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Garrett Butler
Law and Economics
Professor Spencer
6 April 2015

Legal Status of College Athletes

The first university that was established in the United States was Harvard University
founded in 1636 located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yale followed in the early 1700s and
many more throughout the northeast in the 1800s. Sports have existed for the majority of the
time that our human species has been on this earth. Beginning with the first recorded Olympic
Games played in Greece to Jousting played during the medieval times in England to the first ever
sport played in the new America by the Native American Indians which was lacrosse. The latest
sports created and played mostly throughout our country and parts of others were baseball,
football and basketball. These three sports in particular were created in the mid to late 1800s and
were quickly asserted in to the college atmosphere. Collegiate sports for men started in 1850; the
first collegiate competition was a rowing contest between Harvard University and Yale
University. College baseball was first played in 1859 by Amherst College and William and
Marry College. Princeton and Rutgers played the very first college football game in 1869.
Womens sports did not become popular until the 1920s and 1930s, but then it was not
recognized as a competitive sport, instead, it was just considered a physical activity to play
during physical education classes. It wasnt until the 70s that women sports were considered and
played as a college sport due to the title nine being enforced on all the colleges.
After the first football game ever played in the collegiate era, it began to receive
popularity throughout the country amongst the people and other colleges. Thus was born the

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competition of trying to recruit players to play for the recruiters desired school. To lure
prospective athletes to their schools recruiters offered athletic scholarships to help pay for their
tuition in return for the prospects to play for them. Athletic scholarships were first handed out in
1870s; just one year after the first college football game was played. College campuses began to
be threatened by the influence of the increasing expansion of collegiate sports. Schools started
gaining an anti-intellectual climate amongst the students on their campuses. Problems began to
arise between athletics and academics: students were missing classes for sporting events, some
students were caught cheating thus killing the schools reputation and some only enrolled in one
class at the schools. Early problems amongst the colleges prompted President Theodore
Roosevelt to create and establish an organization to monitor and regulate collegiate athletics in
the U.S. In 1906 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was founded. From then
on the NCAA began to create what we see college athletics like today.
The birth of advertisement and sponsorships by corporation began at the first ever
collegiate sporting event in 1859 by a railroad company. Since then businesses and corporations
have taken college economics to the next level and set the bar for the future. TV channels and
providers are paying colleges millions of dollars to broadcast their major sports (football,
basketball, baseball and softball) games live throughout the country. All athletic teams are
sponsored by a sporting apparel company, and receive gear and clothing for their school and
team from which company the school shares a contract with. Advertisement pretty much can be
seen around all the sports venues and school stores around the campus. Most NCAA schools get
a huge portion of their yearly profits from businesses and corporations. In the body of this paper
I will go on to discuss the current legal status of the student athletes, the effects on schools
education mission and degrees for students, and the problems that come with unlimited liability.

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As collegiate sports continued to grow in popularity throughout the nineteenth century;

new amenities other than scholarships were being used by schools, coaches and boosters to get
players to schools. However, the NCAA began to enforce laws and punish anyone who provided
or accepted impermissible benefits. We have seen many cases involving impermissible benefits
lately, but the most recent case that made the headlines for weeks was the Ohio State University
scandal by their football program. Football players were caught selling memorabilia and
accepting improper benefits for them and receiving deals on automobiles. The players were
ultimately suspended by the NCAA for their actions. However, this is a prime example that
shows that the NCAA doesnt see collegiate athletes as school employees and never will in the
near future. To help their cause the NCAA founded the phrase student-athlete in the mid
nineteenth century. In definition the phrase student-athlete means a participant in an organized
competitive sport sponsored by the educational institution in which he or she is enrolled. The
former head of the NCAA is responsible for creating the phrase student athlete, and he then
quickly inserted the phrase into all of NCAA interpretations and rules. Jared Wade provides a
perfect reason for the creation of the phrase saying, It was an excellent defense against being
held liable for workers compensation benefits that those injured in athletic completion could
seek. Wade makes a good point that the NCAA may have used the phrase to help them in court
for the future. In my opinion I think the phrase does aid them in court by giving them a backbone
to lean on. Its not to say that even if they didnt have the phrase that they wouldnt be as
fortunate in court if they did have it.
There have been countless amounts of cases brought to the court involving a player
versus a school or a family member of a player versus a school. We are not going to get to in
depth on all the cases till later on, but for now we will scratch the surface. Many of the cases

