Written by: Sebastian Ledgaard
Should college athletes get paid?
This is an interesting question. Is it fair that college athletes like Johnny Manziel, aren’t getting paid, even though the aggies makes tons of millions of his name? Last year Texas A&M's athletic department raked in 120 million dollars in revenue, sixth-highest of any school in the country. And how do they do this? A big part of it is merchandising. A replica #2 jersey goes for 60 dollars through the school's bookstore, just one of the many items for sale with Manziel's number. The jersey was so popular the bookstore sold out of them — all 2,500 — last December. This is a lot of money. And it’s not only the school that makes money on Johnny Manziel Saturday the 22th of September boxer Floyd “money” Mayweather tweeted: Congratulations @JManziel2 for putting on a fantastic show. He may not be able to make money off himself but I can. pic.twitter.com/Tp3sKyznkq
To be fair the schools give the students an education, many of them normally wouldn’t be able to attend (about 50% of athletes go to schools they academically don’t qualify for). The average cost of attending one of the Top 25 football schools over 4 years is nearly $100,000 for in-state students and roughly $147,000 for out-of-state students. Scholarships from Stanford, USC, and Notre Dame confer the greatest costs savings, each costing over $210,000 over 4 years. Besides that they receive a lot of merchandise such as hats, jackets, backpacks, etc. They also get significant medical care, which is important and certainly necessary for football players, which is very prone to injuries. So is it fair that the students want even more? In my opinion it’s reasonable. According to folks at business insider that have created a metric that estimates what each school's average player is roughly worth. Per the report, a University Texas of player is worth the most in America, with a Fair Market Value of $578,000. Collegiate athletes also lay it all on the line like their professional counterparts. Why, then aren’t they given monetary compensation in return for all the blood, sweat and tears they shed for their school? “Let’s start paying college athletes” an article by Joe Nocera of The New York Times, the 15 highest-paid NCAA football coaches made $53.4 million; meanwhile, the 13,877 Division I players made $0. And we can all agree on that the players, are at least, as important as the coach right? The big schools, makes an unbelievable amount of money on their sport programs. And who’s responsible for this business? In part the players. The problem seems to be that we don't look at college athletics as a business. Instead we constantly look at college sports as something different. We allow the "school" part to blind us into thinking that the educational piece changes the dynamics of what is really going on, and makes the athletics become about something other than money.
So is it time to pay college athletes? In my opinion, this shouldn’t even be debatable.
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This is an awesome topic Sebastian! However, I completely disagree with you. College athletes are still students and I, personally, think it is already a huge reward for those athletes to be able to attend such well-known Division 1 schools at a discounted price. After all, there are students who work just as hard academically and they are not payed and are still required to pay tuition. It seems like it is just a part of our culture to give special treatment to athletes, but our country relies just as heavily on athletes as they do on lawyers and doctors and teachers. College is a time to learn and learning can happen on a soccer field or in a classroom, both are preparation for a specific career path, therefore, they should be treated equally.
ReplyDeleteOlivia, I think that we rely much more on lawyers, doctors and others who spend years in school, than athletes. I think that colleges these days are focusing on sports too much, and for good reason, money. I'm all for colleges making money, but they need to focus back on their roots more. According to Shmoop.com, only about 7% of eligible college players get drafted every year. That's out of thousands of players who put the entirety of their college career into reaching that draft, the draft that 93% of them don't make. Too many kids go through college relying on that draft, and are then shoved into the real world with a degree that they probably did not work as hard on as someone who had to pay full price for the same college.
DeleteCollege athletes are not able to get paid for their work on the field. They can't even sell their signatures. However, they can make a lot of money doing interviews and commercials. If this is a free market we live in these players should be able to sell what ever they want with out a penalty.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic you chose but I understand why colleges don't pay the students. Most of the football goes into the athletic budget which funds less profitable sport like swimming or tennis. If they would allow schools to pay athletes then private schools like BYU and Notre Dame would dominate because they would just max out the pay for there sports. On the other hand college athletes can get paid for digging ditches but not signing something. It is a mixed problem that I am happy i don't have to deal with.
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ReplyDeleteI think that college players should be allowed to get paid for some of their merchandise that is sold by their school. If 2,500 jerseys that have the same number as Johnny Manziel, he should get a portion of that money because the main reason all of those jersey's are being sold so quickly is because of his performance. Every player should get a portion of the merchandise sold with either their number on it or their name.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat agree with you David, but if you look at what many athletes are already given to attend these division 1 schools, then it kinda makes sense as to why their not paid. Assuming that many athletes receive around $25,000 a year for tuition and god knows what else from their scholarships, it's understandable why merchandise profit isn't tacked on top of that. Besides the main focused needs to remain on academics anyways.
