feature story

Patrick Goss
Advanced PR Writing: Feature
Word Count: 1050
Purpose: Lay out point of views to the subject
Audience: College athletic supporters

Pay to Play: College Athletic’s Solution to Problems? Imagine this: you are a star athlete at the University of Miami. You meet Nevin Shapiro, a wealthy businessman who is willing to help you out. As a struggling college student, let alone a college athlete, money is hard to come by. There is no time for work between all the training and practices they sustain. Top booster Nevin Shapiro has a lot to offer like cars, money, yacht trips, jewelry and many other gifts and doesn’t expect anything in return. Do you turn an offer like this down? You have no source of income and Nevin Shapiro will take care of everything to make sure your life is comfortable, what is there to worry about? Compensation for college athletes could be a solution, or could cause many more problems. Cheating is ubiquitous throughout the college athletics landscape because athletes receive improper benefits. People have many reasons for and against paying college athletes.

Alternatives to Paying College Athletes.

Would paying athletes solve the recruiting and agent issues, which cause athletes to succumb to accepting improper benefits? Many College Athletics experts think so and offer their reasons why it would work. Many alternatives to paying athletes are proposed. One proposed alternative to paying players is giving them a stipend and another would be to allow there more flexibility for athletes to profit from endorsements and sponsorships. How to pay college athletes? is another great question. Is there really a plan out there worth taking a look at? Ramogi Huma, president and founder of the National College Players Association developed a three-step plan. The first step of the plan is to give scholarships equal the cost of attending at the college. Most “full scholarships” are still short on average $3,200 of the cost of attendance.
The second step is to put a portion of revenues into an educational lockbox. This would be a trust fund for athletes to draw as they pursue a degree.. Two benefits of a trust fund would be an increase in graduation rates and a decrease in NCAA violations. Punishment for players violating NCAA rules could be the loss of access to this money. Step three would be granting college athletes permission to participate in the commercial free market. This would allow college athletes to receive money for autographs and endorsements. A portion of what they earn could be put into the educational lockbox. This model would render most of the “scandals” of the recent last an NCAA violation at all. The recent scandal with Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel accepting money for autographs would not have made the news if this plan were put in place.

Are College Athletes Slaves?

Every time a scandal comes to light involving college players “cheating” by taking improper benefits, we see a public demand to pay college athletes. It must be done, they say, for college athletes are slaves for the universities. Athletes are putting on a show for fans and bring in exorbitant revenue for colleges. The athletes are getting the colleges on national television. But the second the athletes do something wrong, a punishment soon follows.
Is it a fair comparison to make? People can make this comparison because college athletes are performing to make money for the universities and NCAA yet receive no monetary compensation, aside from scholarships. Using the term slave makes people turn their attention toward the questionable NCAA policies. The NCAA officials need to see the issue from the perspective of college athletes. Most athletes in the major revenue producing sports are African Americans who come from disadvantaged homes in inner cities. Many times these kids are their family’s only hope of escaping financial ruin. The main reason people can make the comparison between slaves and college athletes is because their naïve thinking is a university’s cost of labor for athletes is zero. In reality, universities are spending a large sum of money on these athletes. The costs associated with top-of-the-line training facilities are not cheap. College athletes receive some of the best training money can buy, at no expense to the student. Based off the national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour over 52 weeks at 40 hours a week, comes to $15,080. Very few schools have a cost of attendance less than that. So in essence, college athletes are making more than the average minimum wage worker.

Why A Pay to Play Model Will Not Work

A major reason why a pay to play model will not work is because no one has come up with a perfect system for paying college athletes. Another major reason is very few universities reported a profit sufficient to pay athletes. How can the universities pay college athletes more than a full-academic scholarship when there is virtually no money with which to pay? College athletes have great lifestyles and live like gods. Of the 20 million students who attend college annually, 60 percent must pay to attend. College athletes receive scholarships valued anywhere from $15,000 to $45,000 a year. As harsh as it sounds, every athlete a school has come and goes, are only a stepping-stone in the schools existence
Rarely will a university have players who come in and completely change the landscape of an athletic program to warrant paying them a sum of money on top of their scholarship. In college basketball, the time the athletes play is usually very brief as they will participate one year and then dash for the pros. Football players stay longer, because scholarship football players are required to attend college for 3 years to be eligible to declare for the professional draft. Basketball players always the option to go overseas and play for a couple years and be compensated for it instead of going to college, but instead decide to go to college and play because they know its will be in their best interest. The college athletics fanatics are the people who drive the crazy idea that college athletes must be paid. The top college athletes know they will get their payday someday and are all right with it. Athletes playing for major college programs are often seen on television. This serves as a stage for free auditions with professional scouts. While some athletes are upset for not being compensated, they must consider every aspect of the college lifestyle they are about to be placed into. First of all, no debt for top-of-the-line education is something many would love to have. A lot of colleges have excellent facilities and great coaches and trainers to work with. Playing in college increases their exposure for future endorsements, so in the long run, college is the best option.

In the End, It Should NOT Be Done

Corruption is everywhere in the college sports landscape; no denying it. It’s almost impossible to keep the corruption under control. Many instances of cheating goes unreported because boosters and athletes keep the instances under the radar to avoid getting caught. The NCAA conducts 88 national championships annually and needs its two major sports, football and basketball, to support the other sports programs. A result of having to pay for the other athletic programs was a profit in only 23 programs in 2012. Colleges have little or no money for college athletes to be paid with.

Would legal compensation rid corruption in college sports?

People will still be there offering naïve student athletes gifts, and these student athletes are in tight spots on whether or not to take it.