Essay Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

Actions towards paying athletes are being taken and according to the TCU Daily Skiff, “There’s a legislation being passed around in the Big 12 states to provide athletes with an extra stipend in addition to their all-expenses paid education. The idea is that these students are producing truckloads of revenue for the university and should see some of the fruits of their labor.” (Jennings, par. 2) Because athletes aren’t paid for producing such money, supporters feel some of the money made should go towards helping with extra expenses. An average student athlete has to pay for phone bills, transportation, entertainment, laundry, toiletries and other things. While the typical college student has the opportunity to work, athletes don’t. Some students in college receive academic full ride scholarships, which are the same as athletic full rides, but they have time to earn extra money on the side. If these students are receiving a full ride scholarship and have the opportunity to work then an athlete should be paid a compensation for his or her efforts on the playing field.

Whether or not student-athletes should be paid has been a hotly debated topic since the 1900s. College athletes spend just as much time, if not more time, practicing and devoting time and energy to sports as they do academics. For this, many athletes are rewarded with scholarship money. However, many people believe it is not enough. Should we pay student-athletes a slice of the wealth or is a full-ride scholarship enough? (Business Insider). What if the athlete gets injured? Where does the money come out of to support each athlete’s salary? The huge amount of money being generated from college sports has led some people to think that the athletes are entitled to some of that revenue. While, some think that student-athletes should be paid, others disagree for various reasons.

The popularity of college sports has risen tremendously throughout the years amongst Americans. The passion to watch college basketball, football, baseball, and other sports has generated billions of dollars to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and to various athletic programs throughout America. Even though, colleges are raking in millions of dollars from their sports teams. “Last year 's National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA") basketball tournament generated over $70 million in gross receipts” (Goldman).The NCAA prohibits payments, beyond educational scholarships, to athletes who are the source of these revenues. College athletes spend countless number of hours in their sport every day by attending long and tiresome practices, workout sessions, and film sessions whilst balancing their academics, but do not receive any payment for their efforts. Athletes are putting their lives and careers in danger during practices and games by being vulnerable to any type of injury that might end their careers, and many of these athletes are not provided any type of medical insurance to fund their injuries. Colleges need to realize that athletes often feel exploited because while they generate revenues, they are scrounging to meet their basic necessities and sacrificing their academic and professional careers. Many college athletes, professional lawyers, and sports analysts have taken various initiatives to help

Now, paying these athletes doesn’t have to be for everyone. Only the high caliber, D1 athletes. The D1 athletes put in all this time and effort to get a scholarship, but don’t see any money. Now that’s not right. These D1 caliber players don’t come around all the time. There are not many of them. Plus the schools that do have these players are super rich. “These teams not only provide their supporters with a steady source of entertainment, but their performance also helps bring notoriety and pride to the universities they represent. College athletics, especially the so-called "revenue sports" of men 's basketball and football, is now a multi-million dollar business that is marketed, packaged, and sold in the same manner as other commercial products” (Acain).

College sports is a multi-billion dollar industry. Each year thousands of high school students are recruited to play college sports, but under strict conditions. Students are required to do well in athletics while keeping up with their academics. College athletes spend up to forty five hours per week on practices, training, and games. In addition, they spend roughly forty hours on their academics. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) does not think it is necessary to pay these athletes because they want to maintain the “amateur sport” status. According to Stanley Eitzen in his “College Athletes should be Paid, “The universities and the NCAA claim their athletes in big-time sports programs

Paying College athletes has been a trending topic around the National Collegiate Athletic Association over the years. Many have strong opinions about this topic, and the opinions vary. The discussion of paying college athletes began in 1991 when the famed Fab Five became a household name in the United States. The Fab Five is arguably the greatest recruiting class of all time; all attending the same school (Baxter). The Fab Five first created controversy when they started to question why the university and university officials were making millions and millions of dollars off their names, and they were just deprived hungry college kids not making a dime. Nike even made billions by copyrighting their famed black athletic socks, black

Due to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules and regulations no college athlete is able to receive any compensation or endorsement while participating in college athletics. These rules have long been challenged, however no changes have been made by the NCAA. With universities grossing close to $200 million a year college athletics has turned into one of the top industries in the world. The NCAA is a governing body of college athletics, but without people questioning the NCAA and demanding changes to the monopoly that the NCAA is nothing will happen to the unfairness to college athletes like it is currently.

