Dear Next President,
When Theodore Roosevelt founded the NCAA on March 31, 1906, he had a vision in sight to “encourage reforms” in college sports. He did that because college football in the early 20th century had a high number of repeated injuries and deaths and “prompted many college and universities to discontinue the sport.” The definition of reforms is “make changes in order to improve it.” President Roosevelt did just that when he came in and made reforms to the rules in 1906. The NCAA is thriving right now and could use some more reforms. Because a president created the NCAA, I feel our next President could also encourage a reform.
I feel as if the student-athletes are being exploited for the benefit of the schools they attend and the NCAA. Which is, in fact, a “non-profit organization”. ”It maintains its nonprofit status because it is an association of colleges and universities sharing a common academic mission. Every year, the NCAA and its members equip more than 460,000 student-athletes with skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom, and throughout life.”
The NCAA says that it is a nonprofit, but the NCAA racks in around $10.8 billion a year, just off of a media contract with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. The president of the NCAA makes a comfortable one million dollars a year while the student-athletes that produce all that revenue get their school paid and nothing else. Most of them are in debt once they get out of college because they do not have time to work and make money since they are spending 40+ hours a week doing their sport.
I think that the best thing to do to solve this situation is to pay the athletes based on the revenue that they personally bring in themselves. If the star football player is getting his jersey sold out in sporting good stores he should be able to capitalize off of his popularity. To the sports that do not produce as much revenue for the school they will still get paid but not as much as the sports that are bringing in the majority of the money like football and basketball.
So, Future President, don’t you think that it is time to “encourage some reforms” and give some money to the student-athletes that bring all of the revenue in? If you decide to do that I believe that the student-athletes will start to feel like they are being more appreciated for all of their hard work that they do for the school.
Sincerely,
Tanner
Grade 12
Columbus, MT
I am satisfied with your essay because it talks about something that doesn’t get around a lot. I’m happy that you wrote this because i as well agree with you that college athletes should get payed. I mainly agree with you because it seems that college players literally dedicate their lives to the sport expecting to become a pro player one day and if that doesn’t work they realise they put so much time into something that turned into a waste.
dear Tanner:
I get where your coming from. I agree that you should be able to get paid in college. You are playing for the school making them money, so why not get paid? I feel like to a lot of people its not a huge topic or not talked about a lot. feel as if the student-athletes are being exploited for the benefit of the schools they attend and the NCAA.” This quote i can completely agree with and understand where your coming from.
Tanner,
I agree with you. I find it ridiculous schools can make loads of money off of sales of jerseys for a particular player but the athlete gets nothing, not even possible scholarship money. I also found it ridiculous back when they made the “NCAA Football” video games that the guys on the cover got nothing. They are the cover of a video game, they should get something in return.
I believe in what you are saying, the NCAA are profiting of players who are putting their body on the line. I agree when you say the players should benefit off of their popularity. This would also help another problem in one and dones and have players stay longer and generate even more profit for the players. It’s a win win for both the NCAA and the players. It should be illegal for the NCAA to use their players for money and then call it a “non profit organization” when they are clearly making billions of dollars.
As a fellow athlete to possibly play sports in college, I completely agree with you. For athletes to sacrifice their bodies to entertain others I believe they should get some reward. On the other hand, athletes do receive scholarships, and get into prestigious colleges that they wouldn’t get into. I think this is an insightful paper, and thank you for your letter.
Dear Tanner:
I am glad about your letter, “Paying College Athlete,” because I feel like this way it helps people that couldn’t speak up for themselves or for anybody else, so therefore it hopefully boost up everybody confidence.
One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: “Most of them are in debt once they get out of college because they do not have time to work and make money since they are spending 40+ hours a week doing their sport. I think that the best thing to do to solve this situation is to pay the athletes based on the revenue that they personally bring in themselves.” I think this is important so that colleges players can get paid through their college year depending on the revenue.
Another sentence that I saw was: “The NCAA says that it is a nonprofit, but the NCAA racks in around $10.8 billion a year, just off of a media contract with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. The president of the NCAA makes a comfortable one million dollars a year while the student-athletes that produce all that revenue get their school paid and nothing else.” This stood out for me because young athlete shouldn’t get cheated like that, they also should credit for what they do.
I do mostly agree with you that athlete should get paid in college One reason I say this is because if they are playing sports bringing in revenue they should get paid for that. Another reason I agree with you is because they don’t have time to work or make money at all what’s so ever.
Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because I like the fact that you stood to be confident about what you have to say, talking about how college players should get paid for their hard work and dedication also for the revenue they bring to them.