Death Penalty in Sports: NCAA Penalties, SMU Scandal, and Analysis

This discussion board post examines the controversial "death penalty" in college sports, specifically focusing on the Southern Methodist University (SMU) football scandal. The assignment analyzes the NCAA's strictest punishment, which involves banning a school from a sport for a period, and its application in the SMU case due to repeated rule violations, including illicit payments to players. The post details the short-term and long-term effects of the penalty, such as the decline of the team and the loss of scholarships. Furthermore, it explores the evolving perceptions surrounding athlete compensation and the ethical debates surrounding the "under the table" payments. The author references scholarly sources to support arguments and concludes with a reflection on the changing views regarding the imposition of such penalties. The assignment is a contribution to Desklib, a platform providing AI-powered study tools and access to past papers and solved assignments for students.

Running head: DEATH PENALTY IN SPORTS
DEATH PENALTY IN SPORTS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1CIVIL CASE ANALYSIS
Introduction:
The death penalty is a popular name for the power of National Collegiate Athletic
Association to ban a school from participating in a sport for a year which can be extended too. It
is the strictest punishment imposed by NCAA on a school (Jewell, 2016). The Southern
Methodist University football scandal, popularly called as SMU football scandal was the only
modern punishment given for repeated violation of rules by such school (Harper & Donnor,
2017).
Discussion:
The death penalty is a topic of great controversy even today though it has not been used
by NCAA in the last three decades. But it lives along with its legacy through its name only. In
1987, the SMU football team was suspended for the whole season. The main reason for such
punishment was the maintenance of a fund consisting of black money mainly for the “under the
table” payments to the players and their families to allure them to play for their team.
investigation showed that in 1985 and 1986, SMU board had paid a huge amount of $61,000
from its fund to 13 players. Payments ranging from $50 to $725 were paid to the players per
month. as a result of such punishment, the team was left to ruins.
The effects of the death penalty can be categorized in two head; long term effects and
short term effects. Short term effects were such that the new players were younger, smaller and
inexperienced. The team that had been in the top-20 was struggling in the national championship.
The new team was scared and terrified and they got defeated in the match without much contest.
The most severe long term effect was that the team lost around 55 scholarships over four years

2CIVIL CASE ANALYSIS
after two seasons were cancelled. After the scandal, most of the popular players opted to play for
other teams so as to not to link their names with such scandalous team. the Southwest
Conference suffered a lot. Hence, the effect on such penalty was not lesser than dropping an
atom bomb on the field of Dallas.
Conclusion:
The sentence of death penalty had left both Dallas and all over country in deep shock
initially. But everyone assented that SMU deserved it as it was warned by NCAA before also.
but the effect was far reaching. The Mushtangs from being undefeated became non- existant in
the field of football. However, for the last twenty years, people’s thoughts, perception and
conversation had changed a lot. Now people are not bothered about what should be penalties but
about whether there should be such penalty. People have different arguments behind paying
money to athletes are ambiguous and manifold. According to such, such payments encourage the
athletes to pay better. Some also believe that it motivates youngsters to pursue athletics as
profession instead of expensive higher studies. Many poor students cannot afford education, for
them such payment acts as a source of income. However, some people believes that such “under
the table payment” would encourage black money use. Moreover there must be some regulations
for paying remuneration to the athletes.

3CIVIL CASE ANALYSIS
References:
Harper, S. R., & Donnor, J. K. (Eds.). (2017). Scandals in college sports. Taylor & Francis.
Horton Jr, D., & Davis, J. L. (2017). Till death do us part. Scandals in College Sports, 13.
Jewell, A. (2016). Illegal Recruitment: A Self-Implosion and Corruption of the NCAA (Doctoral
dissertation).