Should NCAA College Athletes Get Paid: The Benefits and Costs of Paying the NBA Players in Schools (Essay Sample)

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Should NCAA College Athletes Get Paid
Introduction
Athletics is one of the most popular sports in the world and is considered to attract the largest number of fans across the globe. The term is used generally, but it consists of a collection of sporting events that include running, jumping, football and many other activities. Each of the disciplines usually requires the participants to stay fit in order to cope with the demanding nature of the game. Athletics is often played in diverse contexts, and each of these cases is associated with specific characteristics.
Athletics is quite popular in colleges, as learning institutions have many individuals with various backgrounds and talents. Thus, it is evident that athletes from such institutions are some of the best in the entire field. Consequently, most of the players become quite professional and acquire valuable skills and experience.
The quality of the performance shown by such athletes has significantly increased. Consequently, such bodies as the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States have provided additional funding to support these individuals. Such subsidies help various institutions that participate in such activities to support host different competitions. The increasing popularity of the game and the intensification of the substantial increase in the resources have forced some people to suggest a more appropriate way to use additional funding. The most popular opinion is that the people taking part in the various events should be paid.
Objective of the Research
The primary purpose of this research was to explore the arguments of different individuals as well as scholars regarding the idea of paying the athletes participating at the college level. There have been conflicting claims from the two sides involved in this debate. Thus, the research was aimed at finding a reasonable solution to this particular issue by identifying the most logical option. The data collection process was intended to gather as many opinions as possible from different individuals. This step would also help in the analysis of the rationales behind such points of view to assess their respective validities. The key aspects considered included the most imperative factors such as the economy.
Problem Statement
Settling such a dispute was initially considered a very difficult mission to accomplish. It would also be pointless to apply for the enactment of laws that allow for the commercialization of college level athletics if there were no funds allocated for the sector. However, there are certain factors that justify the decision by different individuals to take sides while arguing about the topic. The first element that would be worth considering is the idea of the amount of energy and commitment put by the players into the field while performing.
There have been increased cases of complaints regarding the need to consider players’ payment as part of the planning process for these events. Moreover, athletes also think that their rights are intentionally violated by those in charge of these activities. Such scenarios have contributed significantly towards the fall in the quality of the performance displayed as a result of total loss of morale. It is, therefore, logical that a reasonable solution to this situation would be a very significant step towards making athletics a better culture in the society.
Literature Review
According to the arguments proposed by Cooley, paying college athletes has both the short-term and long-term economic impacts. This author points out that the decision to support or oppose the debate depends on upon the side selected by an individual. Those who see the entire scenario on the short-term basis would easily claim that it is an economic drain (Cooley 46-48). He hypothesizes that such an argument is perfectly reasonable because paying the college students would consume important funds that could alternatively be used in more important projects. Besides, these citizens are not officially employed hence are never taxed on the basis of the income that they earn. The result is that the national treasury would spend more resources on them than the individual contributions that they make to the economy. On the other hand, paying these individuals nurtures them into becoming even better players (Kirszner and Mandell 107-112). Once they are fully established professionals, they are expected to join the national sporting activities like the major leagues in the country. Increased quality of these events is of much benefit to the country as they help in the generation of revenues.
Some of the scholars are of the opinion that the effort that the athletes employ into these events is worth some pay. They analyze the debate in terms of the hard work that the participants show in order to provide the required performance standards. Thus, it is vital that these people are compensated for effectively playing their part (Saporta 81-85). While supporting Saporta's arguments, Lorenz reasons that the managing bodies and the related institutions are typically provided with a lot of funds to help them finance these activities. Based on his claims, taking care of the players is part of the planning processes. It is, therefore, reasonable that the athletes’’ remuneration is made part of the budgets. The athletics events held in different regions of the country do collect revenues not only from the government funding but also from other sources such as the paying viewers and so on (Lorenz 271-278). College activities have become so popular that they are usually attended by very many people. The corresponding revenues collected from the respective venues, according to Lorenz, are enough to cater for the player's compensations.
According to the arguments provided by White and Billings, the participants in the college athletics events should not be paid (45-65). The authors claim that the activities do not benefit anyone else apart from the players. The students who are good at various sports have the chance to advertise their skills in these areas. Furthermore, the co-curricular activities are considered as part of learning and experience in the higher learning institutions. The appeal for pay among the participants, according to these scholars, would be nothing but misuse of public resources. Another rationale provided in this resource is that the government would be incurring unnecessarily high costs in financing unproductive projects. They claim that such activities may imply that the US Treasury would be experiencing lack of revenue, especially considering that college athletics cannot be commercialized (White and Billings 45-65).
Methodology
The main sources of information for this particular project consisted of the subjects and the relevant information. Since there was the necessity to include everyone involved in the debate, it was important to divide the parties into various sections. The first segment comprised of the activists who were campaigning for the idea of pay to be implemented. The second group consisted of individuals with opposing opinions while the final category was made up of the students (both the participants and the spectators). It was critical that these people be included because they were the most affected parties. The data collection process was done in three different ways, and independent analyses conducted to reveal the overall implication of each case. The primary methods employed were surveys and interviews depending on the size of the groups.
The executive personnel in the organizations such as the NCAA were few and hence could be handled through methods such as direct interrogation. The teams made up of more than 50 individuals, on the other hand, were contacted through electronic questionnaires as this was the most appropriate methods at the time. The first phase of the process involved the distribution of the survey questions to the individuals in support of the enactment of payment law to the college players. The critical information that this process required involved the rationale behind such claims. Two hundred and fifty participants aged between 20-55 years were provided with the survey questions to answer and bring back the feedbacks within a period of two weeks. The same step was repeated with the remaining two groups and the relevant information collected for further analysis.
Results
Various trends were deduced from the data collected and the most important section was the implication of the provided information. Out of a total of the 1000 subjects involved, 750 were of the opinion that the college athletes should be paid. All the 250 students (spectators) agreed that the best way to improve sports is through the compensation of the participants. The main arguments provided by this group were that the funds are available and the players deserve to be part of the planning. The 250 activists in support of the process also backed the debate on grounds that it encourages the development of professionalism in the sporting sector. The final category was made up of the activists campaigning against paying these players. The principal rationale provided by this group was that the process causes a short-term economic drain.
Discussion
The nature of the questions asked ensured that that the subjects provided the relationships between their arguments and the socio-economic matters. This decision was necessary because it provided an avenue through which quick conclusions could be made regarding this contemporary issue. The finest reasons deduced from the findings were the ideas of long-term economic development and the need to make the players part of the event planning. It is clearly evident that those who are involved in given sporting activities tend to ...