Amateurism in Intercollegiate Athletics

Amateurism in Intercollegiate Athletics

Amateurism is one of the practices that have raised concerns in the sports industry, particularly college sports, because of the differences in arguments for and against the practice. The practice includes encouraging players to play sports as a hobby rather than considering sports as a strategy to make money. The idea of amateurism in college sports has evolved over the past decade since it was introduced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) because of changes in regulatory practices and lawsuits filed against the NCAA. The NCAA has been promoting amateurism in college and university sports based on its belief of what student-athletes should receive as rewards for participating in sports. However, various regulatory changes have impacted how people perceive amateurism because the changes have been initiated by individuals who believe that amateurism places student-athletes at a disadvantage and only benefits the NCAA. Concerns have also been raised on the unjust limits placed by amateurism on student-athletes and the success of sports in learning institutions. Therefore, it is important to review the advantages and disadvantages of amateurism in intercollegiate athletics to conclude whether amateurism should be encouraged or abolished. This report will focus on reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of amateurism and the arguments presented in legal cases and law review articles related to amateurism.

My thesis statement is, “Although amateurism has been defended by various bodies involved in college sports, such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, it should be abolished because it promotes the exploitation of college athletes and gives them limited control over how they can use their athletic skills and expertise.”

Road Map

This report will begin by providing background information about amateurism and its application in college sports in the United States. This part will be followed by a detailed defense of the thesis statement. The defense will include a detailed discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of amateurism and legal cases that serve as a landmark in the implementation of amateurism in college sports in the United States, followed by a conclusion on why amateurism should be abolished. The final part of the report will be a summary of the main points discussed in the report.

Background

Amateurism is among the practices that have been embraced in the sports industry for a long time. According to Llewellyn and Gleaves (2014), amateurism was introduced in the 19^th century and was incorporated globally in the Olympics and within the sports system in the United States. The definition of amateurism during this time was not clear, leading to differences in how it was applied in different institutions and settings. Notably, Llewellyn and Gleaves (2014) note that the college sports system in the United States defines amateurism by prohibiting any form of payment for players. Another definition was introduced by the NCAA after it introduced scholarships as part of the amateurism practice after facing pressure from university officials who wanted to increase the competitiveness of college sports. Currently, the NCAA has been promoting the use of scholarships to reward college student-athletes instead of giving them monetary rewards (Hextrum, 2018). The National Collegiate Athletic Association has also created a criterion that student-athletes must meet to benefit from the amateurism program. The criterion includes being a student and being an amateur (Kealey, 2020). The National Collegiate Athletic Association defines an amateur as an individual who participates in competitive physical sports for social, moral, mental, and physical benefits and pleasure.

Kealey (2020) argues that the National Collegiate Athletic Association considers student-athletes as a vital part of the student body and focuses on maintaining a clear line of separation between professional sports and college athletics, hence the use of the amateurism program to protect student-athletes from being exploited by commercial and professional enterprises. However, the existence of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a monopoly in college sports has raised concerns about whether the NCAA is capable of protecting student-athletes from exploitation without prioritizing its needs and profit maximization. Thacker (2017) argues that young athletes are being overworked and taken advantage of by being offered compensation in the form of academic scholarships that are only available if the athletes complete the requirements needed to get a college degree. The unfairness of amateurism has pushed university officials and athletes to involve Congress in directing the National Collegiate Athletic Association to amend its amateurism rules to enable college students to get compensated for their hard work.

Defense of Thesis

Amateurism in intercollegiate athletics is embraced in institutions across the United States. One of the main reasons why many institutions continue embracing amateurism despite various concerns raised by student-athletes and other officials in the sports industry is the advantages it yields for student-athletes. Noteworthy, amateurism plays a significant role in a student’s education and development (Henry, 2020). Therefore, offering monetary compensation to student-athletes could divert their focus from education to sports, thus negatively impacting their academic success and progress. The National Collegiate Athletic Association also argues that student-athletes are first students before they become athletes, which is why the focus should be on creating a balance between sports and academic performance (Wallsten et al., 2017). The National Collegiate Athletic Association also argues that amateurism allows student-athletes to focus on their academic performance by limiting compensation and setting training hours at twenty hours per week (Haws, 2022). Limiting training hours creates more time for the students to focus on their education, thus improving academic performance. However, these benefits are limited because student-athletes dedicate their extra time to training to perform well in competitions between schools so that they can be eligible for a scholarship and fulfill their personal athletics performance goals.

Amateurism in intercollegiate athletics has been criticized for benefiting the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the expense of the student-athletes. For one, offering scholarships to student-athletes does not cover the student’s education (Henry, 2020). Besides, the scholarships cover approximately $2000 less compared to the actual cost of attendance and the amount of time that student-athletes spend on the games, training, and practice and have no other way to earn income. Therefore, student-athletes are used for their expertise and talent and are abused physically and mentally because of the pressure from their coaches, who make money when the student-athletes perform well. Student-athletes are also at risk of losing their scholarships if they get an injury, thus demonstrating the unfairness of the amateurism program (Henry, 2020). Therefore, it is important for institutions to collaborate with the government to work with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to protect student-athletes from being exploited because being denied a scholarship because of an injury is one of the strategies used to exploit student-athletes who dedicate their time and energy to win games and could result in long-term mental issues, especially when a student-athlete suffers an injury that prevents them from playing in future and limits their ability to do certain jobs that could help them generate income.

