“We’re Coming for You”: Challenging the Virtue Ethic of Amateurism. How the Passage of California Senate Bill 206 is Changing the Face of Intercollegiate Athletics
“We’re Coming for You”: Challenging the Virtue Ethic of Amateurism. How the Passage of California Senate Bill 206 is Changing the Face of Intercollegiate Athletics. Authors: Eddie G. Walker II, Ph.D. & Gregory Johnson Institution: University of Minnesota Crookston This proposed study will focus on how student-athletes can benefit from a union (not for payment) but for protection and security. Most importantly, athletes take risks that can be detrimental to their futures in competing in college athletics. This proposal is not involving player compensation, as that is its own separate topic. Rather it is focusing on student-athlete medical protection and guaranteeing of issued athletic scholarship. A survey was created to research injuries suffered by student-athletes during their time playing under a program, and their opinions on representation and financial security. Overall, results have agreed on important issues that are being focused on, as well as being split on the viewpoint of the NCAA. Currently, player safety being a problem in today’s college athletics is split. However, student-athletes need for money outside of scholarships to pay for school, athletic scholarship reduction, medical expenses having to be covered by the student-athlete as well as fear of losing a scholarship stood out from the responses. The data collection is still ongoing, but from the preliminary data we collected, it shows student-athletes concerned financially about school as well as wanting a stronger voice to represent them. The data points to them wanting representation as well as financial security of scholarships and surgery costs.