Possible Disadvantages, Answers, with Visuals

NCCA is the governing body for athletic programs for many colleges and universities in the United States established early 1900s. In 1973, the NCAA members adopted a special convention with three divisions of schools; I, II and III (ncca.org). According to NCAA rules, schools under Division I and II can offer scholarships to athletes involved in sports, while schools under Division III may not offer scholarships. Collegiate athletes in the US are supposed to benefit with this scholarship, rather than monetary rewards.

Statement of problems

Exploitation

According to US News.com, college sports generate annual revenue of up to $11 billion from sources such as ticket sales, sponsorship rights, and broadcast rights sale. This revenue goes in to the pockets of few including coaches, organizers, and administrators and many others. Further, major achievements like emerging national champions is not rewarding to athletes, the real beneficiaries are mainly the sponsors, broadcasters and NCAA in the long run (npr.org). NCAA rules are therefore exploitative (Miller, A., 2012), considering the effort and time invested by the student in the sporting activities (Edelman, M., 2014). Moreover, some of the universities that formed intra-collegiate sports competitions are at the forefront supporting college athletic amateurism.

Another thing is that the scholarship NCAA is so emphatic about is not guaranteed over the four years of study. Rather, it’s subject to yearly renewal after meeting a number of conditions (Johnson, D. & Acquaviva, J., 2012).

When companies advertise they products using popular individuals, they mostly attract attention of the markets. This is so much the same with sportswear manufacturers or traders utilizing popular sportsmen to advertise their products, making huge sales and profits. The persons appearing in these commercials are supposed to be paid by the respective companies. However, this is not the case with the collegiate athletes, who big companies such as Nike, Rebook, and Flea among others take advantage of to advertise their products, for no pay. This is exploitation.

Poverty

The lifestyle of a collegiate athlete does not reflect their strong achievements. Because NCAA regulations are strictly compensation by sponsorship, students especially from poor backgrounds suffer in the colleges despite their role in university sports being a major industry generating millions of in revenue to the institutions. According to miller (2012) collegiate athletes live in sustained poverty despite.

Challenged over this matter, NCAA argues that sporting by student sports are supposed to be a component of their tutelage, for which they are receiving scholarship, not a form of student employment for which they should be paid for (ncca.org). According to NCCA, paying athletes for sporting would beat its purpose in education (Johnson & Acquaviva, 2012).

Corruption

One of the negative aspects resulting from failure to pay college athletes is breeding of corruption. Research reveals that despite the tough regulations and restrictions of payment by NCAA, throughout its existent, collegiate athletes have received monetary compensation beyond education scholarship. According to Slack survey (25) as quoted by (Johnson & Acquaviva, 2012), this illegal compensation has taken place over the years with college athletes like Reggie Bush plus others receiving secrets rewards.

The form signed between an institution and a student on the scholarship is a form of contract between the two parties. It is noted that while NCAA insists that education is the primary reason for athlete scholarship, investigations reveal that education is not all that prioritized, indeed, they get sub-standard educational experience. According to Johnson & Acquaviva (2012), student athletes spend most of time in practices and at times are forced to skip essential lessons to attend tournaments. Some of them will engage in corrupt means, such as doctoring results, to meet the basic minimum requirements for the scholarship.

Conclusion

The question of whether college athletes should be paid more above college scholarship date back the time of inception of intercollegiate sports competition. Arguments for either side have been presented, by different parties at different times. However, NCCA is not able to let loose its rules regarding this issue, and it is firm on no more compensation beyond scholarship. In this paper I have analyzed the problems resultant of this stand; exploitation, poverty and corruption. Since college athletics generate lot revenue, these are challenges that can easily be eliminated by simply paying college athletes.

References

Edelman, M. (2014) The Case for Paying College Athletes: Students deserve to be compensated for their labor. US news and World Report