DeleteI always thought this wasn't even debatable, and college athletes shouldn't get paid, but after reading what you wrote I'm caught in the middle. It doesn't make sense that all those jerseys can be sold with his name on them and he doesn't get any profit from it. But then again, I guess the college is giving them an opportunity to be more successful and continue to professional leagues. You made good points though, maybe connect it to economic viewpoints more though!
ReplyDeleteI have looked into this topic many times and I've been stuck in the middle each time I think about it. These college athletes already get a great amount of benefits by attending the school in the first place. On the other hand, if Johnny Football's jersey is bringing in all that money, he should be able to get some of the money, or it should be put towards something that he wants it to go towards. It really doesn't matter though, because if you're discussing whether you should be getting paid or not in college, in a couple of years you'll be making big bucks in the NFL. Overall, good topic choice Shabazz!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading what you had to say Sabastian along with all the other ideas that people wrote, I think that although the free tuition should be a sufficient payment for the athletes, it is not fair to exclude them entirely from the benefits that the school receives from selling their number. It would not be practical to pay students to play because it would create a market of players essentially “shopping around” for the school that will pay them the most. If players are limited to compensation of off one thing like jerseys it might create more fairness. It is a difficult problem but for right now the system in place is probably the most practical.
ReplyDeleteI love the topic Sebastian. I do not agree that players should be paid for playing college football, but I do believe that players should receive money for sales the sales the college makes. Johnny football is a perfect example that he should receive a portion of the money for every item the Texas A&M sells with Johnny's number on it. It's unfair to the football players that they don't receive profits because they don't have time for a job between school and football.
ReplyDeleteI had never really given much thought to this, but you definitely sparked my interest in it. I agree with what you say about how they lay it all on the line for their sports and teams. However, I do not think that college athletes should be payed, for numerous reason. Everything that the college gives them, they give them for free, like the clothes and other stuff you mentioned. As athletes, they also get all of their medical treatment for free as well. And their college education is almost always free through athletic scholarships. If college athletes were payed, it would be no different than any professional sport out there.
ReplyDeleteCollege athletes shouldn't be paid for anything they do in college sports. These athletes are gifted in being able to play collegiate sports which could possibly set them up in the NFL to make millions of dollars. Not only are these athletes gifted with the opportunity of being drafted into a professional league, but, they are also given free education and that comes a long way if an athlete were to get injured.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really interesting how you brought up that topic about whether athletes should be paid or not because quite frankly I think they are given out outrageous salaries as it is. I am sure if I was in their shoes I would love the fact that they over pay athletes, but over paying athletes I feel like is an important issue that needs to be fixed. A lot of times these athletes are young and foolish and will just spend all of their earnings right away. I understand sports is a big deal when it comes to entertainment, but I feel as though our priorities differently. Overall, athletes should get paid, but their should definitely be a limit as to how much they are paid.
ReplyDeleteI believe that college athletes should be allowed to sell merchandise such as signatures and I also believe that they should get at least 25% of the money from their merchandise. I don't think that they should be able to make money for their time on the field, because that's a privilege.
ReplyDeleteThis is a debatable topic. But, I don't think that college athletes should be paid because they already get many benefits. Also, not all college athletes are like Johnny Manziel. The pay for the college athlete would vary but some athletes don't play much and would still get the benefit of getting paid? Obviously it wouldn't be as much as a person like Johnny Manziel but still.
ReplyDeleteAs just an added twist to this debate, it's not the case that all athletic teams at universities make money. Typically, it's only the mens' football and some mens' basketball teams that do. Now, if we begin to pay college athletes, are we also to pay all the men and women who compete in athletics but not in those two sports?
ReplyDeleteI totally disagree with you here's why. Being a college athlete is a great achievement and you should definitely be proud of yourself if you make it there. But, to me college and high school isn't much different. You aren't a professional yet, therefor you shouldn't get paid like one, no matter how good you are. Look at college players as interns, they dont get paid but they can probably to the job efficiently but just haven't made it high enough. But,i do agree they should be able to sign for money or sell merchandise and get paid from that but salary wise, thats a no. Make it to the NFL because its a whole new game then, that's when Johnny Football can get paid.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good topic of interest! Although, I do disagree with you. College athletes should not be paid. First of all, most of the "high name" athletes, like Johny Manziel, already have large scholarships that most likely pay for all of schooling. Also, these athletes are most likely going into the NFL where they will be paid an incredible amount of money. Plus, there is not going to be an athlete capable of selling out a stores merchandise that is not going into the NFL.
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