Pay for Play Today, sports are no longer fun and games, sports are a business, and college sports are no different. Division I college sports provide a huge source of universities’ income. The school receives money from ticket sales, television contracts, and sport-related merchandise, along with many other sports related revenue builders. The athletes on the other hand, receive their scholarship and little more. While the idea of receiving a free college education is something few would complain about; when the issue is more closely examined it becomes evident that it is not enough. Universities are exploiting athletes, and recently the problems that this creates have become more prominent. More and more athletes are now leaving …show more content…

The simple fact that the colleges are making millions off of these athletes means that they are exploiting them and the NCAA constitution proves this. This constitution states that, "student athletes shall be amateurs…and should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises." The problem with this rule is that it fails to acknowledge that university athletic programs are commercial enterprises, especially in recent times. These athletes aren’t amateurs any more but professional athletes some believe. Jeff Brown, author of Compensation of the Student-Athlete: Preservation of Amateurism, says, “Critics of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) amateurism rules argue that amateurism is an outdated ideal that no longer has a place in college athletics". The rules that worked back in the day are not working today. The objective of college athletic programs is to generate money (Murphy and Pace 168). If colleges are recognized in this way as commercial enterprises, it appears that colleges are violating the NCAA constitution. This means that college athletes are exploited even by universities’ own definition. It is exploitation in a form as obvious as any other form of servitude. Former executive director of the NCAA Walter Byers states, "The coaches own the athletes’ feet, the colleges own the athletes’ bodies, and the supervisors retain the large rewards. That reflects a neoplantation mentality