Analysis: Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

The Michigan basketball team of 1992-1993 was arguably one of the best teams in the history of college basketball. The team entered the “final four for the national championship in 92 and 93” according to NCAA website. The men quickly earned a nickname; The Fab 5. The men became “marketing targets” according to Michael Wilbon (2). The once the team started bringing in large amounts of money, they quickly realized everyone else was getting rich off their name. During their time with Michigan the basketball players accepted around “$600,000,” according to Michael Wilbon, violating NCAA rules. The Fab 5 were dissociated with Michigan for “10 years as a consequence.” according to Michael Wilbon. College Athletes should not be paid because they

When the players perform well, the fan base increases along with the revenue. Universities and colleges will profit off these retail items with their star players’ names across the back as a higher customer base is achieved. The generated revenue circulates back into the school and opens up more opportunities for new players to be recruited and given scholarships to be part of their teams. This extra profit then becomes available to sponsor less popular sports that generates a higher output than input in sales. Alternatively to checks and cash, the school returns that generated revenue to their students by issuing out meal plans, scholarships, supplies, books, and other essentials. To receive an offer from a college is scarce, “Only about 2 percent of high school athletes win sports scholarships every year at NCAA colleges and universities,” according to CBS news. The average scholarship for a boy is, 14,270. For about 350 schools 2.2 billion atheltic schoalrships are given out, according to scholarshipstats.com. With all these benefits set into place, NCAA places rules stating that a college athlete can not sign any endorsement. Earning money from an endorsement or selling or accepting any money is not in compliance with the NCAA rules and extreme measure and consequences will be taken. These ramifications can result in the entire loss of the

For example there are “72000 participants in NCAA football. 16000 are eligible to play professional and only 250 are drafted. 1.6% of college football players go pro.” said NCAA website. If playing at the professional level is something a football player would want, I would fully expect a D1 athlete to play at a school that would give him the most opportunity at the professional level. The chances of being able to go pro is low, but with the right college and opportunities, the dream may be possible. The same goes for getting recruited by a college as a high school student. If a student comes from a low income school with a weak basketball team, but could very well go to play for a large D1 school. The likelyness of the student being seen by a college scout is slim to none. Although, a known high school may get many scouts looking at the players and being oblivious to the other, possibly better players“Basketball players are required to play at least 1 year of college basketball before they can be drafted into the NBA. Football requires to play 3 years of college before drafted into the NFL.” according to NCAA official website. A student's main reason to be going to college to play a sport is to possibly get out of college debt free. Tuition over the years have increased significantly. Getting out of college and entering