Okoh 1

Albert Okoh
Professor Collins
ENGL 1302
April 28, 2016
NCAA: Making it Rain for College Athletes
It is a pretty well thought of belief that college is a sort of coming of age ritual, since a
high percentage of people who go to college are teenagers who are on the verge of adulthood.
Colleges and Universities have been known to be the place to pursue ones goals in life and to
find or continue interests they have. For a long time in human history, sports and all kinds of
different kinds of athletics have been a big part of a college or universitys traditions. A widely
spread thought that has been debated over non-stop, since the thought was even brought forth,
was whether or not the NCAA should pay their athletes. If a person thinks about it logically they
would come to the conclusion that college athletes should get paid. Statista talks about a survey
that Harris Interactive conducted. Harris Interactive brings to light that the NCAA makes an
estimated total revenue of 797 million dollars per year and that just March Madness alone rakes
in a total of seventy-one million dollars in ticket sales. Not a single one of these players ever see
a dime for it. They work hard for everyone who watches and still have to manage their school
work. One of the reasons that the NCAA has not implemented payment for their players is
because of the strong opposition to it. Many people believe that college athletes already get
enough money. It is true that a huge proportion of them get some sort of aid or scholarship, but
still for everything that they need that could never be enough. The physical and mental stress that
is invoked upon them is excruciatingly high. Not only that but according to Amy McCormick, an
interviewee from the article Should College Athletes be Paid to Play by Kenneth Cooper
because of their many conflicting interests many of them can not take the majors they actually

Okoh 2

want. The possibility of getting and maintaining a job is very low since they have so many things
fighting for their time. Because of the stress of playing on the team and the overload of school
work the athletes have, many of them do not have that much extra free time on their hands. They
all have to go to a tremendous amount of practices and even keep up with their school work; not
to mention if they slip up then they could lose not just their position on their team but their
enrollment in the school as well. Many of them will lose any scholarships they once had as well.
Colleges also already provide on campus jobs to their students. Many of these jobs are
considered work study programs and therefore students can work in the library or gym and get
paid for their services (Pay to Play Sect. Show me the Money Par. 2). Michael Polak, a
sportswriter for The Charleston Gazette, also agrees with Adele Birkenes, co-writer of Pay to
Play that colleges should pay their athletes since [he sees] athletics on the collegiate level just
like a work-study program" (Pay to Play Sect. Show me the Money Par. 2). With all the
money that is brought in, it is safe to assume that the NCAA can afford to pay their athletes not
just because they need it, but also because they deserve it as well.
There are many ways the NCAA could incorporate some kind of pay for the players. One
of the best possibilities is to add some kind of compensation into a players scholarship fund. The
amount does not have to be huge, but just something that the players could use to help keep their
lives on track and to survive on their own. It should kind of be like an allowance that the school
gives out for a certain amount of time, on a monthly basis. Everyone who is on the team will be
entitled to this scholarship. As long as they are still considered on the team they will be
continued to be paid even if they are injured or out of commission for a while. This might sound
eccentric but it is fair and logical. If the schools continue to give their players scholarship funds
even while they are out of commission because of injuries, they got sick, or some terrible twist of

Okoh 3

fate took place, then it is only fair that they still get paid as well. The amount of payment each
player receives however depends on the school. Just like for a regular scholarship and in real life
the players do not have to be paid the same amount. Many aspects of a players payment can be
decided by a need basis, time they put in working or going to practices, so long as it holds firm
with the national rules like minimum wage requirements.
The best way for the NCAA to raise the money to do so is through the selling of their
merchandise and tickets. With the players [already providing] the labor that produces winning
teams, which in turn, generates heightened fan interest [many colleges], football stadiums and
basketball arenas are filled to capacity, [it all helps to translate] into fatter operating budgets for
the athletic powers (College Athletes Deserve Some Equity Par. 1). Because of all of this it is
possible to incorporate some sort of pay into the budget that the NCAA already has. It is
unnecessary for coaches to be getting such huge perks like performance bonuses (for [their]
teams winning conference titles and going to bowl games), a clothing allowance, money for
radio and television shows, a sportswear contract and two free cars -- one for the coach, the other
for [their wife] (College Athletes Deserve Some Equity Par. 2). All of that is just a waste of
money that the NCAA could use to help benefit the entire organization and not the pockets of the
few. Every single team in the NCAA sells their own kind of merchandise as well. It is reasonable
to believe that they can give a cut of that profit to their players. They can even sell personalized
merchandise that is mainly sponsoring a single player like a bobble head, a t-shirt, or even a
poster. Depending on the popularity of that player and how much their merchandise sells
manifests in how much more money they receive.
Now it is true that many people associated with this concept will be against it. Many of
the people who earn these benefits believe that they will lose a substantial amount of those

Okoh 4

benefits that they receive the schools and the NCAA. This is not necessary though. In the long
run they would not even notice it, in fact there is even a higher possibility that they would even
get more benefits instead. It is only natural that people work harder when the incentive they
receive is higher. This is especially true for college athletes since many of them are just young
adults who do not know that much about the world. If the players get paid and are allowed to use
the money for anything they wanted, school related or otherwise, then they would work even
harder. Especially if the amount of money they receive had the prospect of increasing depending
on their performance. Players who work harder than ever before will incorporate that dedication
into the games and will provide even more competitive games. The more competitive the games
are the more interesting they become and the more people will want to watch them. Now with
more people who like to watch the games the more excited they will be about that sport and the
more they will pay for not only the tickets but also for the merchandise. The more the people pay
the more money goes to the organization and the schools. That is only the tip of the iceberg
however. With players getting paid the least likely that some of them are to find jobs and the
more spare time they have. With all that extra spare time they could focus more on what the
coaches want most in the world, better hardworking players who give it everything theyve got.
Another reason that people did not want college athletes to be paid was because many
people believe that they already get compensated enough. They back there reasoning up with the
fact that many of the athletes already get scholarships and that college athletes have a higher
percentage of getting picked in the drafts. It is true that many athletes get scholarship however
most of them do not get enough to be able to compensate for the outside world. Not to mention
that even though college athletes get a higher percentage for getting picked in the draft that does
not balance out the fact that more will not get picked.

Okoh 5

Incorporating a decent amount of money to the players brings a substantial amount of

benefits to the table. The plan stated in this proposal is the best possible way to get the money
needed. The reasoning behind why it is the best possible solution is because it already uses the
resources available. By using the extra left over money that the NCAA receives from the games
and merchandise it is possible for them to give a good amount of benefits to their players,
through the already distributed scholarships.

Okoh 6

Works Cited
38 Brill, John. "Should College Athletes Be Paid?" The Shirley Povich Center for Sports
Journalism RSS. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.
35 COOPER, KENNETH J. "Should College Athletes Be Paid To Play?." Diverse: Issues In
Higher Education 28.10 (2011): 12-13. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.
38 Greenlee, Craig T. "College Athletes Deserve Some Equity." Black Issues In Higher
Education 17.5 (2000): 62. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
37 "Pay To Play." Current Events 111.13 (2012): 7. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Apr.
2016.
38 Schneider, Raymond G. "College Students' Perceptions On The Payment Of Intercollegiate
Student-Athletes." College Student Journal 35.2 (2001): 232. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.
35 "Topic: College Sports (NCAA)." www.statista.com. Statista. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.