Why and How College
Athletes Should be Paid
Student E
Why and How College Athletes Should be Paid
Kevin Ware’s Injury & Exploitation
Reasons that college athletes are not paid
Response
Reasons colleges athletes should be paid
Popular proposed system
Solution
Questions
Works Cited
Kevin Ware’s Injury
Ware’s Injury Exploited (“Kevin Ware”)
Reasons Athletes are Not Paid
 NCAA Considers them amateurs – “Student First”
 “Student-Athlete”
 Ernest Nemeth vs. University of Denver – Colorado Supreme
Court, 1953 (McCormick)
 “Prevent the dreaded notion that NCAA athletes could be
thought of as employees” – NCAA Exec. Dir. Walter Byers (qtd.
in McCormick)
Response
 “Student First” claim is untrue
 Athletes pick classes and majors around sports schedule
(Cooper)
 Western Oklahoma State College (Wolverton)
 Athletes are employees (McCormick)
 Control, economic relationship, work leads to profit
Reasons Athletes are Not Paid
 Scholarships can be worth $80,000 and $150,000 (Ford)
 Many see this as fair payment
 Most college athletes receive no scholarship money (Ford)
 Scholarship value does not compare to revenue that the
players bring their schools (Miller)
 Many believe the massive amounts that athletes make as
professionals justifies the fact that they are not paid in college
 Most college athletes do not play professional sports
(“NCAA Public Service Announcement”)
Why College Athletes Should be Paid
 Ticket sales and broadcasting rights bring in massive sums of money
 Michigan Football sold $70 million worth of tickets in 2011 (Michigan
Ticket Prices; NCAA Attendance Report)
 NCAA makes $125 million a year for broadcasting rights to BCS
games
 NCAA makes $771 million a year for broadcasting rights to NCAA
Tournament
 NCAA and schools profit from jersey sales
 Schools only sell jerseys with numbers of star players
 Professional athletes are paid for sales of their jerseys
Why College Athletes Should be Paid
 Division I College Athlete Graduation rates
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
Football
Men's
All College Women's
Basketball Athletes Basketball
(NCAA Research Staff)
Why College Athletes Should be Paid
 Paying athletes will raise graduation rates
 College athletes have no time to make money
 Talented football and basketball players leave school early to play
professionally
 NBA Draft Statistics (NBA Draft History)
 Last college graduate selected first: Kenyon Martin in 2000
 None of the first 16 picks in 2012 graduated
 9 of the last 10 American-born first overall picks attended
college for 1 year or less
If the athletes were paid in school, they would have less reason to leave
school early, and more would graduate.
Popular Proposed System
 Universities directly pay the students
 Flat pay rate for all players
 Schools without funds to pay players could cut
less popular sports and decrease the amount of
scholarships to make more money available
(Dohrmann)
 Not an ideal scenario
Solution
 Remove rules preventing college athletes from making money off
of their name and likeness
 NCAA will be able to use player names for sales, and the
players will receive a portion
This will increase:
 Jersey and t-shirt sales
 Videogame sales
 Allow players to sign endorsement deals
 Athletic companies would be willing to pay college athletes to
appear in advertisements
 Could lead to a step toward parity
Conclusion
College athletes put in hours of work and
make millions for their schools, often risking
their health and well-being.
These athletes need to be paid, and the
best possible solution is to lift some of the
rules that prevent players from being able
to make money.
Questions
Do you agree that college athletes should
be paid?
Do you agree that the best way to pay them
is by allowing them to make money from
sales and endorsements?
Works Cited
 Cooper, Kenneth J. "Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play? Michigan State
Law Professors Robert and Amy McCormick Say Division I Athletes
Qualify as 'Employees' Under Federal Labor Laws." Diverse Issues in
Higher Education 28.10 (2011): 12. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21
Feb. 2013.
 Dohrmann, George. “Pay for Play.” Sports Illustrated 115.18 (2011): 52-59.
Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
 Ford, William J. “Even Playing Field? Winning Athletic Program Can Bring
Millions of Dollars and Instant Notoriety to A School. But Some Say
College Athletes are Getting Played in the Process.” Diverse Issues in
Higher Education 28.6 (2011): 11. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21
Feb. 2013
 Hayes, Chris. “Fat Profits at NCAA while Athletes Play for Free.” msnbc. 1 Apr.
2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.
 “Kevin Ware T-shirts Pulled by Adidas.” Sporting News. 5. Apr. 2013. Web. 9
Apr. 2013.
 “Michigan Athletics Announces Ticket Prices for 2011 Season.” MGoBlue.
University of Michigan, 14 Mar 2011. Web. 21 Feb 2013.
Works Cited
 Miller, Anthony W. “NCAA Division I Athletics: Amateurism and Exploitation.” The
Sport Journal 14.1 (2011). Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
 “NBA Draft History.” National Basketball Association. 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 6 Mar.
2013.
 NCAA. “NCAA Public Service Announcement.” Online video clip. YouTube, 24
Apr. 2008. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.
 “NCAA Accumulated Attendance Report.” Oracle Reports. 10 Jan 2012. Web. 21
Feb 2013.
 NCAA Research Staff. “Trends in Graduation-Success Rates and Federal Graduation
Rates at NCAA Division I Institutions.” National Collegiate Athletic
Association. Oct. 2012. Web. 4 Apr. 2013.
 Wolverton, Brad. "Need 3 Quick Credits to Play Ball? Call Western Oklahoma." The
Chronicle of Higher Education 59.12 (2012). Expanded Academic ASAP.
Web. 21 Mar. 2013.