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brought to court involve a player getting injured on the field and suffer life changing injuries,
players getting hurt and losing their scholarship that brought them to the school and pays their
tuition because they are financially unstable, or players dying leaving behind family members to
pay bills or to be provided for. Even though there have been many cases that have gone through
the courts more and more keep coming and more and more will continue to lose by precedent
ruling from previous cases. A group of Northwestern football players recently tried to go to court
to get a ruling in their favor for benefits and medical coverage from schools when a collegiate
athlete gets hurt, but they did not get to court and were not able to get benefits from the school.
To help the NCAA, the United States Constitution talks about the responsibility of sports agents
and trust, but it also gives a good definition of the governments view on student athlete. Title
15 Commerce and Trade; Chapter 104 the term student athlete means an individual who
engages in, is eligible to engage in, or may be eligible in the future to engage in, any
intercollegiate sport. An individual who is permanently ineligible to participate in a particular
intercollegiate sport is not a student athlete for purposes of that sport (USLEGAL). Having this
definition in the constitution does nothing, but helps the NCAA and lessens the chances of any
case against them to win in the near future.
I think the question that should be raised is how would non-athletic students be affected
by paying athletic students? Also how would it affect the schools education mission/identity?
These are very important questions to be asked and discussed about, so that we realize how it
might or might not change college students future endeavors.
If a college student fresh out of college goes out looking for job in the workforce and the
company sees that you went to a school that paid students to attend their school, how much
would affect their ability to get that job? As a result, would the value of the students degree be

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question? Of course, we dont know how those situations would end up if student athletes did
indeed get paid. But they do raise speculation on how much degrading would occur on degrees if
the athletes were paid. Especially at prestige schools like Harvard, Columbia, Princeton and
many more ivy schools where you go for academics more so than athletics. In a personal view, I
see it being awkward and unfair for the non-athletes at all the colleges to have their fellow
students get paid.
From the schools perspective, when youre talking about paying student athletes, their
education mission statement comes into controversy. Every school strives to teach students to the
best of their ability and to prepare them for any field in the workforce or any position (worker or
leader) in the workforce. So how would it look if you were paid to go to a school to learn instead
of paying out of pocket or student loans? The idea of working hard for your degree looks good to
a lot of employers. The ones that are given a degree and have nothing to show for it struggle to
find their place, although some do find their place.
The last and final point is the unlimited liability placed on the colleges if students did get
employed by schools. More so today businesses and their employees are intertwined or
connected to each other. Back in the early days of our country businesses hired workers and only
paid them at their price; the businesses even controlled the hours. Essentially the capitalist
controlled the workers they hired and the workers could do nothing. However, the workers could
have played with the capitalist saying this company is offering me this, this and that; more than
you offered me originally. Today the capitalist do not have as much control as they did in the
past. There are unions now that advocate for different workforces to ensure their workers are
getting paid fairly and benefited properly. Usually now most companies provide, along with
annual salaries, benefits for their employees; health benefits in particular. Going back to the

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Northwestern case that did not make it to court, their main motive for their case was not what
most people that did not pay much attention to it thought it was. They were not going to court to
plead their case on how they should get paid; instead, the Northwestern players were going to
court to try to get health benefits from schools. The players had what I like to call their Popeye
moment. In the famous cartoon Popeye is known for saying this is all I can stands; I cant stands
no more! This relates to the football players in which they cant stands no more when college
athletes get injured in a collegiate game and the injurer has to pay for the medical bills or loses
their athletic scholarship. Whether the school should have a moral obligation to help pay for
some of the medical bills of an injured athlete or stand firm with an athletic scholarship to an
injured player that will never play again is to be decided by the school trustees. However, in the
legal world the schools will always be backed by the courts if they decide not to pay for anything
or stand firm behind a scholarship.
There have been injury cases brought to court seeking compensation or benefits for
injuries in the past or present time. One well known throughout the country is Waldrep v. Texas
Employers Insurance Association. In 1974 a collegiate football player by the name of Alvis
Waldrep injured his spinal cord in a collegiate game while at Texas Christian University. In the
early 90s Mr. Waldrep filed for workers compensation claim against the Texas Employers
Insurance Association. The insurance company appealed the compensation award to the
appellant. Later on in court the jury came to the conclusion that Waldrep was not an employee of
the school at the time of his injury and had no evidence that he was. Unsatisfied with the ruling
Waldrep goes on to challenge the ruling, but the court affirms behind its decision. In this case
Waldrep failed to show that he had a contract to work and that all of his work was controlled by
the university during his time at the university (Lexis Nexis).

