Labeling Student Athlete Argument Essay

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Labeling student-athletes as employees has been controversial topic because the NCAA claims college athletes are just students. The association doesn’t consider the fact that most college athletes put in numerous hours in for their sport and have to miss classes for games as well. According to Forbes (1), “the NCAA’s own tournament schedules require college athletes to miss classes for nationally televised games that bring in revenue”. Missing classes can also be applied to practices and on the road games as well. A great example would be Texas Tech and their 2016-2017 basketball schedule. Their first ten games are on the road from November 11th thru December 14th. With this schedule they will be missing a vast majority of their classes to play basketball, while the NCAA retrieves a revenue from the games. If …show more content…

Coaches believe that they’re protecting their players from themselves and their career prospects. They are also protecting them from harming their school reputation which also effects their revenue from sporting events. This transitions to the financial status of the NCAA and how they distribute that money across colleges. As stated before from USA Today, “the NCAA hauled in $989 million in its 2014 fiscal year. Since the association had $908.6 million in expenses, it ended up with a nearly $80.5 million surplus for the year”. As you can see in figure 1, the NCAA revenue steadily increases every year (3). This surplus continues to get bigger as college sports get more popular. College athletes are a big part of why the NCAA receive the revenue they account for last year. Colleges and the media market college athletes’ names on a daily basis from jersey sales and to advertisement, yet after the year is over they don’t receive any financial benefit from it. The NCAA gains revenue every year, yet student-athletes say they are struggling with financial help off the