Bus670 Final Paper

College Sports: The Business

Your Name

Legal Environment

BUS 670

Dec 2, 2013

Ashford University

Janet Fiorentino

College Sports: The Business

As a former collegiate athlete I consider the debate as to whether college athletes should be paid important in both a legal and ethical spectrum. Should college athletes be paid? The answer to this question is yes! College athletes should be paid, because in the multibillion dollar business that is college sports, no one receives less money than the people who actually risk their body’s day in and day out. The first thing opponents say is, "They're already getting a scholarship! That's more than anybody else! Don't be greedy!" Let’s look at how much a scholarship is actually worth. On average, a full Division 1 scholarship is 25,000 dollars per year. Over a four year span, this is 100,000 dollars. A 25,000 dollar scholarship may seem like a lot of money, but it really only covers the basics. It covers thousands of dollars in mysterious, unknown university fees, tuition, housing, a meal-plan and multiple hundred-dollar textbooks. Contrary to what all the opponents believe, being an athlete is a full-time job. On a typical day, a player will wake up before classes, get a lift or conditioning session in, go to class until 3 or 4 p.m., go to practice, go to mandatory study hall, and then finish homework or study for a test. The point of this is that a scholarship does not equal cash in a players’ pocket.

Even with any type of scholarship, college athletes are typically dead broke but, N.C.A.A. executives make nearly 1 million dollars per year. Many coaches earn at least 100,000 dollar per year to coach one of the major sports like baseball, basketball, or football at a school. These coaches will receive bonuses for getting to the playoffs, winning championships, or breaking school records, while the athlete receives nothing...