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In another case a woman marries a college football player and the two have children of
their own. One day the husband dies while he is a collegiate athlete at a university. Now the wife
has to find a way to provide for herself and their children. The widow files a claim in court
seeking workers compensation from the university where her husband worked. After going
through the court system, the court rules in favor of the university and does not find that they are
obligated to give workers compensation to the widow. Again there is no evidence that the
husband was an employee of the university at the time of his death. Athletic scholarships are not
a form of contract.
Last example for this topic that we see more often in todays college atmosphere. In the
case that a player gets arrested for any criminal law broken; drug possession, robbery, domestic
violence and etc. If the school were liable for their college athletes they would have to pay
lawyers and costs for each athlete that gets in trouble. For instance three Alabama football
players were arrested within a couple weeks of each other. Thats three separate costs that the
school would have to pay for if they were liable. Even though it was the University of Alabama
and they could have paid the cost without it putting a dent in the pocket due to their profit
margins, but what if it was a school that didnt have the same profit margins as Alabama?
In my opinion I believe that holding four year institutions liable for college athletes
mistakes is detrimental. The cost of going to court does not come at a cheap price. Yes, schools
make a lot of money annually, but not all schools do. Division three schools do not bring in the
same amount of money as elite division one schools. Some schools in the division one barely
make a profit off of their athletic programs. The schools that offer athletics have a large amount
of athletes to cover. They cant just cover the football team or basketball team; they have to
cover all their collegiate sports. So to say that holding schools liable for athletes is a problem is

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an understatement. Holding schools liable could cause an economic catastrophe in the fact that
school could not afford to be liable for their athletes mistakes. In the same way from a legal
perspective I believe that schools should not have to hand out workers compensation or health
benefits to their athletes. From a moral stand point, however, I believe it is good for a school to
help in some kind of way. Sometimes schools do the morally right thing, so that their image in
the eyes of society looks good. In short it is a good business move for schools to use.
Overall I believe that the players should not get paid or formally receive health benefits.
Being a student athlete right now in a division three institute I understand where some advocates
for paying athletes come from. I experience the low amount of meal money on away trips or the
not so comfortable vehicles to transport us to our games, but that doesnt mean that we should
get paid for these problems. College sports were and always have been an amateur sport. To me
thats what makes college athletics interesting and fun to watch, and the amateurism we see
today is out of the roof. In some instances I prefer college sports over professional due to the
amateurism in the college sports. However, I see athletic scholarships as the best way to
compensate a student athlete for their performance on the field or court. In the case that the
athletes got paid, the scholarships would not be given out because schools would see no use in
them if the athletes are getting paid. So the school would counter by making student athletes pay
their own tuition from the money they get paid. Ultimately I see paying athletes as an economic
and moral problem if they do indeed get paid. I have explained what the legal status currently of
student athletes is, the effect on schools education mission and how degrees might be degraded,
and finally the problems of unlimited liability. I am not totally against compensating student
athletes; however, I feel that there is a better solution than paying the student athletes cash.

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Work Cited
"About." NCAA Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
"Beginning of Organized Sports in America." Beginning of Organized Sports in America. Texas
State, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Sept.
2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-ofcollege-sports/308643/?single_page=true>.
"College Athletics - History Of Athletics In U.s. Colleges And Universities." - Sports,
Intercollegiate, University, and Football. Stateuniversity.com, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
Edelman, Mark. "The Case For Paying College Athletes." US News. U.S.News & World Report,
6 Jan. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
"LexisNexis Academic." & Library Solutions. N.p., 15 June 2000. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
"Student Athlete Law & Legal Definition." Student Athlete Law & Legal Definition. US Legal,
n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/student-athlete/>.
Wade, Jared. "How the NCAA Has Used the Term." The National Law Review. National Law
Review, 14 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <http://www.natlawreview.com/article/how-ncaa-hasused-term-student-athlete-to-avoid-paying-workers-comp-liabilities>.