Marc Edelman held a conference at Baruch College to address the exploitation of college athletes
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has clear guidelines to how their participating players must conduct themselves and what they can and cannot due. As some of the most talents young men and women within their respected sports Division 1 NCAA athletes are held to a very high standard. But majority of these players practiced so hard to achieve this level of greatness and skill because they were looking for a way to pay for their education and provide for them. So when they receive a scholarship to play their respected sport for a prestigious university they may not have financial backings from their parental guardians. To live on campus at such an institution is going to take money, money that successful collegiate athletes cannot work legitimate jobs to earn. While college level athletics is a multimillion dollar enterprise with some of the premiere programs earning millions of dollars for their institutions. It therefore only makes sense for the players who are the reason for their university athletic success to share in the profits from these sporting events and to receive stipends to support them on campus. After all the professional athletes get paid for their performance because it makes the team owners money, for collegiate players not to receive any monetary compensation for their role in the university’s success is egregious.
This article written by Bryan Altman who tells of how Marc Edelman, an accomplished law professor, gave a conference at Baruch where he talked about the current status quo of college athletics. Edelman shares my point of view where we both feel that colleges should pay their players for their part in generating money for their school. One point that stood out was when Edelman stated that some college football programs generate more than $100 million dollars a year in revenue but the colleges are unwilling to pay their players a weekly stipend of $300 for their performance each week. He also addresses the issues of eligibility that the student athletes must grapple with day to day. If a collegiate player sells their signatures or memorabilia for profit they could forfeit their amateur eligibility and be banned from practicing within the NCAA. The universities have taken such a strong position to defend this currents practice that they are hiring top law firms to fight these issues all the way to the Supreme Court. It will fall on the shoulders of accomplished law professional such as Edelman to fight these monster conglomerate organizations and topple the tyranny that is ruining and exploiting the college athletes of America.
