Class assignment

1. Bradley Harris
FYS 100-110
Mr. Blanco
9/17/14
Information Literacy Assignment
Michael Dobie argues that the NCAA is not appreciative towards it players and does not
understand that they need to be compensated for their performances and contributions towards their
respective teams in his article. He is somewhat biased towards his personal claim and does not give
adequate information on the other side of the somewhat controversial argument even though he is a
member of a News editorial board. He says, “College sports at that level is a business, and nothing flows
to the players on whom the enterprise depends.”. It is quite blatant that he is strongly for the immediate
compensation for the players that participate in the NCAA because they bring in billions of revenue and
even the coaching staff gets paid for the players’ contributions.
It is discovered, through research, that his statement, “A federal lawsuit claims the NCAA and its
five biggest conferences rake in billions of dollars in football and basketball while unlawfully capping
player compensation…” is true. It just so happens that four college athletes filed what is called an “anti-trust
complaint” and it will restrain college athlete associations from banning monetary competitions for
certain athletes. Within a document written by John Bazemore, college athletics earn billions of dollars in
yearly revenue from the production of their student players. The article supports Michael Dobie’s claim
and gives enough evidence for its validity.
In the article, it says that Electronic Arts or “EA” paid 40 million dollars to settle a case. This was
because EA was using college player’s names in their productions. That is also explained in Michael
Dobie’s article.

2. A man named Chris Dufresne wrote an article for the Los Angeles Times and it seemed to
supports Dobie’s claims. In the article it read that Northwester football players may unionize soon. The
“Big five” college athletic programs say they are willing and able to pay their players and will use their
earnings from the funds provided from television. It also explained that the NCAA Board of Directors
may issue a legislation that enables college athlete’s compensation for their tuition. However many
athletic directors have discrepancies with this.
In Dufresnes’ article, he tells how some people fear what lengths some large colleges may go to
get certain athlete’s and it may change the entire scholarship system. Not to mention, the colleges may
increase the tuition rate and make the money come out of the students’ pockets themselves even the ones’
who do not play sports.
Bob Raissman, with the Daily News, wrote how player bring in elaborate amounts of money to
their schools and receive no compensation for it. He argues, “If it was not for the players there would be
no $60 jerseys”. Raissman would probably concur with Michael Dobie on this matter. For the fact, they
both feel sorry for the players for working so hard and bringing in so much money for the colleges and
then not getting any money for their work.
The NCAA has been around for generations and their policy of not paying athleteshas stayed
constant. However, the economy of the United States of America has not. More and more students from
colleges are dropping out every year because of the alarming rates that they are charged. Even if a player
gets a scholarship, all of the costs of living are rising.
Food prices are increasing along with taxes as well as the price of gasoline. These are costs that
all students must pay. Some college football players have children and they have very little time to have a
job, therefore it would seem to make it easier for them if they were paid to play on the football team.
If players were to be paid for their roles in which they play, there are some positive and some
negative effects that could change a few things with the college and the NCAA. Some students may feel

3. unappreciated with it because they are going to school and working and they are barely making it through.
If players would get paid for being on the football team, Some people may think, “Why can’t they just
quit football and get a job since it is such a burden to be on the team and not have enough money to take
care of themselves and perhaps their children.
In addition to that statement, what makes the participants in the athletic department of schools
different from other students? An argument to that would be that the players bring in more money to the
college than the regular students. According to an honors college student named Julia Foster, reports
show that the average G.P.A of student athletes is somewhat lower than a non student athlete. An
argument could be made with that information that could insist that non athletic students have a higher
chance of furthering their skills at the college after four years of being there. In addition to that, another
argument could be brought up that the higher the G.P.A, the better chance of success.
The entire situation is divided between biased individuals on both sides of the argument,
conservatives, and liberals. As stated before, Michael Dobie seems to have some form of bias towards the
NCAA players. A conservative may think that the policies should not be changed and the entire structure
of the NCAA is fine. They could also believe that if a student athlete is hard on money, then they should
discontinue sports and get a part time job. Whereas liberals could own the opinion of sympathy towards
the players love for the sport and realize how much money the colleges are making off of these
individuals.
Say for instance, a football player won a full scholarship to a certain college and then got paid to
play for the team. While a student who has little to no scholarships pays for their tuition themselves and
works two part time jobs to cover other expenses. An argument could be made that it is extremely unfair
to non athlete students if NCAA players received a check for participating.
This could also lead to more students trying to get into college athletics. Not to mention the fact
that athletic programs will not “fall on the sword” and pay these students without repercussions. They will

4. find every way possible to compensate for the financial loss. Whether it be by increasing prices of
concessions, increasing tuition rates, cutting back on quality practice fields, or decreasing the quality of
equipment they use to practice.

5. Works Cited
Bazemore, John “Players file lawsuit against NCAA over compensation limits; Football, basketball
players don't get paid for playing” Bloomberg News, March 18th, 2014.
Dufresne, Chris “Stealthy way for wealthy to stay healthy?; NCAA weighs legislation to
pay athletes stipends, an idea more appealing to rich programs than smaller ones.” Los
Angeles Times, June 4th, 2014.
Raissman, Bob “With Brackets of Millions Players Net Nothing of It.” Dailey News (New York), March
21, 2008.