Why College Athletes Should Benefit From Their Likeness

The NCAA Makes More Than Enough Money To Compensate Athletes

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, also known as the NCAA, is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletes from 1,286 North American institutions and conferences. In 2012, the NCAA generated $871,687,872 in total revenue, and in 2016, generated $995,900,000 (Lush 772).

The NCAA signed an $11 billion dollar deal in 2011 that gave CBS the rights to televise the March Madness tournament through 2024 (Wilbon). Yes, $11 billion dollars over 14 years for three weekends of television a year. This $11 billion dollar deal just covers the sport of basketball.

In 2011, the NCAA made $174 million dollars off of the six New Year’s Eve football bowl games. Male basketball and football college athletics are responsible for generating almost $1 billion dollars of revenue over a total of four weekends of the year. This doesn’t include ticket sales, merchandise, or retail sales.

The Johnny Manziel Scandal

Leading up to the 2013-14 season in August of 2013, Manziel was accused of accepting money for signing his autograph on piles of memorabilia (Schroeder). Manziel ended up being suspended for half of a game, a very light penalty for breaking a rule the NCAA is very serious about.

According to George Schroeder, a college football reporter for USA Today Sports, Manziel’s coach was quoted saying “It fits so neatly, he broke a rule and should be punished, but the rule is unfair so he really shouldn’t be punished” (Schroeder).

For reference as to how ridiculous the zero tolerance policy is, Gerrie states that “if a student were paid to teach at a local YMCA or accept money for his autograph he could be found “ineligible” (Gerrie 110).

Athletes Spend 43.3 Hours per Week Dedicated to Their Sport

According to Dave Anderson, a frequent sports writer and editor, “athletes spend an average of 43.3 hours per week dedicated to their sport,” (Anderson). As many people in America know, working 40+ hours a week can be very stressful and time consuming and the other reason people do it is to make a living.

40 hours a week is a normal work week for the average American full time job. While dedicating an average of 43.3 hours a week to their sport, athletes also have to juggle school work and a life outside of school. If the NCAA refuses to pay athletes a salary, athletes should, at the very least, be able to make money off their name, image, and likeness.

Paying College Athletes Will Increase Competition

Paying college athletes will help make college sports even more competitive by reducing the number of burnout athletes and reducing financial stress, which in turn would bring extra motivation and would allow them more time to focus on not only their game, but classes as well (Anderson).

On top of athletes getting more time to focus on their schoolwork, letting the athletes benefit off their name, image, 5and likeness would teach the athletes financial skills like learning how to save and spend their money wisely.

According to Anderson “money management is one of the most important skills that young people can learn,” and “a small salary would also teach student-athletes how to save” (Anderson).

Male Basketball and Football Players Get Paid

With approximately 463,202 students spread over 1,112 colleges and universities participating in NCAA sports in 2013, it is near impossible to pay all of these college athletes a salary (Lush 771). Mark Wilbon of ESPN proposed that the students participating in the sports that generate the majority of the revenue should be the ones that should be getting paid (Wilbon).

As previously stated, the NCAA signed a multibillion dollar deal with CBS for the rights to March Madness, and the six New Year’s Eve bowl games generate $174 million dollars. These two sports are responsible for generating a majority of the NCAA’s yearly income so it only makes sense that if any athletes should be paid, it should be the male football and basketball players.

Paying Male Football and Basketball Players Avoids a Title IX Violation

Title IX is the law that prevents gender based discrimination in collegiate sports. A popular rebuttal for the argument that college athletes should be paid is that paying college athletes would be a violation of title IX. Some might say that paying male athletes while not paying female athletes is unfair, but paying male athletes would not be a violation of title IX.

“In 2009–10, Alabama spent $43 million on men’s sports and $13 million on women’s sports, and they weren’t in violation of Title IX because all Title IX says with respect to money is that, however many men you have playing sports, the money they get has to be proportional to the ratio” (Zirin). Male sports generate more money ergo they receive more monetary compensation if they were to be paid.

Colleges and universities wouldn’t be in violation of Title IX which makes is easier for college athletes to benefit off of their name, image, and likeness. Letting college athletes benefit off their name, image, and likeness would benefit the NCAA from an economist’s standpoint, making sports more competitive by increasing motivation.

Anderson, Dave. “Top 10 Reasons College Athletes Should Be Paid.” ListLand.com, 6 July 2019, http://www.listland.com/top-10-reasons-college-athletes-should-be-paid/.

Zirin, Dave. “An Economist Explains Why College Athletes Should Be Paid.” The Nation, 29 June 2015, http://www.thenation.com/article/economist-explains-why-college-athletes-should-be-paid/.

Wilbon, Michael. “College Athletes Deserve to Be Paid.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 18 July 2011, http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6778847/college-athletes-deserve-paid.

Lush, Greg. “RECLAIMING STUDENT ATHLETES’ RIGHTS TO THEIR NAMES, IMAGES, AND LIKENESSES, POST O’BANNON V. NCAA: ANALYZING NCAA FORMS FOR UNCONSCIONABILITY.” Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, vol. 24, no. 3, 2015, pp. 767–804.

Gerrie, Wes. “More than Just the Game: How Colleges and the NCAA Are Violating Their Student-Athletes’ Rights of Publicity.” Texas Review of Entertainment and Sports Law, vol. 18, no. 2, 2018, pp. 111–130.

Schroeder, George. “Analysis: The Johnny Manziel Autograph Case.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 16 Aug. 2013, http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2013/08/15/johnny-manziel-texas-am-ncaa-investigation-autographs-for-money/2662257/.