Picture of NCAA headquarters and hall of champions.
Watkins,
Boyce. “A Scholarship Is Nice, but College Athletes Should Still Be Paid.” Bleacher
Report, Bleacher Report, 2 Oct.
2017, bleacherreport.com/articles/36519-a-scholarship-
is-nice-but-college-athletes-should-still-be-paid.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is essentially responding to an article written
by Michael Collins, who thinks a scholarship is enough for a student-athlete.
Watkins believes student-athletes should be paid and that the NCAA is a money hungry and corrupt
organization. The article presents us with some arguments made by the NCAA on
why they cannot or will not pay student-athletes. Not being able to afford
paying student-athletes and protecting them and their families are just two of
many arguments mentioned. Watkins is a finance professor at Syracuse University,
and he is a faculty member at the College Sports Research Institute at the University
of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He is an advocate for student-athlete rights and
has voiced his opinion on paying student-athletes on media channels such as
CNN, ESPN, and CBS Sports.
Two terms from the article.
1. Open market system - is an economic system with no barriers to free-market activity.
Anyone can participate in an open market, which is characterized by the
absence of tariffs, taxes, licensing requirements, subsidies, unionization, and
any other regulations or practices that interfere with naturally functioning
operations.
2. Title IX - a federal civil rights law passed as part of the Education
Amendments of 1972. This law protects people from discrimination based on sex
in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance.
With more research, I looked on to the NCAA website and found from the source how Title IX applies to student-athletes. It reads as followed,
"Athletics programs are considered educational programs and
activities. There are three basic parts of Title IX as it applies to athletics:
Participation: Title IX requires that women and men be
provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports. Title IX does not
require institutions to offer identical sports but an equal opportunity to
play;
Scholarships: Title IX requires that female and male
student-athletes receive athletics scholarship dollars proportional to their
participation; and
Other benefits: Title IX requires the equal treatment of
female and male student-athletes in the provisions of: (a) equipment and
supplies; (b) scheduling of games and practice times; (c) travel and daily
allowance/per diem; (d) access to tutoring; (e) coaching, (f) locker rooms,
practice and competitive facilities; (g) medical and training facilities and
services; (h) housing and dining facilities and services; (i) publicity and
promotions; (j) support services and (k) recruitment of student-athletes."
Three quotes from the article.
1. “Commentators and even the NCAA president earn millions from
holding games in which they don’t even participate.”
2. “The truth of the matter is that the system is a
carefully-designed web of laws and rules that constrain one group and force
them to serve another group’s financial interests – not unlike a Chinese
sweatshop”
3. “The fact that one set of operating rules exists for coaches
and another exists for players implies that the system is structured and
legislated to allow one group to profit handsomely from the labor of another.”
The material helps me dig deeper into arguments I have already came across along with new view points. This was the first time coming across the Title IX and cross-campus subsidization argument and it could be the counter argument in my final paper.
