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College athletics is a world that carries with it many social, economic and ethical dilemmas. Aside from being in the local, and many times national, spotlight, there is the adaptation to college life and independent living that comes with attending college. Every day the student-athletes thrown into this cauldron face pressure from coaches, professors and the National Collegiate Athletic Association to perform at the highest possible level. Combining school with their respective sport, student-athletes are virtually full-time university employees. They represent the face of their college for all to see.
In successful programs, athletes are celebrated to the fullest extent by coaches, fans and the media. You may find a star quarterback’s picture projected on a building in Times Square – as was done by Oregon’s athletic department with Joey Harrington in 2002. Whatever the issue, college athletes are brought to the forefront of national awareness to increase an athletic program’s prominence. Whether this is done for the benefit of the university or the athlete is a highly debated topic, and one with ethical and moral components. The exploitation of student-athletes by universities and the media for financial gain is highly unethical, and should yield benefits to the athletes themselves.
The NCAA is consistently becoming more like its professional counterparts in that money rules all operations. In college, money is what matters; not for the athlete, but for the university. The amount of advertising and endorsement dollars surrounding college athletics is amazing. The NCAA is currently in the middle of a six-year, $11-billion deal with CBS for rights to all of March Madness, which is 80 percent of the NCAA’s $300-million annual revenue, while the football Bowl Championship Series brings the NCAA $500 million over eight years. Student-athlete merchandise is sold in university bookstores across the country – heck, you can walk to the Bookstore in Memorial Union right now and grab a Marcus Williams jersey – while the athletes themselves reap no benefits.
So, with all that revenue, where is the cut for the players?
The check for making a high profile college football bowl game – $13 million this year for the national championship game – is not made out to the names on a roster. Rather, it’s made out to the university. Considering how the players battled to reach that point, a little more than a measly stipend or new equipment is deserved for their hard work.
This is not a proposition for salaries to become a mainstay in college athletics, but a thought to the idea of rewarding those involved in the actual on-field success of a winning program. Being a college athlete is essentially a full-time job, while at the same time the NCAA prohibits those very same athletes from having full-time jobs. Those very same athletes who rake in millions of dollars for their universities. Those very same athletes who deserve more than what they get.
Bangor Daily News