Critical Thinking Paper(revised)Jedediah GradyCap 9 Blue GroupMary 13th 2015

Jedediah GradyCritical Thinking Paper

Because college athletes work just as hard as do professionals, universities make so much money off of them, and because of the high risk of injury, the NCAA must provide a salary for their athletes.

Before collegiate sports were popular, students had to get their exercise by farming and other types of labor. Many students were unhappy, so they devised games called class rushes. These rushes were very similar to football. They involved common, usually violent hazing of incoming freshman and sophomores. Intramural sports were introduced as a way to direct physical energy toward something positive. However most people thought sports were a distraction to school work. Even so, college student sold tickets and raised money to start having organized sports. Many years later, the sports industry is gigantic. Players can become famous for their talents. But there's a catch. You get fame, but you lose other things.

College athletes work just as hard as professionals. Every day, college athletes around the world have to work all day to keep themselves in shape and ready for the game, but still have to turn in meticulous assignments. Instead of getting a job, players have to train to be on the team, and study to avoid being kicked out. The average collegiate players spends 40 hours a week on sports. Thats over 2,000 hours a year. The average Pro player, who does NOT have school work, spends 42. There are . Nights that I wish I could go to bed and Im starving, says former point guard for the University of Connecticut, Shabazz Napier (scholastic). Napier reflects the feelings of many of the athletes who work themselves to death as an athlete just to barely have enough money to buy food for themselves. It is true that athletes can struggle to get a day job for some extra cash, but to many of college players, playing professionally is their best option for success, so they rarely have time for other jobs because they are training. Out of 460,000 college athletes (men and women), only about 20.5 percent go on to play professionally (NCAA). The other 360,000 have to find another profession. Because most of these athletes spend more time on athletics than academics to keep their scholarship, they dont really have any idea of what to do in life. And with the NCAA not paying any money, former college athletes are often desperate for job.

Universities make so much money off athletes too. Even though some will say that there is just not enough money to pay student athletes. However, economist believe that the NCAA has more than enough money to supply its athletes. More than two-fifths of the teams that competed in the March Madness tournament lost money or broke even (thehuffingtonpost). Although this is true, the reason colleges lose their money is because they spend it on unnecessary things like fancy sport facilities. Michael Leeds, a professor at Temple University states that Schools quite often move around or spend money to basically get rid of excess revenue. Colleges and Universities have money, they just dont want to spend it on athletes. The NCAA brought in almost one billion dollars this last year. Out of that billion, 80.5 million was surplus (thehuffingtonpost). Thats almost enough to pay every single basketball and football athlete 5,000 dollars. But instead of paying athletes, the NCAA decides to be selfish. Money is not the problem. Greed is. Bernard Goldberg, once talked about how college athletes see people wearing their jerseys and never see any money. Also, the athletes sign a contract that prevents them from making money off of their merchandise not just in college, but forever. If a player makes a superb play and it becomes famous, the NCAA owns it. The actual athlete who made the play owns nothing(Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel). Former UCLA player Ed OBannon found out that his avatar was being used in a video game without his consent. He found out years after he became a salesman. He then led a lawsuit which resulted in a judge ruling that basketball and football players will be able to receive a minimum of 5,000 dollars a year in trust money. It is a start, but the NCAA is still making almost 200,000 times more than that student would. Some might argue that athletes get free education. This is true, most college athletes get a free ride to college. Even so, athletes should be able to capitalize off of their hard work immediately. They work day in and day out to be great, and dont get any money for it. It would be one thing if the NCAA didn't pay them, but not only does the NCAA not pay its athletes, but they prevent them from making any money related to them.

The last reason that colleges should pay athletes is that there is a very high, and no protection. One athlete suffered a serious injury, which caused him to have seizures. Every time this man has a seizure, his shoulder pops out, forcing him to go to the Emergency Room. Every trip cost him over 2,500 dollars. His shoulder popped 15 times one year. The injury prevents him from going pro, and the NCAA does not allow him to make any money off of his hard work in college. This is just one of many stories of young men having their lives ruined by the unfair rules of the NCAA. The only time the NCAA would step in and help an athlete with expenses is if the athletes expense goes over 90,000 (Vice Sports). Also, an injury to an athlete can result in their scholarship being revoked. Basically, even though the athlete makes all of the money for the NCAA, the NCAA provides the athlete with nothing if something is to happen to him or her.

Some may ask why players even go to college if they are that good at the sport or love the game that much. The National Football League (NFL) requires players to be out of high school for 3 years(Time.com), and the National Basketball Association (NBA) requires players to be 19 and 1 year out of High School (Nba.com). These rules put college as the best option. In theory, college athletes will get a free education and get to practice their skills. Some athletes dont even get an education. Many take fake paper classes, which are classes that are chosen by the athletic department because they are easier. This is unacceptable. Not only are these kids not getting a definite future in sports or insurance for injuries, but they are not getting an education either

A simple solution to these problems is just to pay the athletes. They train as hard as pros anyway! This seems like a simple solution, until the issue of unfairness comes up. The annual cost of college is around 15,000 dollars (star.txstate.edu), and most college athletes get to attend that college for free. Some say that the scholarship is their form of payment.

Every person is blessed with certain abilities. For some it is math or science, for others it is sports. Some athletes want to go pro just to provide a better life for their family and others realize their talents and want to make the best of themselves. College athletes work too hard, and risk their bodies too much just for universities to make so much money off of them. The NCAA must provide a salary for their athletes.

Works Cited"College Athletes Should Not Receive Payment for Playing." College Athletes Should Not Receive Payment for Playing. Txstate.edu. Web. 17 Mar. 2015. . Debate Club. "Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?" http://www.usnews.com/. usnews, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. NCAA. "Probability of competing in sports beyond high school." Ncaa.org. NCAA, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. .Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: NCAA Athletes and Money, Part 1 (HBO)." youtube.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. . Scholastic. "Should College atheltes be paid?" http://magazines.scholastic.com/. scholastic, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015. ."Should College Athletes be Paid?" http://magazines.scholastic.com/. scholastic.com/, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. . "Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?" http://www.usnews.com/. usnews, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015. .Strachan, Maxwell. "NCAA Schools Can Absolutely Afford To Pay College Athletes, Economists Say." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. .Time.com. "Johnny Manziel Could Change the NFLs Rules Forever." keepingscore.blogs.time.com. Time, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. . Vice Sports. "The Ncaa's Shameful Failure to Insure Its Athletes." sports.vice.com. Vice Sports, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. .

Annotated BibliographyBlock, Molly. "College athletes should not receive payment for playing."TheUniversity Star. star.txstate.edu, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. This article gives insight on why college athletes should not be paid because of the free education already given. This is an important article because it shows the point of view of the opposing side, which is vital in an argument. The other side says that athletes form of payment is their scholarshipDebate Club. "Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?" http://www.usnews.com/. usnews, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. . This article talks about the revenues of over 6 billion annually that college basketball collects, and all of the money that the NCAA have to spend. This is good to because it gives a background of how much money the NCAA actually collects.NCAA. "Probability of competing in sports beyond high school." Ncaa.org. NCAA, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. . This site gives great states about high school and collegiate athletes. It tells the probability of playing a sport in college, and it also tells the probability of making it into the NBA. It tells separate stats per each college sport. Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: NCAA Athletes and Money, Part 1 (HBO)." youtube.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. . This video gave insight on the struggles of athletes. It talked about some of the paper classes that UNC athletes took just so the athletic teams can be better. This is terrible because now the athletes have no education AND get paid no money.Scholastic. "Should College athletes be paid?" http://magazines.scholastic.com/. scholastic, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.