News is being broadcast in some many ways nowadays that it’s almost impossible for people not to know what is happening in the world. The same goes for sports. The one sport I want to focus on is college football. The question that sports reports are debating is why shouldn’t college football players be paid if they putting their lives in risk. This debate has been going on for years but nothing has change. Colleges keep making profits from these players while not paying them or letting them work. These colleges argue that they are giving the players a free education, a place to live and free food to eat.
According to this article, “Hypocrisy: The College Football Scholarship” by Jack Bechta, highlights the rules for college football players which are, “Under NCAA rules, college football players are prohibited from profiting in any way. They can’t go pro out of high school and cannot negotiate the terms of their scholarship. They are limited to the kind of outside work they can do, how much they can make and where they can make it”. So in other words the players are not able to make any money while being in college. Not even summer or spring vacation because of giving up all their time and effort to get better in their sport and also catching up in class. Another quote from Jack Bechta tells us about how college football players spend their vacation, “College football players rarely experience spring break, are expected to be in school for the summer, and give about 32 to 40 hours per week during the season and about half that in the spring and summer. I truly don’t think the public understands what football players give to their respective programs. I also believe it’s worth more than the scholarship they receive in exchange for their services”. I truly agree with Bachta that these players give more than scholarship they receive from the colleges. I feel that these players are take advantage of by these colleges trying to maximize their profits.
Also this article highlights the physical toll that these players put they’re body through. He says that, “Any NFL GM or team doctor will tell you that by the time the players get to the Combine they are damaged goods. They have experienced multiple concussions, torn labrums, and physical trauma throughout their knees and backs. Unfortunately, as those players start aging and experiencing pain and further breakdowns of their body, they have no recourse”. Wow, you believe that. Before becoming a professional athletics you have to experience all these injuries and hardships for no payment. Its not guarantee that all these players will make to the pros but they will be left with lasting physical damages and less income from these years.
In my opinion these points raise alot of questions on why these players can’t receive some kind of payments for their hard work. Time will tell on how this matter will be resolve.
If you have sometime read this article afterwards. I feel this article highlights many great points that I use in my blog:
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Hypocrisy-The-College-Football-Scholarship.html
Next Blog will be “College Argument For Not Paying College Football Players”
This is an interesting post. Like I said in my previous comment, I think that it’s a little fair, considering that college sports players are on sports scholarships. However, I guess I see where you are coming from – the scholarships are meant for the players to get an education, and you think they should be earning some kind of salary for themselves, since they ARE technically giving up time for the sports teams they are playing for. BUT, shouldn’t this apply to students who are on like the math teams, since they also compete nationally or internationally, and representing the college?