Pay for Play?

courtesy of georgiasports.blogspot.com 

         NCAA college-athletes are supposed to be students first and amateur athletes second, but after recent billion dollar deals the NCAA has signed with TV networks people are beginning to question whether these athletes deserve a piece of the pie.

            The NCAA created the term “student-athlete” on the basis that athletes are playing for the love of the game and for college expenses, but now there is a fueled debate as to whether that is enough.

            When Turner Broadcasting signed a 10.8 billion dollar deal with the NCAA critics started to asked questions.

            Deals like this have journalists including Fab Five member and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose calling for the NCAA to split some of the revenue with the athletes who make it possible.

            Along with journalists, college coaches and deans of schools support a stipend system for college athletes. Recently, at the SEC football meetings, the coaches voted unanimously 14-0 in favor of paying college athletes with South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier and University of Georgia’s Mark Richt leading the campaign. Cully Clark, Dean of UGA’s Grady School of Journalism, supports the idea of paying college athletes and has an idea of his own. “Most of the athletes are so obligated they do not have work opportunities,” he said. He believes revenue-making athletes should get paid the equivalent of a summer working opportunity. 

            The debate over pay-for-play also affects high school students who are considering playing college sports. Sean McBride, a rising senior baseball player at Peachtree Ridge High School, currently works at Kroger, which can interfere with his baseball training. “I would definitely play college baseball if I got paid but if I didn’t, having a job could prevent me from playing” he said.

            The NCAA has proposed a $2,000 stipend for college athletes, but according to Grady’s sports journalist, Dr. Welch Suggs, the college game is far from changing and he is skeptical as to whether change will occur at all. “It would truly turn the college game on it’s head” he said, “To pay college players would take a massive change and most schools could not afford that change.”