Austin T. Smith

Research in the Disciplines: College

Professor Michael Goeller

02 March 2015

Working Title:

The Paying of College Athletes

Topic:

The issue I will be presenting is the debate as to whether or not college athletes should be paid for playing. In addition to this root question I will also be discussing various other related questions such as where the money would come from if the college athletes were to be paid, and how the money would be distributed between the universities. For example, does a Heisman winning quarterback at a Division 1 school deserved to be paid more than a Division 3 fencing athlete who would bring in dramatically less money for his/her university? This topic has been discussed time and time again. This a topic that exceeds the general realm of sports and stretches into politics, especially when regarding the NCAA’s role in this debate.

Research Question:

Should college athletes be paid, and if so, how should that payment be conducted?

Theoretical Frame:

There really isn’t much in terms of case studies for a topic like this seeing how this is a debate based more on a moral and economic standpoint. However there is an important court case in that of O’Bannon v. NCAA which has already directly affected the decision made by Texas University to award their athletes a stipend. Ed O’Bannon was a former member of the UCLA men’s basketball team and what started as a battle for the NCAA’s right to use the image and information of players like and including O’Bannon has now escalated and been one of the major driving forces behind the push to pay college athletes. I will use sources from both ESPN and the Dallas Morning News to discuss these two cases.

Case:

I would like to discuss the recent news regarding Baylor University athlete Silas Nacita. Nacita spent his high school life living at various friends’ houses after the death of his father and the separation from his estranged mother. He was a standout football player and an incredible student. He received a scholarship to attend Cornell University, but decided an Ivy League school like that was not a good fit. He then moved to Waco, Texas in an attempt to walk-on to the Baylor University football team, which he eventually did. not having enough money to pay for his room and board at Baylor, Nacita was left homeless, at which point he was approached by a close family friend who put him up in an apartment and helped him with his living expenses. The NCAA ruled this as an infraction regarding their eligibility policy, and now Nacita is no longer allowed to play NCAA sports. I will also be using an ESPN article to discuss this.

In addition I would also like to use an article conducted by several Political Science departments at universities across the world that discuses how the actual student athletes feel about the issue regarding their payment. I will also be using an article from the Journal of Economic Perspectives that will discus the economic side of the issue and also an article from Case Western Reserve Law Review that brings to light the legal implications of this whole debate.

    I would also like to explore the legal ramifications of the NCAA’s actions in regards to this topic. An article I have found by Marc Edelman discusses whether or not the NCAA is violating the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 which was used to vanquish the monopoly and cartel nature that had consumed the American economy. Edelman argues that with the NCAA’s decision to not pay college athletes they are acting in a Monopoly-like fashion and are therefore violating the Sherman Act.

Working Bibliography:

Druckman, James N., et al. "The Role Of Social Context In Shaping Student-Athlete Opinions." Plos ONE 9.12 (2014): 1-14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2015

Edelman, Marc. "A Short Treatise On Amateurism And Antitrust Law: Why The Ncaa's No-Pay Rules Violate Section 1 Of The Sherman Act." Case Western Reserve Law Review 64.1 (2013): 61-99. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2015

Farrey, Tom. "Ed O'Bannon: Ruling Is Tip Of iceberg." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 10 Aug. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.

LINDENBERGER, MICHAEL A. "Texas Athletic Director: With New Rules, Longhorns Would Pay Each Player $10,000." The Dallas Morning News. The Dallas Morning News, 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.

McCormick, Robert A., and Amy Christian McCormick. “The Myth of the Student-Athlete: The College Athlete as Employee” Washington Law Review Association 81:71 (2006): 71-157.

Olson, Max. "Once-homeless Baylor RB Off team." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

Sanderson, Allen R., and John J. Siegfried. "The Case For Paying College Athletes." Journal Of Economic Perspectives 29.1 (2015): 115-138. Business Source Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2015

Sobocinski, Eric J. “College Athletes: What is Fair Compensation?” Marquette Sports Law Review 7.1 (1996) 258-294.