NCAA: A Booming Economy

      The world of college athletics presents many interesting and paradoxical economic problems.  Being a fan of college sports, one can’t help but notice how similar professional and collegiate sports have become in terms of sponsorship and advertising contracts.  NCAA sports have become an immensely profitable business producing millions of dollars annually for advertisers, the colleges, and the surrounding communities for whom the local college athletic teams represent the only proximate and affordable source for sports entertainment.  Further, competitive teams consistently make millions of dollars off of their players while the player’s only compensation is the scholarship.  It follows then that a debate has begun over whether college players should be paid for their services in addition to the scholarships they receive.  The opinions on the subject vary from one end of the spectrum to the other.  Some argue that the players produce so much excess revenue that they deserve supplementary compensation in order to prevent premature jumps to the professional leagues (See News Stories General).  Others argue that the discourse over player compensation has created an unhealthy player mindset which has in fact led to the further issues of legality and competitiveness (See News Stories Basketball).  Therefore in the interest of sports economics, one of our goals in this site is to explore this topic by presenting the various opinions and research that allow for the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.