College sports evolution

There is no doubting that college athletics has blossomed into a complex, billion-dollar industry. After reading the post "College athletics reform and where it should go" from the blog Sports, Media & Society, I began thinking about the issue of money influencing college sports.

Author of the post, Melanie Formentin, talks about a lecture given to Penn State students by Ronald A. Smith. An interesting point that Smith brought up was that for 60 years, the NCAA didn’t allow freshmen to compete in varsity athletics. The rule worked for that long, Smith argues, so why did the NCAA do away with it? Recently, many athletes leave school early to pursue professional careers where they can earn money for their services. This has made the issue of integrity and loyalty into a heated discussion.

I alsfo agree with Smith’s point that the NCAA is very slow to change its ways, and only does so after pressure from outside sources.

What really interested me from this post was the discussion of paying athletes. This is a debate that is currently going on in a lot of forums, including the sports media. Personally, I think it is a very slipper slope once the first athlete becomes legally paid for his or her participation. Since when is a free education not enough? I know these athletes put in a large amount of time to their respective sport, but no one is forcing them to do it. And sure they are making their universities boatloads of money, but schools will always be willing to find someone who will play for free.

Let’s say a school pays a starter on the football team a certain amount of money. Well, how much should a reserve player earn? How much should an athlete from a non-revenue sport, such as tennis, make? That’s what I mean by a slippery slope. Athletes get enough advantages and recognition for what they do already, they don’t need to be paid for the performance.

The reason I love college sports so much is for the tradition, the pageantry. My grandpa played basketball for the University of Iowa, and he talks about having to play on the freshman while he adjusted to the college lifestyle. He also tells me how back then, athletes weren’t worried about money and other temptations. They played for the privilege of representing the name on the front of their jersey and doing so in a respectable way. I understand that college athletics have become more and more commercialized over time, and that’s natural, but I don’t necessarily like the direction it is heading.

By Robbie Lehman