Should College Athletes Be Paid To Play Analysis

More than just a Scholarship In the article “Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play?” written by Kenneth Cooper, who graduated from Harvard University was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for over 30 years of being a newspaper reporter for multiple credible news agencies consisting of: The Washington Post, Boston Globe, and many more, discusses one of the most debated topics within all of college athletics: whether college athletes should be compensated for more than just a scholarship and get paid to play.

Many other credible writers have written about this topic including Jalen Rose, who was a superstar at the University of Michigan and in the National Basketball Association and is currently an analyst at ESPN, but instead of writing about

Both examples are very strong in supporting why college athletes should be compensated for more than a scholarship. The first time I read through the article I understood the authors viewpoint on the subject. I do think that the author is well informed on the subject as he used very credible people to support his evidence for the legal side of this subject. The strength of this article is that the arguments that were presented were very strong, and Cooper even interviewed previous collegiate athletes to see their opinion on his arguments. Willie Hicks junior, former Boston College University quarterback, said that “There are similarities to it being a job, as I look back. There is a time allotment that is expected of you.” He also does a great job of interviewing other credible people. Dr. Boyce Watkins, who is an economist, and political analyst that wants fair market compensation, says that “It’s going to happen. The solution will lie in the courts or with congress.” The weakness of this article is that I wish there was more arguments to be made. It would have been nice to get into the financial side of this subject, like for example how much money exactly the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N.C.A.A) and all the universities profit from the athletes, contracts with companies, and anything else that brings in money. I think Cooper does a great job of offering new evidence and writing more about the legal side of things, because people cannot argue against it and it rules out any opinion. One thing that I would like to be answered is just how many hours’ student-athletes spend training and traveling for sporting events, and if that could potentially be hurting their academic career. Another thing that I would like to be answered is if there have been previous attempts to take a case like this to court. I think that this article could have