Changing The Rules Essays - National Collegiate Athletic Association

Changing The Rules The chants grow louder, Dayne, Dayne, Dayne, its 4'Th and goal, the Badgers trail Michigan by 5 with six seconds left. The winner takes home the title as the 1999 National champions. The ball is snapped, Bollinger drops back, fakes the pass, and pitches it to Dayne. He dodges a tackle, bounces off 2 blue jerseys, and stumbles in the end-zone for the game winning TD. Dayne's hard work and perseverance paid off and led Wisconsin to a victory. But who really capitalizes when Ron Dayne leads his team to a National Championship? To Dayne, Paid Off in no way means he will receive a check from the University of Wisconsin. Under current NCAA regulations, all student athletes are prohibited from receiving any payment for their efforts(1). Exploited athletes generate millions of dollars for their schools, and never see a dime. Is this fair? College sports are big business. Every single day, universities succeed in coaxing the general public into believing that the kindred and pure spirit of amateur athletics serves as the main catalyst for their respective universities desire to field a good team. However, in reality the common motivation for these universities is nothing other that the almighty dollar. For many universities, the athletic program serves as a cash-generating machine. In terms of profit, if all ties with the university were eliminated, an athletic program acting as its own separate entity could compete with some fortune 500 companies. So, why do the vital pieces of the machine, (the players) fail to receive any compensation for their performance? Certainly, a car engine is cared for and maintained, the owner continually spending money to keep it up. The answer lies in the money-hungry universities and their practice of hoarding all the revenue. Many student-athletes are actually business people, just like students attending business schools and graduate schools. They are many times attending universities because it is a stepping stone en route to a career as a professional athlete,(1) just like an accounting major is studying in order to be recruited by an accounting firm. The lifestyle of a student-athlete is quite different though. A student-athlete must attend practice for 10 to 20 hours per week, travel to games on most weekends during the season, and at the same time, keep up with an academic workload comparable to that of a student without commitment to athletics. But unlike ordinary students without athletics, student-athletes must also many times care for families and spouses. Actually, approximately 24% of student athletes are married, and of that 24%, about 62% have children(1) Of the students without their own spouses or children, many must care for parents and siblings. The rules and regulations regarding the student-athlete are set forth by the NCAA, which serves as the governing body over college athletics. Most college athletes are not wealthy and among the many rules imposed for these privileged individuals, they are not permitted to carry jobs, receive money, rewards, or any type of kickbacks from any sources other than family. The NCAA does not allow their athletes to hold jobs because the job issue has ramifications on recruiting(1). The NCAA believes some schools would have an unfair recruiting advantage over other schools. That one school could offer a recruit a better job opportunity than another. There is an issue that jobs in different locations would pay athletes different salaries. Walter Byers, who advocated an overhaul of college sports, deregulating the system and treating athletes like other students says, The reasoning behind this one is that an athlete at Alabama might not earn as much working in a Tuscaloosa men's clothing store as a USC player could earn as an apprentice stagehand in a Hollywood studio.(3) But really, athletes should not have to work in the first place. While a car cannot run without an engine, a sport cannot be played without athletes. The NCAA uses the name amateurism as the reason it doesn't pay student-athletes. Opponents against paying student-athletes say that they should not be paid because through scholarships, they're already being paid. A University education is priceless, says Richard Jacoby, member of the NCAA committee. But that is only true if the opportunity to get an education is taken advantage