Colby Martin
Holly Poppas
English 101
18 April 2017
The Olympics Show Why College Sports Should Give Up on Amateurism
The NCAA (National College Athletic Association) is the organization that manages the whole athletic committee across the United States. This organization helps maintain all athletes to follow a policy which contains a set of rules which has been established since the 20th century. The policy the NCAA has used since the 20th century is known as Amateurism. The main goal of Amateurism is” to ensure the students’ priority remains on obtaining a quality educational experience and that all of student-athletes are competing equitably” (“Amateurism”). Some rules are issued in this article and they are “Salary for participating in athletes”. One rule that athletes must follow is to not pay any athlete to play the sport. The second rule is to ban all athletes to receive any type of revenue from sponsorship’s, earnings from events. The last rule that is issued in the article is to not allow any athletes to delay any academic curriculum in order to go to a sporting event. They are more than three rules for Amateurism but these are the ones that are mainly discussed in the article. These rules established by the NCAA help all athletes to maintain competitiveness equally and to make sure they obtain a quality educational experience. This mandatory policy is an agreement to all athletes to follow, and cannot break any rule or consequences will be enforced. This article “The Olympics Show Why College Sports Should Give Up on Amateurism” is persuading the NCAA to revoke this policy.
Patrick Hruby’s article discusses how the NCAA should remove the Amateurism policy. The Amateurism is when student’s priority is education first and athletes second. In 1960 the Olympics had this policy “no pay-play” but revoked it for all the participants. The author states that there should be nothing wrong with people playing sports for living rather than getting an education. (“Hruby”) Amateurism has created problems across the NCAA such as not allowing free things. For an example Ohio State has banned all football players to receive free tattoos but gives them free tuition, books, board, and while Ivy League school can’t even receive athletic scholarships. In 1960 Olympics participants who decided to go pro stated they have committed a crime. Playing for sports for a living and getting paid for it breaks the Amateurism policy. Amateurism in Olympics and NCAA had originally come from Victorian England. During the time that being a gentlemen is someone who didn’t work and only did sports as a hobby. According to today ‘s Amateurism, the system had “less to do with high-minded ideas about education than about enforcing a social caste system” (“Hruby”).
In Today’s Amateurism, some players had taken bribes to make money from others such as money handshakes which are when athlete’s handshake people who give the athletes money, to be recruited to an organization, or even to perform bad during a game. The Olympics allowed the participants to get paid as they didn’t pay them. Supporters of the NCAA Amateurism claims “After all, letting student-athletes earn money means paying them a market wage. Which in turn means axing currently subsidized campus sports like tennis and volleyball; fending off inevitable Title IX lawsuits; dealing with a probable athlete union; possibly saying goodbye to the NCAA’s all-important federal tax-exempt status?” (“qtd. in Hruby”). Hruby points out the NCAA should allow the star players and coaches to make profit through sponsorships such as appearing in commercials, cover of video games, shoe companies, and image across America. This would help grow and share the wealth with athletes and the schools sport organization. But today The NCAA president Mark Emmert thinks if athletes got paid like professors do they would be careless with the money and become unsuccessful. But Hruby believes a student athlete can be a good person and be successful even though being paid in college.
Harris indicates that pros should not be allowed to participate in the Olympics due to the fact it “Takes the fun out of it” (qtd. in Hruby). However Hruby overrules this as the people love to see the pro athletes at the Olympics as they greet them as rock stars. Schwarz indicates that “The biggest lesson of the Olympics is that you shouldn’t listen when somebody says we wouldn’t compensate the talent”(qtd. in Hruby). People don’t care about the money these stars earn but rather to see them compete in action. In the NCAA the fans love to see their school play at high levels. Hruby says “Eliminate amateurism tomorrow, and big-time college football and basketball fans won’t desert en masse; if anything, they might like NCAA sports more, given that hypocrisy and corruption will no longer be core components of the exercise” (“Hruby”).
College Athletes still need to be connected to the college mission which is to prepare all educationally to lead them to be successful in life. But today there not a 100% graduate rate. Ellen Staurowsky states that the college product is connected to the locale and players would care about their teams rather there amateur or profession (qtd. in Hruby). The NCAA fears that the system would diminish if they withdraw the policy and pay their athletes but as of today there holding onto the policy.
Despite the Olympics leaving the Amateurism Policy, I think the NCAA shouldn’t do the same. College students who are athletes shouldn’t be paid to play their sport no matter how talented they are. When entering college your priority is to do well in your academic career and then your sport career. College prepares us students to become successful in the future academically. Most athletes don’t make it to the pros and they are in a tight spot. One University has indicated in the NCAA athletes go pro out of college approximately “1.3% Men Basketball, 1.0% Women Basketball, 2.0% Football, 10.5% Baseball, and 4.1% Ice Hockey” (“Dreaming of Becoming a College or Professional Athlete?”). Some of the athletes expect to go pro and don’t care as much in the academic curriculum but later on some fail due to the fact some don’t go pro. In my opinion I think if you’re talented in sports and you do well, then playing sports for living shouldn’t be an issue. Your academic career learning is a great back up when you need to work for a living if sports don’t work out. In the end you should do what you want for a living if you like it.
Players should be allowed to take any money that’s offered such as sponsorships rather than just being offered by the school. An ESPN writer indicates that “colleges and universities are making money off of the backs, performances and success of major football and men’s basketball programs and the scholarship athletes who play them “(“Jackson”). The ESPN writer also points out that the athletes made ” An agreement that is not set up to pay them in ways that is fair in relation to the money the schools make from their participation. It’s rather like taking an unpaid internship to prepare for a better job later in life” (“Jackson”). Most schools tend to give scholarships to the athletes but some of them don’t get a full paid scholarship. As a result some athletes would take bribes or sell prized items given by the school to pay off the debts. Athletes are just finding a way to pay off their debts. What I do agree with this policy is that athletes shouldn’t be paid to play the sport in the college sport. I don’t agree on Emmert stating that “I believe a student athlete can be a good person and be successful even though being paid in college.” (qtd. in Hruby) Giving all athletes money to play will result in great loss in the NCAA financially. This would become a problem for the schools and the NCAA because they would have to find a way to pay the athletes and teachers who are enrolled there. Despite the colleges are making a huge profit from the athletes, they shouldn’t be allowed to be paid.
Today’s world no school always have 100% graduate rate and you can’t blame that on sports. (Staurowsky)One writer believes that “the college product is connected to the locale and players would care about their teams rather there amateur or profession” (qtd. in Hruby). Some people decide to drop out of school to further on their life by getting a job or going to the services. But some students tend to stay in college to receive a degree in there program or even decide to leave school and go pro if there a talented athlete. If students are talented in sports, they should take the shot by attempting pro even though they aren’t a senior. Some fail and some don’t by going pro but it can be lessons learn in life. These athletes could pursue another career in a program in the college or they could switch sports and see if they could be successful. For an example of being successful in sports program is when NCAA basketball athletes have talented players who are freshman or sophomores and declare the draft. These athletes are usually an impact to the teams and become successful. In the end, the NCAA should hold the Amateurism policy to a certain extent.
Worked Cited
“Amateurism.” NCAA.org– The Official Site of the NCAA. N.P., 24, April 2014. Accessed 3 April 2017.
Dreaming of Becoming a College or Professional Athlete? “Article Spotlight” Georgia Career Information Center, Winter 2006. Accessed 5 April 2017.
Hruby, Patrick. “The Olympics Show Why College Sports Should Give Up on Amateurism.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 25 July 2012. Accessed 2 April 2017.
Jackson, Scoop. “The Myth of Parity.” ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. Accessed 5 April 2017.