I am offloading my Article of The Week journal entries from my Freshman English blog.
In an article, written by Melody Gutierrez and Nathan Fenno, the authors delve into a Californian bill that allows college athletes to get paid.
This legislation is very controversial–and rightfully so. These athletes make millions of dollars for the college they represent, by being adroit and skilled, but they see none of it. In all quintessence, that’s not fair. This legislation attempts to fix that by making the NCAA allow outside compensation for use of an athlete’s name; image; or likeness, which is very feasible, isn’t it? According to the colleges, it’s not, just because they will have to shell out some money (that the players make for the college in the first place), to keep the players that they want.
That puts the big money-maker, the NCAA, in self-proclaimed jeopardy of running “out of money”. I’m going to take a second here and scrutinize the NCAA. According to the official NCAA finances website, the organization makes $977.7 million a year, with only $378.9 million going to students and their education. That’s only 38% of their revenue that goes “directly” to students’ (players) education. The player sees none of this money in their pockets, except through the occasional scholarship, and for all we know, they may never see it be handled at all.
Athletes take a very strong, yet amicable approach to this issue. They state, “NCAA athletes can’t make a little money over the summer coaching youth sports, can’t promote their social media, can’t model athletic wear, can’t accept groceries or help with rent or equipment,” which made me gasp when I read it. You mean to tell me that athletescan’t make money or accept money like any other person, and to be frank, celebrity can? That’s unfair, one to the athlete, and two to the (more than likely) broke and struggling college student behind that athlete.
If California were to do this though, as this is just a one-state “issue”, all the colleges in California who are registered with the NCAA will be violating their guidelines if they comply with the law, and thereby be removed from the NCAA. This issue exists in more states than California, even Alabama is registered with the NCAA. I personally would call for this to be addressed at the NCAA organizational level so that all athletes can be compensated for use of their images, names, and likeness like any other public figure can.
Derek I. Schmitz 