Exploitation of College Athletes
John Paye was a star quarterback at Stanford University in the 1980s. In his senior season at Stanford, the football team had a record of eight wins and three losses. The year after Paye graduated, the Cardinal's record fell to four wins and seven losses. Economist Roger Noll of Stanford University estimates that Stanford's net operating revenues declined by $400,000 the year after Paye departed, yet Paye only received a scholarship valued at $17,000 (Shropshire 72). Through his athletic talents at Stanford, he generated an enormous amount of money for the school, yet he was not given anything besides a scholarship in return. Throughout his career he was forced to perform so that his team would have a winning record. Pressures were put on him not only from his college, but also through the media. Because of contracts between college institutions and media personelle, college athletes are expected to perform well to obtain high ratings for the media. The NCAA has a current seven year $1.7 billion television contract with CBS for the rights to televise its men's basketball tournament (Gerdy 114). CBS pays this enormous amount of money in hopes that the basketball games will draw high ratings, t
Aside from pressures placed on student-athletes from their university, there are constant pressures inflicted by the media. The expansion of major college sports events to the point where they have become important contributors to public entertainment is partially due to the development of the media in mass society (Hart-Nibbrig and Cottingham 17). Television has in fact replaced universities and colleges as the producer of intercollegiate sports. Crucial to this latest sports explosion was the emergence of television as the most potent medium of mass communication (Hart-Nibbrig and Cottingham 26). It is because of television that colleges exploit their players to increase revenue. When television first broadcasted games, it increased attendance at the stadiums by 5% (Lawrence 97). Not only are the schools earning money through the endorsements and television contracts, but also the exposure increases their ticket sales. The success of the television programming is due to the performance of the athletes. If the games are not exciting, ratings go down. If ratings go down, sporting events will be pulled from the television programming. But today, with its growing audience appeal, television is increasing the size of the markets for entertainment products of universities, and thus is directly contributing to the recruitment and exploitation of the athletes signed under scholarships to do one thing: perform (Hart-Nibbrig and Cottingham 28). Colleges and universities do not want to lose the exposure Shropshire, Kenneth L. Agents of Opportunity: Sports Agents and Corruption in Collegiate Sports. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1990. nine months times the 130,000 Division I men and women who juggle sports and academics, the result is $117 million. That is about what a network would pay to televise the college Super Bowl (Wulf). That is just one sporting event covering the possible salaries of all the Division I athletes. It is a fact that 90% of "elite" college athletes have had contacts with agents (Kirwan). This would not be the case if the athletes were paid a salary, for then they would no longer need the assistance of an agent. Some of the money given to these athletes could be put in a trust fund, payable after graduation. This would eliminate athletes turning professional too early in their career and not receiving the education they need to get ahead in life. As shown by the examples some shoe money has pushed the income of some coaches into seven figures (Wulf). The coaches profit from endorsements and television contracts, so why shouldn't the athletes? Some coaches' salaries are over one million dollars a year while the players' earnings haven't changed appreciably above that of 39 years ago (Byers 10). Many people might argue that athletes should play only for
Some common words found in the essay are:
Hart-Nibbrig Cottingham, Stanford University, John Gerdy, Wulf Archie, Network ESPN, Athletic Department, Nike Reebok, Bowl Wulf, Department Education, Walter Byers, college athletes, hart-nibbrig cottingham, college sports, student body, receive money, athletic scholarship, nov 1999, student athletes, amount money, athletic departments, 16 nov 1999, hart-nibbrig cottingham 26, sports hart-nibbrig cottingham, endorsements television contracts, idea becoming professional,
Approximate Word count = 2489
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
