Over the years college athletics have grown dramatically. Between all of the sports there is an unbelievable amount of money made for the school. Football, mens basketball, and women’s basketball are the top sports for bringing in money. While those are the top three, they aren’t the only ones to bring in money. Every sport contributes especially if they are a winning team. Athletes struggle everyday with getting their schoolwork done and being on time to class, managing time between work, school, and sports, and it is hard for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle with little time for everything.
Many believe that athletes at the college level deserve some sort of benefits whether it be, getting paid, receiving less homework, more class time, etc… Even though many people are for this, a lot of people are also against the thought of giving them more benefits. What are some benefits that athletes receive that don’t involve money? There is a large amount of them believe it or not. According to “Student-Athlete Benefits. ” on the NCAA website, students receive benefits in different categories: education, finances, health and safety, and other programs.
There are many scholarships and grants awarded each year for studentathletes specifically. Many schools offer great internship programs after college due to close ties with local facilities. This helps student-athletes out a lot because if they are wanting to pursue a career dealing with some type of athletics, they can be set up for an internship right out of college. The finances program saves athletes a great deal of money because they have insurance and medical programs in case of any type of injury while playing a sport.
The insurance is offered to athletes in certain programs however, because not every sport makes enough money to offer this to each athlete. Lastly, the health and safety program offers students basic safety. This includes year round drug testing, injury surveillance to help eliminate the number of injuries per year, and other grants to help pay for college. There are many pros and cons to playing a sport in college. Winter Davis’ article “The Pros and Cons of Playing a College Sport. ” is dedicated to showing both sides of playing sports in school. So what are the cons?
Well, as a student-athlete your schedule is very packed and not always final. Many practice times get changed due to weather, emergencies, or other cases. Not only that, but it is easier to get hurt when you aren’t at full health or energy. Many injuries occur because of this. Also, another con is that you can’t really discuss the amount of money you receive between scholarships and grants. Your scholarship could get lowered or even be revoked if you tell other players what you are getting, this is because not everybody will receive the same amount. The amount people receive isn’t always based on skill either.
Some schools may be almost out of scholarship money to give so they can’t give as much to each player as recruiting comes to an end. The pros don’t really outweigh the cons in the article by Wynter Davis. What are the pros to playing a sport you may ask? Student-athletes often are recognized by staff, students, and residents in near cities. If they are a good enough player, their name will spread everywhere which could potentially get to a coach at the next level. Being known and recognized by everybody boosts your confidence on and off the field as well.
From personal experience, I believe that playing sports helps out with getting my homework and schoolwork completed on time. All schools at every level require certain standards when it comes to grades. Students can’t be failing and still play their sport. Sports are like an incentive for having good grades in a way. Another reason playing sports may help out somebody’s grades is because your teammates are relying on you to do your job outside of the sport so that you can participate in the games. It is hard not having a due to bad grades because you can’t control their work ethic in class and it can be frustrating.
Another benefit that is talked about throughout Division 1 and Division 2 schools is the idea of athletes being paid. Derek Thompson’s article “The NCAA vs. Student Athletes: The End of the ‘the Best Business Model in the World? ” explains why college athletes deserve some sort of salary. The article states that “College sports is a multi-billion dollar business”(Thompson, para. ) and this money is made every year between every teams fan base, fan gear sold, and concessions. Schools also make more money if a team is playing well and advances to a bowl game, in football, or playoffs in any sport.
The biggest downfall to this idea is athletes would be more interested in the money rather than playing. Not being paid gives the athletes the drive to want to play in the pros and get paid. Marc Edelman’s website article “21 Reasons Why StudentAthletes Are Employees And Should Be Allowed To Unionize. ” explains in detail why student-athletes deserve a salary. Edelman has many points as to why they should be allowed a paycheck, some of them being: the amount of time put into their sport, the amount of money made by sport, and all of the money that coaches make due to bonuses that are given based on the teams success.
According to this article, most coaches made anywhere from 1-2 million dollars per year. This doesn’t include any bonuses that they may receive for winning certain games. If a team makes it to a bowl game they get a bonus, so why not split that money up between the teammates and give them a reward for their success as well. The point that reinforces his argument most is the fact that “The typical Division 1 football player devotes 43. 3 hours per week to his sport — 3. 3 more hours than the typical American work week”(Edelman).
Even if they aren’t being paid, Edelman elieves that they should still receive in class benefits because Bowl games are played on Monday nights and NCAA Basketball’s March Madness tournament forces the players to miss up to 6 days of school. There’s no way a student can come back to school and be in the same spot as everyone else. They will be far behind and they can’t do anything about it. Many believe that college athletes are already receiving enough or maybe even too many benefits already. Athletes hear all the time that it is their fault, they didn’t have to play sports and they also get told that they knew what the downfall of playing a sport would be.
These athletes are working their bodies harder than ever to be successful in their sport and this is what they hear most. Most of the time it’s from the staff and teachers at the school. Their students will ask if they could get an extra day maybe because they had a game and were too busy that night and teachers put all the blame on them. It almost seems like they don’t want the kids to pay attention to their sport and also sounds like they don’t want them to win in a way. Forbes article “Pay College Athletes? They’re Already Paid Up To $125,000 Per Year. ” by Jeffrey Dorfman provides many reasons why athletes don’t deserve an actual salary.
He says “athletes also receive free professional coaching, strength and fitness training, and support from athletic trainers and physical therapists” which nobody really thinks of when they think about their benefits. This saves students loads of money because they have people to go to and talk with if needed. Also, they have a full-time trainer and other doctors or therapists on the coaching staff incase of any injury or health issue. So, the question remains; Do student-athletes deserve more benefits? Student-athletes deserve more benefits because at most 10% of each sports’ athletes will go pro and make a living off of it.
Benefits don’t have to be just receiving money, they can be anything to help the person out. Whether it be less homework, extra time for homework, or anything really. Athletes will make the most of their benefits and use them as much as they possibly can. They shouldn’t be punished for playing a sport in college, they should in a way be “rewarded” especially if they are a winning team. These young adults are putting their bodies on the line every minute of their game to make a name for their team and their school, this is the least that schools could do to help them out.
