Intercollegiate Athletics

Research Paper

Intercollegiate athletics is an excellent public relations and fund raising arm for colleges, while providing education and training to future professional athletes.

Academic programs have always criticized college athletic programs. There are five main reasons or accusations as many will call it. First it is said that all major and some smaller colleges routinely lower the admission standards for athletes because of the exposure that they bring to the university. The Ivy League, for example, have on average some of the lowest SAT scores than what are recorded at many other prestigious schools. Many schools will admit that they do allow and recruit athletes with scores of 820 points, which is almost 200 points below the national average. Amazingly enough and a reason for these accusations is because it is much lower than the standards for non-athletic students. Some schools often reserve certain spots just for in coming scholarship athletes. Second, athletes often get far better treatment than academic students. Most schools will immediately enroll their lower scoring athletic students into tutorial programs to ensure that they meet the minimum standards without affecting the time they must spend on their sport. Third, many dollars are spent on athletic programs when compared to academic programs. The salaries of college coachers are now easily at $1 million a year or more at some of the more powerful, prestigious schools. Some colleges will raise more money for a new stadium to build a dynasty rather than educational equipment or libraries to build their graduation rates and test scores. Fourth, college to most athletes is a short trip and pre-requisite for the big money to come from professional contracts worth millions of dollars. College is only used to increase their status in the draft and the amount of money they can make. Lastly, elite athletic programs prohibit and discourage regular students to participate, not to mention allows fewer opportunities and intimidates the students who are interested in playing college sports. (1)

Many who support the current athletic systems and standards will tell you that not only do winning teams increase alumni support not only for athletics but also for academics alike, to increase the financial standings of some colleges it has been shown that by adding additional athletic programs was the most beneficial. Athletics are also a good example of public relations. If you were to talk to a graduating high school student and ask him if he would rather go to the school that has the highest GPA, or the school that Michael Jordan led to a NCAA Championship, they have been found to choose the school that they recognize the famous name. (1)

Which can lead us into the next and one of the most important and influential arguments of this topic. “Intercollegiate athletics provide millions of peopleвЂ"athletes, undergraduates, alumni and the general publicвЂ"with great pleasure, the spectacle of extraordinary effort and physical grace, the excitement of an outcome in doubt, and a shared unifying experience. Thousands of men and women in the United States are stronger adults because of the challenges they mastered as young athletes.” (2)

For example, millions if not billions of dollars are lost during the NCAA Final Four tournament each year. Time is lost to office and other gambling by colleagues and friends trying to guess which team will move on after each contest. Not to mention the money that people spend on clothing and other souveneirs to promote and support their team. Now think of the money that people will spend each year to watch their team in the tournament. All money that will be beneficial not only to the athletic programs but to the academic programs as well. When was the last time a Math contest filled a thirty-thousand seat stadium at an average of $15 per ticket?

Why is it that intercollegiate athletes, should not be compensated for the revenue that they produce and bring to their respective schools, not to mention the risk of injury that they assume by not becoming a professional straight out of high school. It would be my wish that a highly touted athlete would grace me with one to two years of their presence and greatness that I would not have had if they were to become a professional instead. Sometimes athletes cannot afford an education if it were not for their gift of athleticism. Are we to turn away someone who is trying to become something better because they may only have the skill to do it in a sport? The money that is produced by the higher end, more popular sports should be put back into those students and those programs to ensure the schools financial success and possibly keep the high profile athletes in school longer. This could also stop the scandals of athletes accepting money from boosters, agents, and some corrupt schools to get them to attend their college.

So why is it that we expect these kids to turn away the millions of dollars staring them in the face, or the money offered by boosters and agents when they barely get enough money from the scholarships they receive to live off of while they are attending school and essentially going to work not only for themselves but their school and every student that attends?

Let’s look at it this way, what do you think the graduation rates would be if college athletes were compensated and did not think like Jason Williams? "I just don't like going to school." That's Jason Williams's explanation for why he left the third college in as many years to participate in the NBA draft. Williams just wanted to skip the charade and start making the big bucks, as did 39 underclassmen and high school graduates. (3)

The good news is that the NCAA, which offers scholarships for no more than five years, will soon have competition for those unpaid superstars. The National Rookie League for players aged 17 to 24 expects to pay high school graduates $55,000 a year. The Collegiate Professional Basketball League, open to players aged 17 to 22, will pay tuition, room, and board for each of its players for up to eight years to attend the post-secondary educational program of his choice, a $5,000 signing bonus, a $9,000 annual stipend, a $3,000 annual bonus if he is a full-time student and a lump-sum bonus of $10,000 if he graduates in four years. (3)

Now that is motivation to stay in school. How many players that were just one more season from winning a National Championship enter the draft because they can make millions? Why not compensate these players just enough