The debate over college athletes being paid is primarily argued in NCAA Division I athletics, because that is the highest level of college athletics. However, that just strengthens the argument as to why college athletes should not be paid. At the Division I level, athletic departments are allowed to award student-athletes full-ride athletic scholarships. That pays for tuition, room and board, additional school fees, and—because of the pressure to pay athletes—certain cash allowances for food. The financial advantage earned by athletic ability alone is tremendous. With student loan debt rising to historic levels, every student would love to have that much financial assistance. The vast majority of college athletes will not play a professional sport. The scholarships that they earn give them an advantage by allowing them to receive an education without having thousands of dollars worth of debt to pay off. It is often said that education is the key to success, but the necessary education normally comes with years of

Do you enjoy watching a good game of college football on saturday afternoons? How would you feel if college sports turned into a business similar to the NFL or NBA? That is exactly what would happen if college athletes began to be paid for their talents. There are many other reasons college athletes should not be paid, for example, college athletes already receive compensation in the form of scholarships, each athlete could not be paid the same, and athletes should be focusing on school, not athletics.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and major division one programs are reeling in millions of dollars from the performance of students at their respective institutions. The athletes are compensated with scholarships in tuition, books, housing, and meals. Even though the athletes are receiving compensation from their universities, student athletes deserve to be paid because of the time devoted to being an athlete, the business behind the NCAA, and the profitability of the athlete’s own image.

Why College Athletes Should Be Paid “Common decency demands that NCAA athletes be paid.” These are words from the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Obviously if someone who is well past their college days still thinks college athletes need to be paid, this subject is the real deal. Whether college athletes should be paid or not is one of the most, if not the most, controversial topics in college sports over the last few decades. Especially amongst the athletes of Men’s football and basketball.

In the history of collegiate level sports, college athletics has gained its popularity across the U.S. From swimming, soccer, and football ever since their introduction, college sports have brought in a staggering amount of revenue to their Universities while simultaneously making the school become more popular. For instance, one study estimated that the athletic program at UT had the “highest revenue of any other University at $120,288,370”. Even with this vast amount of money being accumulated, no college athletes are legally paid for their work. According to the NCAA rules, “You are not eligible for participation in a sport if you have ever: Taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport” . With this restriction, college athletes very often have difficulty in paying off their college tuition. These collegiate level athletes have no motivation to stay in school and finish their degrees, and oftentimes cannot

Only 30% of Division 1 basketball players who accepted scholarships will graduate college, and only 40% of football players with scholarships will get a degree. Just how well spent would the money be that college athletes were to receive if over half of these student-athletes do not care enough to graduate college even with scholarships? Schools would spend millions of dollars a year paying these athletes and it is very probable that much of it would be spent irresponsibly. We have seen many examples of college athletes spending money given to them in careless ways in the history of college athletics. Scholarship athletes competing at the collegiate level should not get compensated because they are amateur athletes, many of them are already receiving compensation in the form of scholarships, and paying every college athlete would ultimately be a costly burden to taxpayers and fans.

There has been a major discussion recently if a college athlete should earn money while they are in school. Many people think that College athletes , but it is better for college athletes to paid for many reasons. College athletes should be paid because the NCAA is a billion dollar enterprise. Moreover College players should earn revenue because of how much time and effort they spend trying to get better and help their team win. When athletes do well in a sport they bring a great deal of attention to the school. Student athletes aren’t just regular students, they are people who help generate money and market for schools. Even though student -athletes generates tons of money for the school, none of that money ever trickles down to them.

A college education is the most valuable education that most only dream of, a dream not made reality due to not being financially fit to pay for college. Instead of paying full tuition, students are able to pay for college with an athletic scholarship. Whether it be a full ride or the scholarship paying part of it students can play sports while their studies are being covered. But a scholarship doesn't cover necessities like living, food, and travel expenses, but the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) overlooks the problem that college athletes face everyday. “The governing body of big-time college sports, the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association], is caught in a huge contradiction—trying to reconcile a multibillion-dollar industry while claiming it is really an amateur activity. That it is a huge money making industry is beyond dispute” (Stanley).