Case Study: Should College Athletes Be Paid

When it comes to Sports Law there are several issues at all levels of competition; College, Professional, and even International sports have begun to see an influx of legal issues as the popularity of sports continues to grow. Issues like player health and safety, player labor and union issues, and gambling limitations in sport are generating a lot of conversation. However, the fight between college athletes and the National Collegiate Athletic Association over developing free market and unions for players. The question that is typically heard on a daily basis is, “Should college athletes be paid?”, and the typical answer is ether “yes” or “no, they are getting a free education.” But, as the topics popularity continues to grow and the athletes …show more content…
NCAA case is a win for former, current, and future college athletes. Not only has this case helped to provide student-athletes playing on Division I football and basketball teams the opportunity to earn financial aid for the full cost of going to the school, but it has sparked conversation from the topic. Following this case, we will see Jenkins v. NCAA arguing for free market for college athletes’ labor services, and while the O’Bannon case was taking place the litigation before the National Labor Relations Board gave the Northwestern University scholarship football players’ right to …show more content…
These college athletes are used as employees by the universities to produce a product on the field which can cause them serious injury and brings in profits that they do not see in return. I understand that many people feel like a college scholarship to play college sports is enough and that the universities have stated that they cannot afford to pay all of the student athletes and that it would be unfair to only pay men’s basketball and football teams. That is why I believe that the “Olympic Model” is the solution to this issue because now it gives all college athletes from all sports to get paid, it takes pressure of the universities to pay the athletes, and is completely separate from the financial aid aspect. The “Olympic Model” is based off of how Olympic athletes make money for a living because they get paid very low sums of money by their countries and it gives them an opportunity to gain financial security based on their individual performance. By introducing this into college sports you would allow for college athletes to get money from endorsements, autographs, jobs, and control their own image. I understand that with this type of model will also have to come with rules to prevent the college athletes from infringing upon the