College athletics provide a way for a lot of students to pay for a college education. These athletes work hard at their selected sport in order to keep the scholarships. Regardless of all this hard work, these athletes have nothing to show for it. A percentage of the athletes are black and come from poor inner city community where their families struggle to keep the bills paid and to keep food on the table. These black athletes are being taught at an early age that their education plays a back seat role to the glamour and money of professional sports.
Black athletes are recruited by colleges not to pursue an education but to fill the stands and generate money for colleges and universities. These athletes perform at games and deserve some of the revenues for the services that they provide. A lot of money is being generated from college athletics. Many different businesses, organizations, and people benefit from this money except the over 130,000 Division 1 men and women athletes who are in part the major reason for generating this money and without them there would no money generated (Wulf, 1996).The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) generates large amounts of money from the sales of items such as athletic team jerseys which bear the names of these athletes who do not receive any of the money from the sales of these items. These athletes make public appearances on behalf of the NCAA, and they receive nothing.
Despite the fact that the athletes are the stars of these college teams, many universities in the country pay their athletic coaches large salaries.The NCAA and the majority of the universities and colleges have regulations about how much money athletes can earn; therefore, many athletes find alternatives ways of to make money (Greenlee, 2000). Some of these ways are illegal and break regulations. The NCAA and these universities and colleges need to pay these athletes who are not permitted to have jobs because of the long hours of studying, practicing, and regulations. This money would help cover many incidental cost and problems that occur while in college.
Literature Review Many black athletes are being groomed from as early as middle school with emphasis being placed on the glamour and money of profession athletics. A lot of these students are being promoted from grade to grade despite the fact that they are reading on a lower grade level. A lot of these schools have poor resources, outdated technology and faculty that do not want to be in the school. These black athletes are being poorly prepared for the challenges they will face in college (Lapchick, 2010).This type of practice takes place in many communities all the way through high school.
These athletes are then recruited to by major universities and colleges where the major concern is keeping these students eligible for competition and caring rather they receive a quality education. Most black student athletes unlike their white counterparts do not have the luxury of financially stable families to support them while in college. This adds extra stress to these black athletes which can lead to a lot of them developing different psychosocial problems such as depression.This can also result in risky behavior, drug abuse, and alcohol use by many of these athletes which will ultimately affect their academic performance (Mobley & Sadberry, 2013).
Another problem for black athletes is gambling to earn money. Athletes gamble in many different ways and for different reasons. Some of the ways these athletes gamble are point shaving which these athletes take money for under performing in games, wagering on animal races and bingo ( Suggs, 1999). When asked about gambling, only about seventy-two percent of athletes admit to doing it since their arrival at college.A lot of these athletes’ place bets through bookies knowing if they are found out it will cost them their college education.
A study done at the University of Cincinnati, suggest that about twenty-five percent of all athletes gamble on games (Wulfe, 1996). A lot of people believe that the way to vanquish this gambling and encourage many of these athletes not to risk losing their education is to pay student athletes a small amount of the money being generate. Gambling is not the only thing that is putting the education of black athletes in jeopardy.A lot of black student athletes have no means of making money to cover expenses and there is not enough time to get jobs with their schedules. Many of these athletes’ daily schedules consist of trying to study, training, and practicing for their chosen sport.
These athletes do not have enough money to do laundry, buy a hamburger, or purchase supplies and everyday necessities (Greenlee, 2000). These athletes are not allowed to take money from friends or anyone no matter the reason.If these athletes take this money they run the risk of being accused of taking illegal contributions from boosters and stand a chance of losing their scholarship which will affect their education (Bagnato, 2001). Many athletes participate in events such as the Olympics and cannot receive any money for their participation rather they win or lose.
Over the years, some black athletes have played parts in movies and could not receive a salary because it would have been a violation of NCAA rules and they would lose their scholarship which pays for their education.Athletes like Chris Porter of Auburn University got in trouble for accepting money from an agent in order to save his mother’s house from repossession (Bagnato, 2001). Despite obtaining his degree, Porter has found himself in trouble with the law. Porter is not the only not the only that is guilty of such a thing. Barkley who was a senior at St.
John’s University was suspended for trading vehicles with a family friend. A lot of these athletes come from low income families and when the time arises they do whatever they have to do to support their family in emergency situations (Greenlee, 2000).If these athletes especially black athletes were being paid it would cut down on this risk taking and the athletes would not lose the opportunity at an education. The NCAA is of the main organizations that is benefiting from the hard work of these black athletes and rarely caring if these black athletes obtain an education. The graduation rate of black male student athletes is at a low compare to their same-race counterparts.
While the graduation disparities were not surprising, what was surprising was the astounding pervasiveness and depth of the disparities, as well as the fact that institutional leaders, the NCAA and athletics conference commissioners have not done more in response to this discrepancy. In the fall of 2000, the NCAA mad a deal with CBS which gave CBS the rights to broadcast all of the games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament through this past March (Greenlee, 2000).That contract was worth 6. million dollars and is slated to be at least two or three times that value when they negotiate the next contract. With all this money being thrown around, black student athletes are not benefitting or seeing a dime of this money. Now this brings us to how much money these universities are paying coaches.
Many of the coaches at major universities can make anywhere from five hundred thousand dollars to over two million (Alexander, 2000). The majority universities football and basketball teams are composed of college black athletes and there is a very small percentage of black head coaches.If there was more black head coaches these athletes would have someone to relate to and would feel more comfortable and accepted at many of these universities. Conclusion and Future Research Finally, with all the money being generated from college athletes especially the black athletes they deserve some kind of compensation. If these athletes receive a small amount of money from the NCAA, the athletes would be able to concentrate on their studies and worry less about issues involving money. Further research is needed to determine other ways of increasing the graduation rate of black student athletes.
Colleges make a lot of money and pay coaches large salaries, and the NCAA receives the most money and benefits the most as well. As hard as these athletes work and being from low income families, a little extra money would go a long way to help with problem at home and would help cut down on the illegal gambling and contact with boosters and agents. Paying the athletes is one of the easier solutions to a lot of the problems that faces these black athletes and would help a lot of them complete their education instead of making the jump into professional sports.
