollars are being made on the accounts of these

student athletes. They do receive athletic scholarships to waive their classes, and sometimes their

dorm and even food. Now there are billions of dollars that are being made off these students and

some of them can't even afford to pay their rent or food. Everyone is getting paid well over $200

thousand a year and the ones who are actually going out there and putting in work have to be

eating a cup of noodles every night.

If the NCAA does not directly want to pay these student athletes it is alarming and just

straight up greedy. But another way that just continues to shock everyone is the fact that the

NCAA refuses to let these young athletes make profit of their own likeness or endorsement

deals. We can look at a specific case, now NBA All- Rookie 1st Team Lamelo Ball. Throughout

his highschool days it was a no brainer that this kid had what it took to become a NBA player.

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He declared to UCLA during his freshman year and became a nationally recognized celebrity.

However was declared ineligible by the NCAA because he came out with a signature shoe.

According to an article called “LaMelo Ball Reportedly Not Expected to Be Cleared by NCAA

Due to Signature Shoe” by Tyler Conway, “LaMelo Ball is not currently expected to be granted

eligibility after graduating high school because his Big Baller Brand signature shoe violated

NCAA rules on amateurism. The NCAA's not going to clear (LaMelo) because he's got a shoe

right now, a sneaker where he's making money off of.” The fact that the NCAA will consider you

ineligible because you’re making money off your likeness is the final blow. They want to be able

to make billions of dollars off these athletes and will not allow them to make money of their own

likeness!

We see that the universities market their star athletes by having them up on billboards and

by selling their jersey. Now that we know that all those profits are going to either the university

or to the NCAA and not to the players, we see that there is a definite problem. It is clear that

something needs to be done by this, but what?

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Reference Page

Christophi, Helen. “Student Athletes Say NCAA ‘Exploited’ Them in Antitrust Trial.”

Courthouse News, 7 Sept. 2019,

www.courthousenews.com/student-athletes-say-ncaa-exploited-them-in-antitrust-t

rial.

“Fiscal Year 2019 Division I Revenues and Expenses — Key Findings.” NCAA,

www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/finances-intercollegiate-athletics.

Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.

Conway, Tyler. “LaMelo Ball Reportedly Not Expected to Be Cleared by NCAA Due to

Signature Shoe.” Bleacher Report, 5 Dec. 2017,

bleacherreport.com/articles/2747813-lamelo-ball-reportedly-not-expected-to-be-cl

eared-by-ncaa-due-to-signature-shoe#:~:text=College%20Basketball-,LaMelo%2

0Ball%20Reportedly%20Not%20Expected%20to%20Be,NCAA%20Due%20to%

20Signature%20Shoe&text=LaMelo%20Ball%20is%20not%20currently,violates

%20NCAA%20rules%20on%20amateurism.