The negative impact of amateurism on student-athletes is also evident in legal cases presented to different courts in the United States. One of the landmark legal cases related to amateurism is the O’Bannon v. NCAA case. The case challenged the National Collegiate Athletic Association rules prohibiting athletes from using their likeness, image, and name (Kealey, 2020). The judge who made the ruling in the case held that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s rules that prohibited compensation for using student athletes’ names, likenesses, and images were price-fixing. This ruling exposed the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a cartel making a profit by exploiting student-athletes. The main outcome of the case was offering student-athletes scholarships representing the full attendance cost at respective schools and a maximum of $5,000 annually in deferred compensation to be held in the student-athlete’s trust until the time they leave the school (Kealey, 2020). The case reduced the exploitation of student-athletes by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and created an opportunity for student-athletes to benefit from participating in sports.

Another case that has influenced the use of amateurism in colleges is the Alston v. NCAA case. The case is considered a landmark in the United States sports industry because it influenced the compensation of student-athletes. The case focused on the NCAA’s restriction on compensating student-athletes with non-cash payments such as internships and computers (Balsam, 2021). The judge ruled that the NCAA’s restrictions on the compensation of student-athletes by offering them computers and internships violated the antitrust law listed in the Sherman Act. The court required the National Collegiate Athletic Association to allow for specific types of academic benefits beyond scholarships, such as tangible items not included in the calculation of cost attendance but related to academic pursuit. This case extended the benefits suggested in the O’Bannon v. NCAA, thus allowing student-athletes to get fair compensation for their participation in sports. The court also prohibited the NCAA from preventing student-athletes from receiving a post-eligibility scholarship to complete their graduate or undergraduate programs at any school, paid-post-eligibility scholarships, tutoring, expenses required to study abroad that are not part of the calculation of the cost of attendance and scholarships to attend vocational school (Balsam, 2021). Since the ruling, the NCAA has been keen on providing more benefits to student-athletes and supporting them by providing the academic resources they need to perform well.

The negative impact of amateurism on student-athletes has also been explored in a study conducted by Canada et al. (2022). The study established that college sports face interference from gatekeepers who are in charge of protecting athletes against exploitation by commercial and professional entities. The study also established that the gatekeepers promote amateurism as a way of disciplining students and taking advantage of free labor and athletics skills. The gatekeepers include IRBs, the NCAA, administrators in sports departments, and administrators who have power within the school structure. Another study by Henry (2020) established that amateurism promotes exploitation by limiting the compensation for athletes but not for the NCAA, universities, and coaches. This argument can be understood through Bourdieusian analysis. Essentially, Bourdieusian analysis indicates that amateurism in the United States represents the alignment between the middle class, white sporting habits, and bureaucratic regulations (Hextrum, 2018). For instance, amateurism positions governances as a tool for elites to exploit student-athletes by enabling the elites to generate revenue and make profits at the expense of the hard work and dedication of the student-athletes. The bureaucracies in college sports also serve as a legitimating body for the conversion of physical, social, and economic capital into cultural capital (Hextrum, 2018), thus making it hard for student-athletes to benefit from their participation in sports. Therefore, amateurism in intercollegiate sports can only be abolished by eliminating the bureaucracies that promote exploitation.

The NCAA has been criticized for claiming that it considers the welfare of student-athletes, yet some players lack basic needs such as food and proper accommodation. Senne (2016) notes that the NCAA limits the opportunities for student-athletes to make money from their athletic expertise by restricting their participation in professional sports. This makes it hard for student-athletes to earn extra income that they could use to sustain themselves outside the learning environment. The NCAA’s scholarship program also fails to consider the fact that student-athletes have other needs outside the learning environment and the need to offer monetary compensation from the revenue generated by the student-athletes through their participation in college sports competitions. The NCAA has also been criticized for arguing that most of its revenue goes back to the schools in the form of scholarships and other programs because the revenue mainly benefits the learning institutions paid using the scholarship funds. Therefore, the NCAA and learning instructions end up as the main beneficiaries of the amateurism program, which is why the NCAA has been reluctant to make changes that will allow student-athletes to get monetary compensation.

The negative impacts of amateurism on student athletes outweigh the positive impacts; hence, there is a need to make changes to the existing amateurism rules to ensure that students are not exploited. The main concern raised regarding the current amateurism rules is the emphasis on revenue generation for the NCAA at the expense of student-athletes sacrifices because the athletic performance of student-athletes contributes to revenue generation for the NCAA, yet student-athletes are only compensated through scholarships and other tangible items used in the learning environment such as computers. The NCAA also uses the amateurism program to put restrictions on how student-athletes can use their athletic skills and expertise by prohibiting them from participating in professional sports. Therefore, it is important to reconsider the limits created by the NCAA on student-athletes by abolishing the amateurism system and encouraging student-athletes to speak up when they feel that they are being exploited. Learning institutions should also prioritize the needs of student-athletes and work with sports bodies such as the NCAA to ensure that student-athletes acquire long-term benefits, including monetary compensation for participating in college or university sports, because their participation includes making sacrifices to set aside enough time for games and practices.

