John Kelly
Professor Pajer
English 101 E
24 November 2014
Synthesis Essay The idea of college athletes being paid for their hard work has come into the forefront of sports news in the past several years. The two articles that are used come from reputable online sources; Forbes.com and ESPN.com. The first author, Jeffrey Dorfman argues his opinion from an economic stand point as well his firsthand experience as a college athlete at the University of Georgia. The second author, Michael Wilbon wrote for the Washington Post for three decades before going to ESPN and is considered one of the nations most reputable and respected sports journalists. Each author argues opposing side to the idea of college athletes being paid. They present different solutions to the problem and each uses different reasons to support their opinion. Looking at the opposing views of the two authors shows the complexity of the issue at hand.
He is now a professor of economics at the University of Georgia. These credentials help to make him a good source for the argument at hand. The debate of whether or not college athletes should be paid is not new by any means. The topic has been around since colleges started recruiting athletes to play for their schools. It has become a more prominent issue in recent years due to increases in violations of NCAA rules. Examples of these violations are recruiters providing “gift” such as money or items in return for an athlete’s attendance at their school. A poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC news shows that a large majority of Americans, 64 percent, oppose the idea of college athletes being paid The first article by Jeffrey Dorfman is titled “Pay college athletes? They’re already paid up to $125,000 per year”. Dorfman’s main point is to explain “how college athletes are already compensated, even if not directly paid” (Dorfman). He provides several examples of how college athletes are already compensated for their efforts. The ways are free tuition, or a large majority of tuition paid for, room and meal plans, academic counseling and tutoring, professional coaching and publicity. Publicity is the biggest asset, especially to star players. This provides them with exposure to fans and professional teams, which could eventually result in even more money coming their way. Dorfman then explains that only football and men’s basketball players would be the ones receiving the money because their sports generate the most revenue. Since other sports don’t generate as much revenue, this hurts most athletic departments and causes them to lose money. According to a USA Today study only 23 out of 228 division 1 athletic programs managed to run surplus in 2012. This statistic shows that even if the NCAA allowed colleges to pay their athletes, very few colleges would be able to. Michael Wilbon takes the opposing side to the argument. He says that college athletes deserve to be paid, they generate the revenue for their schools, and therefore they should share in it. He believes that college athletes should not be paid