Is Paying Them a Good Idea?

Zimbalist, Andrew. The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Print.

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A big problem with college athletes these past couple of years have been money issues. Andrew Zimbalist, author of The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business, discusses what all really happens with athletes and benefits they get in the chapter titled “Should College Athletes Be Paid.” Zimbalist says that college athletes bring in revenues of about $1 million annually or higher. Excluding payments or benefits, a college athlete gets a full ride scholarship for tuition, room and board, book money, and emergency funds. All these values can round up to about $35,000 each year. Andrew says in order to be eligible for these benefits the athlete has to put in forty to sixty hours into his or her sport a week for the whole year. Andrew asks his readers, “Is the star athlete paid a value that is commensurate to the value he is producing for his school?” His response is no. On the contrary, Andrew believes that if you pay a student athlete you would also have to pay a musician that is attending because of scholarship and a major question is how much do you pay the athletes? Zimbalist says if you use the market value system of paying college athletes, some would be earning over one hundred thousand dollars a year and others a lot less.

Andrew Zimbalist view on college athletes getting paid is important because he carefully analyzes what would happen if college athletes started getting paid. There are some positive and negative results of paying athletes. He suggests some good ideas that may help college athletes stay out of trouble with money. By paying the athletes though, Zimbalist shows what is wrong with paying the best players and some other athletes may lose their scholarship as a result. Andrew says that if NCAA allows athletes to be more students and trained less and had fewer games could possibly help. Also he says star athletes should be able to earn money during the summer using their professional skills. Andrew Zimbalist is no amazing athlete, but he has studied sports for a while and sees how some athletes mess up their careers before they even begin. Reading the chapter “Should College Athletes Be Paid?” gives his opinions and what he has studied about college athletes.