Payment of Student Athletes: Legal and Practical Obstacles
             College Athletics is no longer just a sport, it's a big business. The National Collegiate Athletics Association has an operating budget of 270 million dollars, and the member schools generate 3 billion in revenues. That is a huge amount of money to be made, and brings up the situation of should college athletes be paid. Athletes on a full scholarship has all of their tuition, books, room and board, but leaves no room for extra money to live on. They are allowed to work part time, but this is a joke, as there is practice and studying that must be done. So with the extra revenues that these universities make off of these athletes, they should give back a portion of what they make. This paper suggests having a salary cap, which would limit the amount of money given and prevent from breaking the Sherman Antitrust Act. If the NCAA does come through and provides for the athletes, this would get rid of booster donations and the temptations of sports agents, which get programs in trouble on a yearly basis. So it's not just helping their product, but also solves some of their major problems. If this were to go into effect, there are other laws that are affected and come into play: Workers compensation laws are applied to the states in which the institution exists. The student athletes could then have the right to become a labor group and bargain. More Title IX issues come into play for fair payment of athletes. Taxes would also come into play, as the athletes are making wages, and must report them to the IRS, as well as the university. The student athletes would also be considered employees of the institution, so they now become a liability issue. These are some of the issues that the universities, and the NCAA governing body must weigh out, as this idea becomes more popular. At first it sounds like a good deal, but may actually become a cancer and a headache ...