Research Proposal

Ian Robinson

Section 7

Research Proposal Assignment

Working Title:

How can we save our college athletes; is it too late?

Topic:

Since the 1970’s, the entire college experience has begun to evolve from being publicly funded and oriented, to the heavily privatized system that we experience today.  Colleges have transformed from their original mindset of trying to help students to a higher education, to that of trying to solely earn a profit from them.  Over the past decades, students are the ones that have been negatively impacted by this change and for now there is no end in sight.  For many universities the first priority is public image and money, and that is where college athletics comes into play.  Universities put a high level of importance on their athletic programs and it is no secret why.  According to the New York Post, Northwestern University raised over 30 million dollars in 2013 for their football program alone.  $30 million is an astronomical amount and this is at the lower end of the spectrum because it is a relatively small school.  It was reported that the Texas Longhorns were the top earner, having gained 139 million dollars in 2013.  Of the $30 million that Northwestern raised, over $2.2 million was paid to the head football coach making him the highest earning employee at the university (Chavez).  Now that these figures are established it would be helpful to take a look at how the athletes are being financially compensated for the $30 million that was earned.  Zero.  Of the $30 million that was earned, the athletes did not receive any type of compensation because this is against the rules of the NCAA and would cause them to lose their amateur status and no longer be able to play.  The NCAA is currently exploiting college athletes, making millions of dollars off of them while they are not seeing a penny of what they earned for their schools.  Many people would argue that the students are getting a free education and clothing and a place to live while they are attending these schools but the reality is not the same for all college athletes.  Of course the best athletes are getting compensated with a full scholarship in most cases, but the majority of college athletes are not the best players on their teams.  Schools think that their athletes will get exposure and in turn will be able to gain a contract from a professional team in the future, but this will never happen for the vast majority of players.  These players work hard and give all they have for the school both physically and mentally and often times have nothing to show for it after their four years are over.  Schools are now considering athletes to be “athlete-students”, rather than “student-athletes” which is an extremely alarming problem (Wood).  Many people have recognized this change and a solution is needed to combat this problem from developing any further.  An interesting solution that has the potential to fix the current problem would be to also privatize college athletics as a whole.  One might wonder how this is going to fix athletics if privatizing colleges in the first place caused such a problem for students.  With the privatization of college athletics, the NCAA would be dissolved and athletics would move to the public sector (Wood).  This would mean that athletes would be considered employees of the universities and in turn compensated financially for working for the school.  Athletes would no longer have to worry about keeping their amateur status and could focus on what they are there to do, play sports.  There is clearly a problem with how college athletes are currently being treated, and a solution must be found in order to restore balance and keep both sides pleased.

Right now colleges barely care what is actually happening to their athletes on an academic level when they attend the school, but rather just if their athletic program is flourishing.  Right now the only thing schools care about is keeping admission rates high, and to do this they want to keep interest in their sports programs.  The article “Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education,” by Murray Sperber discusses what is known as the “Flutie Factor.”  The Flutie Factor refers to the idea that students want to attend a school with a large, successful sports program that has the potential for parties and a diverse social life.  In order to make this a reality, schools are pouring millions of dollars into their sports programs in order to attract more students to come to their schools.  Schools are worrying less about the quality of the education that they offer, especially to their athletes and are focusing on keeping their sports teams well-funded in order to attract students.      

Research Question:

With the current state that college athletics are in, would it be both beneficial to the universities and the athletes to privatize the program? If so, how would it help to combat the problem and create a better relationship between the two parties?

Theoretical Frame:

The idea of privatization will be vital in this argument but from a different viewpoint than was previously discussed in class.  We have looked at how universities as a whole have changed since they were first shifted from publicly funded universities to privatized corporations.  Students have been the ones that have had to deal with this change, a once affordable form of education turning into one that many can only dream of.  Corporations like Sallie Mae as discussed in “The Student Loan Scam” have made millions of dollars off of student debt because of their switch to privatization (Collinge).  It would be very interesting to now look at how privatization could be the answer to student’s problems in the future.  This is not the only solution, or may not be the right solution, but something has to be done to change the way that college athletics are being run.  As Wade Rathke discuses, the infrastructure is already set up in the states at the universities to be able to privatize so this should be the next step in our progression.  Schools and the NCAA have acknowledged that students should be compensated somehow, and this somehow is already set up and waiting for us to tap into (Privatizing State Universities?).

Another article that was very helpful in research and rises another possible solution to the problem of player exploitation is called, “College Athletics Internships: The Case for Academic Credit in College Athletics,” by Tyler Brown.  This article talk about another possible solution to the current problem that has arisen in college athletics, a solution that the NCAA would likely be in favor of.  The author at the beginning of the article states that, ‘The current model for college athletics is ripe for change.”  The problem now is trying to figure out which solution would be ideal for all parties that are currently involved.  In this solution, the NCAA would like to make it so that athletics are considered an internship at the school in which athletes could gain academic credits for participating.  Under this arrangement, the NCAA would not be required to compensate their players because they would now be considered “interns” as opposed to being an “employee” of the university if they were to privatize the sport.  Sports would now be looked at like extracurricular activities such as band and orchestra in which students can gain academic credits for participating.  The author believes that the only way to reform the sport and keep the amateur status of players (something the NCAA is very keen on doing), is by academic reform in that making sure that athletes are getting the proper education for the sacrifices they are making for the school.

Case:

    In the article, “Should College athletes be- paid?  Ball is in NLRB’s Court,” by David Aquino, the author brings up the major point of whether college athletes should be considered employees of the university.  Aquino spoke with the University of Vermont Athletic Director (smaller school size) who stated, “"If it became a professional relationship, it would eliminate corruption, because now what was considered corrupt previously would become legal," said Corran. ”From that aspect, it would also eliminate a lot of other abuses" (Aquino).  The corruption and abuse of college athletes needs to stop and this is one way that will help this to happen as time goes on.  Administrators feel that paying athletes would also make sports a number one priority for them, which is something they want to stray away from.  If we look at the athletic teams now, athletes are already being told to put sports first so in that regard not much would change.

    Another article that proposed a similar solution to that of privatizing football is, “The NCAA’s Transfer of Power: An Analysis of the Future Implications the Proposed NCAA Transfer Rules will Have on the Landscape of College Sports,” by Matthew Cali.  The article discusses the new for new transfer rules that will allow players to easily move from team to team without restrictions from prior teams that they played for.  In order to make this happen, a free agency system will need to be set up in order to protect the rights of the players from the NCAA.  Under this free agency system, the players will be able to negotiate for better conditions and monetary compensation.  Private institutions would be made that are in conjunction with universities that will allow the institutions to hire athletes straight out of high school and work for them.  This solution is very similar to privatizing the sport and making a union available to the players in which they are now employees of the university.

Another source that will be discussed is the book, “College Athletes for Hire: The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA’s Amateur Myth,” by Sack and Staurowsky, once it is obtained (In class you said you were going to order the book).  From what I have read so far, this book starts to discuss how the NCAA makes itself seem like a protector of amateurism while it is essentially a money laundering scheme.  The NCAA has masked this fact and have continued to exploit athletes since the 1970’s, making people think they really care about the amateur status of players and not profits.