Bobby Martinez – Sports Editor
Last year, Alabama University’s athletic program raked in $143 million last year in revenues which is more than every NHL team combined; their athletes didn’t receive one dollar in return.
Marc Edelman, an associate professor at City University of New York who specializes in sports and antitrust law, said in an interview with Associated Press writer Antonio Gonzalez, “Revenues derived from college athletics is greater than the aggregate revenues of the NBA and the NHL,”. He also noted that Alabama’s athletic revenues last year, which totaled $143 million, exceeded those of all 30 NHL teams and 25 of the 30 NBA teams.
That $143 million isn’t the highest of all schools, in fact, the University of Texas holds the throne when it comes to the highest revenue. In addition, UT has the largest athletic department which earns more than $165 million a year, $109 million coming from football alone.
As for Southern Connecticut State University, numerous athletes had different opinions on whether or not they should be compensated. Sophomore swimmer Raymond Snyder, said he doesn’t think athletes should be paid due to numerous reasons.
“I,” said Snyder, “don’t think student athletes should be paid because they’re students and you have to pay to go to school. If you’re good enough to get a scholarship that should be your pay in college but if you’re able to make a living out of it, then that’s what you do after college.”
For the past decade, Owls’ swimming program has won 20 Northeast-10 Championships (2003-08, 2011-14 men; 2003-13, women) and seven Metropolitan Conference championships (2003-06, men; 2005-07, women).
Snyder’s teammate, sophomore Christian Berg, said he’s “50-50” when deciding on whether or not athletes should be paid.
“I think that if you get a scholarship it’s alright,” said Berg. “I think if the school is using your name, specifically to market then I think that you should be able to get something out of that.”
When it comes to schools marketing their athletes such as selling jerseys with their names on the back or having a video game, former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, spoke to ESPN Radio detailing his time as a top notch college athlete and not receiving one dime.
“The only thing I will say about that is when I was at Ohio State,” he said, “all you seen was red jerseys in the stands and a lot of No. 2s (Pryor’s jersey number). I’ll leave it at that.”
In addition to Pryor not being paid during his time at Ohio State, he was suspended for several games after signing autographs in exchange for tattoos.
He added, “At the time, I was getting in trouble. I don’t even call it being in trouble. I don’t think helping my mother, who was in need, is being in trouble. I’ll never regret that. The only thing I regret is hurting certain fans, teammates and coaches.”
Coming off the best season in school history, the Owls men’s basketball last season had a turnaround not only as a basketball program, but also from a fan standpoint. As the season progressed, the Owls climbed the charts where they landed a spot in the national rankings as one of the top teams in the country. Each game, fans were filling up the stands and the Owls’ blue crew kept increasing.
As the Owls kept winning and bringing in more and more fans each game, maybe players like forward Stefon Williams would like the opportunity for athletes at Southern and all over the country should be paid.
“I think they should,” said Williams, “because they don’t have the chance to work because they are too busy with school and their sport. But at the same time, they’re going to school for free so I don’t think it’s a must that they get paid.”
Williams also acknowledged the help the Owls athletic department provides their student athletes. Williams said, “They [Owls Athletic Department] provide a lot of places where they [athletes] can go for extra help and they also stay on top of our grades.”
Photo Credit: Tax Credits