Conclusion

Amateurism in intercollegiate athletics has been part of the United States college and university sports system for the past two decades. However, although amateurism has been defended by various bodies involved in college sports, such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, it should be abolished because it promotes the exploitation of college athletes and gives them limited control over how they can use their athletic skills and expertise. For instance, amateurism enables the NCAA to increase its profit margins because they do not spend a lot of revenue on scholarships and do not offer monetary compensation to the students. Amateurism also enables the NCAA to control the activities of student-athletes by prohibiting their participation in professional sports and preventing them from playing for pay. Noteworthy, the NCAA has managed to maintain so much control over student athletes because it is a monopoly that has already acquired the support of members of the university sports department and school officials. However, some student-athletes have filed lawsuits against the NCAA because of their unfair rules regarding student-athlete compensation, leading to various changes that favor student-athletes. For instance, the O’Bannon v. NCAA and Alston v. NCAA cases led to significant changes in the NCAA compensation rules by increasing the benefits the student-athletes get from participating in intercollegiate athletics. For instance, the O’Bannon v. NCAA led to the introduction of student athletes’ scholarships representing the full attendance cost at respective schools and a maximum of $5,000 annually in deferred compensation to be held in the student-athlete’s trust until the time they leave the school. The Alston v. NCAA, on the other hand, led to the extension of the benefits suggested in the O’Bannon v. NCAA, thus allowing student-athletes to get fair compensation for their participation in sports. It also prohibits the NCAA from preventing student-athletes from receiving post-eligibility scholarships to complete their graduate or undergraduate programs at any school, paid-post-eligibility scholarships, tutoring, and expenses required to study abroad that are not part of the calculation of the cost of attendance and scholarships to attend vocational school.

References

Balsam, J. S. (2021). What NCAA v. Alston means for professional sports leagues. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3914964

Canada, T., Pericak, K., & Seward, M. D. (2022). Amateurism as a narrative of Control. Sports Innovation Journal, 3(SI), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.18060/26003

Haws, C. (2022). The death of amateurism in the NCAA: How the NCAA can survive the new economic reality of college sports. Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review, (11.2), 343. https://doi.org/10.36639/mbelr.11.2.death

Henry, J. (2020). Amateurism: The issue of paying college-level athletes. Journal of the Student Personnel Association at Indiana University, 134-138. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/jiuspa/article/view/30380/34778

Hextrum, K. (2018). Amateurism revisited: How U.S. college athletic recruitment favors middle-class athletes. Sport, Education and Society, 25(1), 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2018.1547962

Kealey, J. (2020). Preserving fabled amateurism: The benefits of the NCAA’s adoption of the Olympic amateurism model. Journal of Law and Policy, 29(1). https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol29/iss1/8

Llewellyn, M. P., & Gleaves, J. (2014). A universal dilemma: The British sporting life and the complex, contested, and contradictory state of amateurism. Journal of Sport History, 41(1), 95–116. https://doi.org/10.5406/jsporthistory.41.1.95

Senne, J. (2016). A review of the NCAA’s Business model, amateurism, and paying the players. The Sport Journal. https://thesportjournal.org/article/a-review-of-the-ncaas-business-model-amateurism-and-paying-the-players/

Thacker, D. (2017). Amateurism vs. capitalism: A practical approach to paying college athletes amateurism vs. capitalism: A practical approach to paying college athletes. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 16(1). https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol16/iss1/14

Wallsten, K., Nteta, T. M., McCarthy, L. A., & Tarsi, M. R. (2017). Prejudice or principled conservatism? Racial resentment and white opinion toward paying college athletes. Political Research Quarterly, 70(1), 209–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912916685186

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Introduction: Your introduction should not be longer than two pages.

Thesis Statement: Immediately after your introduction, you must present a clear thesis statement. In simplistic terms, a thesis statement is the main point of your paper that tells the reader what you intend to argue later in your paper. Word your thesis statement, as follows: “My thesis statement is . . . .” The thesis statement should not be longer than two sentences, and normally one is sufficient.

Amateurism In Intercollegiate Athletics

Road Map: Immediately after your thesis statement, you must provide a clear road map to let the reader know where you are going with your paper. Word your road map, as follows: “My paper will first briefly explore . . . , followed by . . . . Finally I will defend my thesis by . . . .” Your road map should be only a few sentences, but it must be clear.

Background: Next, provide a brief but clear background of your topic. This may only be one page or less.

Defense of Thesis: Now you are at the meat of the paper, defending your thesis statement. This must be at least five to ten full pages, and you must use your research to defend your thesis. This is the hardest part of your paper, and this is where you need to focus your time and energy. Why? You must present clear arguments, supported by your research, to defend your thesis. Three major issues in this area — (1) Conclusory statements must be supported with your research; (2) Do not use provoking language that amounts to merely an opinion; and (3) You need to fill in glaring gaps.

Conclusion: Conclude your paper in one page or less.