Commercialization of Athletic Programs in Colleges (Essay Sample)

Commercialization of Athletic Programs in Colleges
Student’s Name
Subject
Professor’s Name
DD Month YYYY
 Colleges and other institutions of higher learning offer more than education to students. Concerts, sports, fitness activities, and lecture series all are part of college experience. Some of these campus activities have numerous advantageous to both the students and their institutions. In this paper, the advantageous and disadvantages of commercializing athletic programs in colleges will be discussed.
Commercializing athletic programs in learning institutions offers a wide range of pros to the players. According to Hawkins (2013, 19), athletes in colleges investing in sports are entitled to full-scholarship, sports medical care, pristine gyms, gaming attires, and special diet plans among other benefits. These benefits aid players in bettering their talents and building professional profiles especially when they win highly competitive games. Colleges with capitalism mind offer these special treatments to their athletes as a strategy of ensuring maximum dedication of the players. This undertaking results in exemplary performance during competitions which earns such institutions good reputation and financial resources.
Dedication of excess time to training activities is the major setback linked to the commercialization of college athletic programs (Branch 2011, 45). The majority of players face challenges related to over-scheduling and pressure of balancing sports and academics. This obstacle substantially affects academic progress of the players and some drop out of college (Hawkins 2013, 30). Exploitation of athletes is common in colleges sourcing revenue from sports. Smith (2015, 100) argues that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) focuses on maximizing riches for the colleges while minimizing the costs associated with rewarding the efforts of the players. The scholar adds that the wages received by the athletes do not commensurate with the effort and time they dedicate to the sporting activity.
Commercialization of college athletic pr...