A Fan’s Note

The NCAA pulls down more than a half a billion dollars in revenue from its athletics. Add in the more than $184 million from bowl games, and you’ve got a chunk of change.

That enormous sum of money has some people wondering why student-athletes aren’t paid.

Student-athletes spend as much time devoted to their sport – practice, games, conditioning – as other students who work part-time spend at their job.

For in-season sports, the NCAA has what is known as the “20/4 rule.”

The “20/4 rule” states that athletes can practice up to 20 hours a week and no more than four hours a day. Game days count as three hours regardless how long the game lasts.

If you add to that how much time the student-athletes have to spend on schoolwork, the student-athletes don’t have much time for a part-time job.

From ticket sales to television revenue to merchandise, the schools are not shy about profiting off of their student-athletes.

Take a trip up to Athens on game day during the football season. You’ll see a sea of red jerseys with the numbers of different players on the front and back.

The players don’t get a penny of the profit from these sales.

The main argument against paying student-athletes is that the amateur aspect of college sports is what makes them exciting. Take that away, and people will begin to lose interest.

That may be true, but professional sports aren’t exactly living hand-to-mouth.

Others may say that scholarships for student-athletes are more than enough to compensate them for their time.

But the NCAA isn’t about to change its policy on paying student-athletes because it can’t afford to.

In 2001, only 40 Division I-A schools made a profit.

According to the NCAA, revenues are rising for that handful of schools, but other schools are facing growing operating deficits, which means that most schools can’t afford to pay any student-athletes.

So college athletics is just going to have to continue being what it has always been: student-athletes playing sports because they love it.

And because some of them will receive a multi-million dollar contract when they do go pro.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 18 2005. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry