HomeUploadUpload DirectRandomAbouttheme toggle

How Much is A College Football Player Worth?

Views: 242
Hint: A lot more than the NCAA wants to admit.

Subscribe: http://www.goo.gl/NqjoWI

College football has returned to the airwaves and with it the debate over paying student-athletes. Though the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) brought in nearly $1 billion dollars in revenue last year, the organization continues to resist compensating student-athletes because they argue it would undermine the ideals of amateurism. But "the term 'student athlete' is actually a fiction," says Ellen Staurowsky, a sport management professor at Drexel University. "It was created to obscure the fact that the NCAA knew that it had created a pay-for-play system."

Staurowsky argues that the NCAA’s construct of amateurism changes to fit the needs of the organization. "The NCAA has three different divisions and there are different definitions of amateurism for each one," she says.

Public opinion seems to be shifting in favor of a pay-for-play system. A 2014 Reason-Rupe poll found that 64 percent of Americans think student-atheletes should receive money if a college or company sells gear containing their likeness or jersey number. And 50 percent of Americans said college basketball players should get some of the $700 million in television rights revenue from the NCAA March Madness tournament.

"Higher education is the sponsor of this enormous entertainment industry and it’s building that industry on the backs of an unrecognized labor force," says Staurowsky. But if we are going to consider paying student-athletes, how do we determine their worth in a fair market?

Staurowsky, along with Ramogi Huma—a former football player at UCLA and president of the National College Players Association—looked to the pros for a model.

"There was no real discussion about what the potential market value of a college football and men’s basketball player might be," says Staurowsky. "It seemed reasonable that we would go to the professional associations where there’s a revenue sharing mechanism in place. So we looked at the NFL and we looked at the NBA to begin to have a starting point."

By looking at those models and considering the NCAA’s new rule-change allowing student athletes to receive a scholarship covering the full cost of attendance, Staurowsky estimates that collegiate football players’ worth is in the neighborhood of $110,000 a year across all schools. "If we begin to really look at the expanse of money that is out there, the question isn’t so much whether or not the industry can afford to pay athletes," Staurowsky says. "It’s just a matter of when there will be a recognition of the vast of amount of profit that is being generated in all of these other sectors and for people to understand that there really is money out there to do it."

While the NCAA may have the money to pay its student-athletes, however, it has been slow to make any meaningful changes. This inaction has led to a multitude of lawsuits that threaten the power structure of the organization, along with the Northwestern University football program’s historic bid to unionize.

Though the National Labor Relations Board rejected Northwestern’s union bid in mid-August, the threat of unionization pushed the NCAA to make major policy reforms to raise scholarships to cover the full cost of attendance.

Staurosky admits there can be issues with unionization, but she says it is important to put an outside group in place that can advocate on behalf of student-athletes.

"We know that this is a starting point in the conversation," says Staurowsky. "But we also know that our estimate is far more representative of the kind of inequities that exist in the system than simply just accepting that the scholarship is the only measure."

Approximately 7 minutes.

Produced by Alexis Garcia. Camera by Todd Krainin and Meredith Bragg. Music by Silent Partner.

Click https://reason.com/reasontv/2015/09/09/how-much-college-football-player-worth for downloadable versions of this video. Subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel for daily content like this.
@ReasonVidsfollow
Thumbnail for The 5 Craziest Things GOP Candidates Have Said About Immigration3:30
The 5 Craziest Things GOP Candidates Have Said About Immigration
ReasonVids
196 views
Thumbnail for Cops at Uvalde School shooting went in and took their kids out, then went back outside to keep other parents from going in and doing anything to stop the shooter0:27
Cops at Uvalde School shooting went in and took their kids out, then went back outside to keep other parents from going in and doing anything to stop the shooter
bestofvoatxyz
287 views
Thumbnail for 'Medicare Is a Bank Without Security Guards:' Media Exec David Goldhill vs. Princeton's Paul Starr1:21:45
'Medicare Is a Bank Without Security Guards:' Media Exec David Goldhill vs. Princeton's Paul Starr
ReasonVids
199 views
Thumbnail for EU Bans Free-Range Kids! Nanny of the Month October 2011!1:25
EU Bans Free-Range Kids! Nanny of the Month October 2011!
ReasonVids
184 views
Thumbnail for Where are the Black Libertarians?3:11
Where are the Black Libertarians?
ReasonVids
162 views
Thumbnail for Beware of "fellow" Patriots1:38
Beware of "fellow" Patriots
bestofvoatxyz
250 views
Thumbnail for Drop That Red Cup! City Criminalizes College Parties9:08
Drop That Red Cup! City Criminalizes College Parties
ReasonVids
208 views
Thumbnail for Government Bans Inflatable Super Mario2:04
Government Bans Inflatable Super Mario
IJvids
204 views
Thumbnail for The Drug War in Guatemala: A Conversation with Giancarlo Ibarguen4:51
The Drug War in Guatemala: A Conversation with Giancarlo Ibarguen
ReasonVids
168 views
Thumbnail for "Well over 50,000 fraudulent votes cast from phantom voters identified in Wisconsin More than twice the margin on Nov. 3."0:30
"Well over 50,000 fraudulent votes cast from phantom voters identified in Wisconsin More than twice the margin on Nov. 3."
bestofpoal
584 views
Thumbnail for Why Voluntary Compliance Is Key To Fighting COVID-19: Dr. Jeremy S. Faust33:12
Why Voluntary Compliance Is Key To Fighting COVID-19: Dr. Jeremy S. Faust
ReasonVids
173 views
Thumbnail for From Guns to Pastries: How 3D Printing Will Change the Way We Make Practically Everything7:21
From Guns to Pastries: How 3D Printing Will Change the Way We Make Practically Everything
ReasonVids
161 views
Thumbnail for Bitcoin: 'A Weapon for Us To Fight Oppression'5:56
Bitcoin: 'A Weapon for Us To Fight Oppression'
ReasonVids
201 views
Thumbnail for How To End Poverty in the South Bronx8:25
How To End Poverty in the South Bronx
ReasonVids
177 views
Thumbnail for Obamacare Launch Eroding Faith in Government as Problem Solver: Reason-Rupe Poll December 20134:34
Obamacare Launch Eroding Faith in Government as Problem Solver: Reason-Rupe Poll December 2013
ReasonVids
216 views
Thumbnail for Great Moments in Unintended Consequences (Vol. 3)2:33
Great Moments in Unintended Consequences (Vol. 3)
ReasonVids
179 views
Thumbnail for Joe Biden shocked CNN Don Lemon took the Vaccine and starts rambling nonsense0:34
Joe Biden shocked CNN Don Lemon took the Vaccine and starts rambling nonsense
AOU
480 views
Thumbnail for What We Saw at the 9/12 Tea Party Rally in DC5:26
What We Saw at the 9/12 Tea Party Rally in DC
ReasonVids
175 views
Thumbnail for Anti-Fascist Action6:08
Anti-Fascist Action
murdochmurdoch
755 views
Thumbnail for Chef Geoff Tracy vs DC Traffic Cameras2:26
Chef Geoff Tracy vs DC Traffic Cameras
ReasonVids
166 views
Thumbnail for Get Government out of Welfare Now! An Interview with Star Parker7:42
Get Government out of Welfare Now! An Interview with Star Parker
ReasonVids
167 views
Thumbnail for American Muskrat's Family Funeral-cation: Bears @ the cabin in the woods on the lake0:20
American Muskrat's Family Funeral-cation: Bears @ the cabin in the woods on the lake
AmericanMuskrat
182 views
Thumbnail for County Shuts Down Woman's Public Pantry Used to Share Food with Neighbors1:29
County Shuts Down Woman's Public Pantry Used to Share Food with Neighbors
IJvids
230 views
Thumbnail for Why The European Union Will Fail: Q&A with Austrian Economist Barbara Kolm5:53
Why The European Union Will Fail: Q&A with Austrian Economist Barbara Kolm
ReasonVids
167 views
Thumbnail for Police Have Immunity to Violate Your Rights - Here's How26:07
Police Have Immunity to Violate Your Rights - Here's How
IJvids
203 views

points

Permalink
Reply
american football (sport), college football (sports association), national collegiate athletic association (sports association), athlete (profession), student athlete, college, pay for play
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle