Ethical Issues In College Sports

909 Words4 Pages

In 2014, there were over 460,000 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) student athletes competing in 23 sports in the United States. The total annual NCAA College revenue was $10.6 billion. The NCAA annual revenue generated from tickets sales was $5.6 billion. The NCAA annual revenue from rights agreements, which ranges from broadcasting, social media and sponsorships, came up to $433 million. These figures represent the economics of the NCAA, a commercialized industry (NCAA Statistic Verification, 2015). Since its introduction in 1906, the NCAA, a once non-profit organization was set in place to protect student athletes and apply rules and regulations for the benefit of college sports. Regrettably in recent years the NCAA has been …show more content…

These figures and concerns are well supported and researched on a large scale by scholars (Cronk, Lawrence & Soederbaum, 2013).
Unethical conduct or Bylaw 10 was set in place by the NCAA to ensure that faculty and student-athletes conduct themselves in compliance with NCAA, conference and institution (NCAA, 2013). Over a period of seven years we have witnessed several high profile cases involving bylaw 10 violations. Weston (2011) recants the violation of bylaw 10 with former University of Southern California (USC) standout Reggie Bush who accepted explicit benefits throughout his amateurism campaign. Dohrmann & Evans (2013) acknowledge Weston (2011) with the ongoing violations at Oklahoma State University involving violations that date back as far as 2000. Sturgis (2011) also provides further evidence by discussing the masses of undocumented bylaw 10 violations by Boise State. The NCAA clearly has a problem with unethical conduct and bylaw 10. Why the NCAA may argue and assess the blame of bylaw 10 violations towards student athletes and institutions, there are still concerns that the NCAA is conducting acts of unethical conduct that go beyond the …show more content…

Cronk (2013) investigate approaches provides an outlook concerning the legal case involving former student athletes who want compensation from the NCAA for using their likeness, name and image. Cronk (2013) quickly establishes that the NCAA has in some form violated the rights of the students by obtaining revenue from their identities which has significant value (p. 164-165). Cronk (2013) also establishes that the student athlete is the victim here and is often left to suffer due to not being compensated for the use of their identity but under a legal documentation (form 11-3a) which provides the NCAA unethical right to use student athletes’ identities there is no justice. Soederbaum (2013) acknowledges Cronk’s (2013) stance with a reflection on Johnny Manziel former Texas A&M quarterback who during his Heisman campaign generated over $70 million in revenue for Texas A&M athletics but was brought under investigation for his involvement in signing memorabilia consisting of his likeness. Soederbaum & Cronk (2013) also share similar concerns involving the NCAA monopolizing off of students athletes however Soederbaum (2013) challenges Cronk (2013) by simply suggesting a new dictation for amateur and professional status rather than Cronk’s (2013) outlook on a system of legal pension . Either