Mistreatment Of Student Athletes In College Sports

College sports unite states, dominate television, and generate 10.6 billion dollars annually (Gumbel), yet a strong majority of athletes are living in poverty. In addition, student athletes are routinely expected to perform on a national stage and represent their university positively. In return, student athletes are not allowed to receive any benefits or items of monetary value rewarding them for their hard work, while coaches and administrators are annually making millions of dollars overseeing them. The National Collegiate Athletic Association says that athletes are not allowed to use their faces to exploit, while media outlets are quick to advertise using images of the athletes. Mistreatment of all student athletes by universities and the

College sports are a massive revenue generator for all schools across the United States, so conferences and schools sign television deals worth billions of dollars. Prime examples such as the Big Ten’s contract with the Big Ten Network which pays out 2.64 billion dollars over six years and the Pac-12 conference’s deal with Fox sports equating to 3 billion dollars (Watkins). The research went to conclude that universities also receive money for post-season tournaments, such as the famed March Madness basketball tournament which generates 1 billion dollars annually off of their television contract. How come the athletes are not able to take even a small chunk of money home considering they are the ones playing in the games? Another big way schools make money off of athletes is through ticket sales. According to “College Athletics Revenue” the average university generates $25 million annually from football ticket sales, yet student athletes are not allowed to receive any of this money even though they are the players providing the entertainment. According to Boyce Watkins, NCAA rules and regulations state that athletes aren’t allowed to make money by “using their own likeness”. Universities and television stations are constantly creating advertisements with pictures of athletes, promoting ticket sales for games

The time spent improving their academic and athletic skills is so high and the athletes are left little time to enjoy a legitimate college experience. The NCAA has just begun to regulate the number of hours that are labeled “mandatory.” Teams are allowed twenty mandatory hours per week, but are finding ways to get around this rule by deviously calling many activities optional. In a 2015 poll by Bryant Gumbel, Division 1-A football players revealed that on average they spent 41.6 hours per week on athletic activities which is equivalent to a full work week. Student athletes also are forced to compromise some of their study and leisure time due to wishes of TV companies. Television scheduling is a huge issue for student athletes because all marquee matchups are broadcasted live in prime time between 8 and 10 p.m. Eastern time (Staurowsky). Athletes play in games on the other side of the country, stay up early in the morning traveling, and are expected to go to class and practice as normal that morning. Gumbel’s article goes on to state that student athletes must maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA to remain eligible to compete in their sport. Many athletes struggle to maintain this minimum because of the class and study time they miss due to their game travel. They are required to spend innumerable hours in academic and