The NCAA profits from the billion-dollar industry of college sports. However, college athletes do not receive any money from the sports they play.
People around the country are questioning whether or not college athletes should be paid and it is no different in Bowling Green.
Bowling Green State University students were divided in determining whether paying college athletes is a good idea. Some students said college athletes should not be paid due to scholarships and free schooling. Others said athletes should be paid because of the time commitment it takes to be a college athlete.
According to a story on ESPN, the NCAA and CBS/Turner Sports have a deal worth $10.8 billion for broadcasting the NCAA March Madness tournament from 2011 to 2024.This contract is to cover three weekends of basketball per year. The NCAA also has a deal with ESPN worth $500 million for the coverage of BCS football bowl games.
On top of that, the value of scholarships for college athletes falls $3,500 short of the average annual cost to attend college, according to a story in The New York Times.
Mixed feelings surfaced among University students and questions were quickly asked about the fairness of the NCAA profiting from college athletes.
“It is unfair the athletes are not getting what they deserve,” said Ben Hackworth, a sophomore human development and family studies major from Defiance, Ohio. He believes that athletes should be getting some sort of compensation for their efforts and time commitment into college athletics.
However, Ethan Byrum, a junior marketing major from Cincinnati, thinks the NCAA is fine in what it is doing.
“It’s all about the money. If the NCAA makes money off of the athletes, good for them,” Byrum said.
Byrum believes that the NCAA has all the power and should be the ones who determine whether or not the athletes get paid. There are rules and regulations for this sort of thing and it has nothing to do with the fairness of profiting from athletes.
Many students did not know how the payment of athletes should be broken down. They questioned if only the best athletes should get paid or if only the athletes in the money-making sports of football and basketball should get paid. However, most students did not believe either proposition to be the solution.
Caitlin Buelsing, a sophomore business major from Cincinnati, thinks all athletes should receive payment, even if only a few athletes are performing well or getting recognition from sports fans.
“It should be split evenly because it takes a team to do anything, not just one person,” Buelsing said.
Some students believed that paying college athletes could change the face of college sports forever. Students had many ideas on the changes that paying college athletes would bring to sports and what athletes might do if they began receiving payments.
Matt Pence, a sophomore early childhood education major from Centerville, Ohio, thinks paying athletes would bring negative results. He believes that paying athletes would be keeping them from experiencing the college atmosphere and college life.
“It would be like a job for them and not a college experience. It wouldn’t be any different from the NFL or NBA,” Pence said.
Some students made suggestions on how to solve the debate and how to fairly pay athletes. The students wanted a resolution to the issue.
“Universities should pay the athletes by the amount a regular student would make working on campus,” said Kenny Rodgers a senior biology major from Grand Rapids, Ohio. “Create a minimum wage and pay the athletes by the amount of hours they spend on the field practicing. Like a job.”
