· NCAA student athletes are denied the rights to their own likeliness due to the amateurism rule. This rule keeps players from profiting off of themselves denying them the rights to endorsement deals, selling their autographs or receiving pay from anyone related to their sport. Players have been ruled ineligible and suspended and also have lost scholarships and had awards taken away from them by violating these rules due.

· Recently Todd Gurley, star University of Georgia running back, was suspended indefinitely after word leaked that he was selling his autographs for extra cash. Before the season, Georgia, held a “meet the team day” for fans. The school charged $25 a person to meet the players and take photos with, or receive autographs, from the players.

· Schools use player’s images on schedules, programs and commercials that advertise college teams.

· Schools defend this amateurism rule by claiming student athletes are students first. Former Maryland cornerback Dominique Foxworth had this to say, “We kind of had a motto, C’s get degrees. Everyone pretends but you know your responsibility is to win football games.”

· In 2012, Johnathan Franklin, was a star running back at UCLA. His scholarship was worth $28k. Multiplying that by 85 (the allotted amount of scholarships for a NCAA Division I football program) comes to $2.38M. That year head coach Jim Mora made $1.9M and his remaining coaching staff made up for well more than the $480K dollar difference between Mora and his whole team’s scholarships combined. UCLA’s athletic director raked in $700K that year.

· Coaches make all this money and according to ex-Tennessee running back, Arian Foster, coaches aren’t even allowed to buy players food out of pocket. Foster, in an interview for college football documentary, talked of telling his coach that he needed to by him and his teammates/roommates food before they “did something stupid”.

· Foster said teammates were “selling drugs” to get buy. “They just trying to eat man!” Foster went on to explain. “It was total bull$**t, but you don’t say anything because if you say anything you’re stepping out of line, and that’ll hurt you getting to [the pros]. It’s a brilliant devised evil scheme to keep kids quiet.” Foster also refutes the student first argument saying, “Football interferes with being a student first.”

· The University of North Carolina was caught for running “paper classes”. These classes were for athletes. They did not require attendance, only were graded off one written essay-paper assignment, and often resulted in A’s and B’s. E-mails to the main teacher behind these classes were found clearly stating bribery for passing player grades. Only the teacher was punished.

· North Carolina’s 2009 men’s basketball championship team had a total of 15 paper classes between players. Academics were first, right?

· Even the creator of the amateurism rule Walter Byars eventually called the rules a “plantation mentality” and that the boom in profitability made the rule outdatded.

· The NCAA makes $800M a year off of the one month college basketball division I men’s national championship tournament “March Madness”.

· Jay Bilas’s nephew made $5K a year from the University of Kentucky for being student body president and was awarded a full scholarship.

· Schools have many undisclosed contracts with sponsors that hide some of the profits schools are making.

· In 2013, the top 15 paid NCAA division I football coaches, averaged a $4.577M salary.

· In men’s basketball that year, the top 15 average was $3.394M.

· The top 15 athletic directors made an average of $1.173M that year.

· In 2012 the NCAA, a private non-profit organization, had a $71M surplus.

· School’s accounting numbers may be misleading. Accountant file things in certain departments to make revenue appear lower and expenses higher. Money given to school through the athletic department and depreciation of stadium value are things that may fall into these categories.

· The risk of getting physically hurt in collegiate sports is very high. We first start to look at how many scholarships are given out for each individual sport. (5 of the most popular sports)

· Division I scholarship breakdown: Football: 86 Scholarships, Basketball: 13 Scholarships, Baseball/Softball: 11.7 Scholarships, and Ice Hockey: 18 Scholarships

· These are the most scholarships given out on average for division I NCCA.

· This does not mean every single athlete gets a full Scholarship, some may get half or just partial. This is what makes it controversial. “Student-Athletes” are putting themselves at great risk while they compete. If they get injured or medically have a problem while on scholarship can become very frustrating. These athletes are paid for education only. They need to be able to pay for medical attention, and for the adequate amount of food to perform at 100%.

· Each new season every member who is on scholarship must sign again for the following year. These scholarships may not be offered to every athlete. Some athletes get injured and never are the same. The school then pulls their scholarship and now the athlete has no more financial support.

More Statistics:

· Total Number of NCAA Student Athletes- 420,000

· Total Number of Institutions- 1,000

· Total Annual NCCA Revenue- 10.6 Billion

· Total Revenue made on Ticket Sale- 5.6 Billion

· A great example of a Student athlete being injured and threatened to lose scholarship is Kevin Ware, of the University of Louisville. He was on a one year scholarship as a basketball player, he then had one of the most gruesome injuries to his leg that possibly could have ended his career. Not only possibly losing his scholarship and education but he also had to pay for some high medical bills because his injury required surgery. This was a huge story in the country that flooded the social media feeds. If Louisville cuts his scholarship then they would have gotten negative publicity.

· The NCAA requires each student athlete to have personal health insurance.

· Catastrophic Insurance program. Any coaches, staff, athletes, cheerleaders or team officials are injured are covered at $90,000. According to the program "covered event" means, for players on an athletic team: (a.) a Qualifying Intercollegiate Sport competition scheduled by the Insured Person's Participating School; (b.) official team activities; (c.) Conditioning; or (d.) practice sessions.

· Exceptional Student Athlete Disability Insurance Program: program was made to protect players that are supposed to go in the first, second or third rounds of professional sports drafts. The student athletes can obtain the insurance through pre-approved Financing.

· Some athletes have career ending injuries which means they are done playing on scholarship. Also they have their school insurance taken away as well. Some are stuck with medical bills for years after the injury. Compensation from the NCAA would help these individuals pay their medical bills that have been issued to them for playing a sport that gives the NCAA Publicity and revenue.

The average athletic scholarship is about 10,400. Only four sports offer full rides to all athletes who receive scholarships: football, men's and women's basketball, and women's volleyball.

· The NCAA dictates how many scholarships each Division I and II school can have. For example, a Division I soccer coach may be allotted 10 scholarships, but he or she can choose to offer more, smaller scholarships to bring athletes to campus.

· Scholarships are not for four years. Athletic scholarships must be renewed each year at the coach's discretion. That's students traveling, perhaps thousands of miles from home, with no real guarantee that their next year of school will be funded. This can stress student athletes out, distracting them from their main goal of school.

· Room and board generally includes housing rent and standard meal plans. If you think about what a college athlete eats, it's probably not standard. Meaning they will likely have to come out of pocket for food costs. This is also not including any books, the student might need for classes.

· One year of tuition, room/board, and books and supplies at Oregon, Texas, or USC averages out to be $39,747. This does not include miscellaneous expenses, the tutoring that athletes get, and basic medical insurance, disability insurance, and catastrophic injury insurance.

· College athletes are said to work more than 43 hours a week, therefore if considered a student-employee, would be working over the typical student allotment of hours, and make them a full-time worker.