"Working too hard to generate revenue somehow taints the purity of college sports." which saying everything from the athletes, to recruiters and coaches are working just as hard a professional team. That this is why he categorizes them as being paid to play. But my argument is every athlete whether he is on scholarship or is not is trying to become a professional if they can. Working hard in and out of the classroom all year long. It is alright to believe one day you can make it in the professional industry, most believe they will not though since there are slim chances. So they use the education they received after college. Gerdy argues that giving an athlete money instead of a very well graded student is not right, but the athlete generates money for the program and school. People come to watch these games, so that means they have to buy tickets, some may buy food while in the stadium, and along the lines of parking, etc. .
Gerdy believes that these scholarships make it less fair, and less likely for an academically inclined student to be granted money or scholarship because of all the money given to the athletes. I do not think that the athletes "steal" the money from them, because the NCAA regulates the amount of money and scholarships given to athletes. So if these regulations are followed by each team, there should be enough fairly spread out money for those looking for academic scholarships as well. "An athletic scholarship represents a contractual agreement between the athlete and coach. The contract allows coaches to view athletes as employees, bought and paid for by athletics department, and has little to do with education and everything to do with athletic performance and control. If the athlete does no do what the coach wants, or fails to meet expectations on the field or court, he or she can be 'fired'." (249 Gerdy, John).
Gerdy is right that a scholarship is an agreement between athlete and coach, but I disagree when he says it has very little to do with education.
