As we start to look at budgets and finances in universities and
community colleges a piece of finance and budgets that stick out to me are
whether college athletes should be paid. This goes with the VoiceThread we did
for this week and how the economy can withstand the ability to pay
student-athletes. As we all know college football and men's basketball brings
in the most revenue for universities. With the amount of money those players
bring in to their respective universities there is now more of a reason or push
to pay the student-athletes. With the "Power Five" conferences taking
it upon themselves and not letting the courts decide their fate, they will be
giving each student-athlete a stipend of $2,000-$6,000 a year for expenses
above a full scholarship. One big name that is leading this pay for play
initiative is Jay Bilas, former Duke men's basketball player and coach, who is
now a ESPN analyst. The problem is many people already believe that
student-athletes are already getting a great deal if they are receiving a full
scholarship. Student-athletes on full scholarships receive tuition, room and
board, and books free of cost already. Why would they need to be given an extra
stipend? The problem arises for other men’s nonrevenue sports like wresting, swimming
because federal guidelines require offering women’s sports equal
opportunity-could disappear from campuses. The other dilemma is with college
football and men’s basketball players leaving school to enter the NFL and NBA
draft. Most do this because the come from a “very poor” family and want to help
out because if they enter the draft and are picked pretty high know they will
make millions of dollars while being a teenager. This whole issue will continue
to be on going for a while. As of right now most of the “Power-Five
Conferences” are paying their student-athletes the “Cost of attendance” which
is resulting in a $2,000-$6,000 a year stipend. This issues pertains to what we
read about and have done in some of the activities this week because of how
will the economy, but most importantly the universities afford to pay
student-athletes this amount of money with the state of our economy?
Fowler, S. (2014). Paying College Athletes: An idea that's gaining traction. The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved from http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/scott-fowler/article9201047.html (Sept. 6, 2015).
What a interesting idea! this does bring up quite a few issues to ponder, some of which you already mentioned:
ReplyDelete* What about student athletes in the non-revenue producing sports, ie., swimming, wrestling?
* My daughters were on the track team in college. While they were not recruited and received no support from their colleges, they were student athletes.... should they have received compensation in some form?
* If student athletes receive a stipend, does that now make them professional athletes, making them ineligible for other sports activities?
* Community colleges often have sports programs - how might this affect them?
I assume the additional money would come through fundraising? What impact might that have on the academics?
Very interesting post and idea!! I have not considered this before. However, I think I have more questions than answers after reading your post. My first reaction was why should they be compensated financially when they have already received compensation through scholarships. My daughter plays at a high level of competitive soccer and has considered playing soccer in college. She has even received invitations to discuss scholarships. However, the mere business aspect of college sports has deterred her from pursuing this opportunity. I think that significant financial compensation for endorsements requires much maturity in the student athlete not to mention compensation should be applied equitably among all sports and student athletes. Thanks for bringing up the question!
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