Essay Why Student Athletes Should Be Paid

College athletes are undoubtedly some of the hardest working people in the world. Not only are they living the life of an average student, they also have a strenuous schedule with their specific sport. One of the most discussed topics in the world of college athletics is whether or not student-athletes should be paid money for playing sports. The people who disagree with the idea have some good arguments to make. Primarily that the athletes get to go to school for free for playing sports. Another argument is that if student-athletes were to get paid then it would ruin the amateurism of college sports. People who are against paying the athletes do not want to see the young people become focused on money. “Paying student-athletes

The NCAA has been around and evolved since the beginning of college sports. This organization is a non-profitable organization, but ironically makes more than millions of profit per year. Branch states “that money comes from a combination of ticket sales, concession sales, merchandise, licensing fees, and other sources—but the great bulk of it comes from television contract”(pg. 228). Meanwhile, the student-athletes do not receive any of this money. This is the start of an unsubstantial business between universities built around amateurism.

When people hear of college athletics, all they think of is a game. Most people do not realize that there is a million dollar industry going on around these athletes. Eric He, a sports fanatic who writes for the Daily Trojan, states, “The NCAA is a nonprofit, tax exempt organization that just happens to be a billion-dollar industry, raking in $740 million per year from March Madness alone” (par. 7). When the NCAA is generating that much money, how can it not go to the players? It is not the

NCAA, short for National Collegiate Athletic Association, is a “non-profit” organization which over watch all the athletic related activities on college level. In the early 20th century, President Roosevelt created NCAA because he wanted to insured college athletes from injuries and even deaths. Despite the original purpose of the NCAA is not about money, it has become one of the most lucrative companies in the USA. According to Taylor Branch, “big-time college sports are fully commercialized. Billions of dollars flow through them each year. The NCAA makes money, and enables universities and corporations to make money, from the unpaid labor of young athletes” (Branch). Besides the tremendous fortune these college athletes made for the NCAA, it is also a vital source for university entertainment, enrollment, and money. Although these athletes generate great fortune and put up great shows for society, they do not receive proper pay back. To balance the current unfair compensation system to the athletes, in addition to free tuition, college athletes should be treated as workers in a business market system and paid depending on their own performance.

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

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 NCAA was founded in 1906 and in its own words their duty was “To protect young people from the dangerous and exploitive athletics practices of the time,” but today the NCAA helps foster an environment that thrives off of doing exactly what they sought to stop. Today college athletes have their likeness used by the NCAA and the schools they attend for profit but do not receive any of the money they help to bring in. The NCAA also uses outdated rules that no longer help college athletes but instead harm them. One of the most glaring and criticized rules is that college athletes are amateurs and therefore must not benefit monetarily off of their talents and fame.

College sports are extremely popular across America and bring in billions of dollars of revenue every year through ticket and merchandise sales. Currently, the National Collegiate Athletics Association, or the NCAA, gains around 11 billion dollars in revenue annually (listland.com). The problem at hand is that the college athletes who are performing on the field to bring in all of this money do not receive any of it, all of the revenue goes to the university and the NCAA. This money then vanishes into growing black holes such as million dollar coach contracts and stadium renovations. The NCAA argues that a full ride scholarship is compensation enough for players, but in reality that is not true and some players are not even on scholarship.

With the passing of another academic year, fans were able to enjoy yet another nail-biting NCAA Basketball Tournament and a highlight filled football season. Most would agree that the NCAA provides competitive sport as popular as the professionals. In fact, its annual revenue makes that point clear. College football and basketball generate more than the National Basketball Association, a total of more than $6 billion yearly.[1] There is one major difference between the two associations, however. NBA players get paid for the revenue they help bring in, while NCAA athletes receive no monetary compensation. The promise of a free education is not enough anymore if the NCAA wants to act as a money making business, and not reward those who help make it profitable. If the NCAA does not want to pay college athletes, than it should not hold these players back from entering the professional game. However, colluding with the NBA and the NFL, athletes are restricted when it comes to joining the pro ranks. With these two ideas combined, athletes are drawn to the college game out of necessity, and not always desire. Some writers, like Stanley Eitzen, have even compared the system to indentured servitude or a “plantation system.”[2] Concerning the revenue sports of men’s basketball and football, the players should be entitled to some monetary compensation for their work, as well as the right to enter the professional leagues at an age that suits their abilities.

Now they can get paid off of their performance, so they will go 110% in everything they will which will make sports better. These athletes deserve money for not only themselves, but their families if they do all that hard work and earn the NCAA billions of dollars they deserve a paycheck. Studies feel that paying these athletes will raise performance. Athletes should also get paid to show them how to control and manage their money. These arguments all have the same goal which is to get the athletes

The typical Division I college football player devotes 43.3 hours per week to his sport -- 3.3 more hours than the typical American work week (Forbes). Since their dedication to their sport takes up so much time along with their academic responsibilities, the student-athletes are left unable to get part time jobs like other students to pay for simple things such as; gas, food, and clothes. If the NCAA refuses to pay their student-athletes as employees; then they should be allowed to be endorsed, make profit from autographs, and other events likewise to cover basic living costs. The way the rules are set up only students-athletes that come from wealthier families are able to live in the standards set up by the

College athletes are financially exploited by the NCAA and universities by not being properly rewarded for their services. In the area of college athletics, exploitation should be defined as, “an individual gaining something by taking an unfair advantage of another individual” (Miller). Exploitation in college athletics is especially problematic because student-athletes are not being justly compensated for their services to their school nor are they receiving a true education. Players are compensated for playing with much less than what they are worth because of strict NCAA rules that are in place to protect athletes “from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises” (NCAA). The NCAA protects it’s athletes through its core value of amateurism, which refers to the fact the athletes, “do not receive remuneration for their athletic services” (Miller). The organization is hiding behind their claim of player amateurism to escape the demand for player payment. Although it is a non-profit organization, the NCAA, “has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry where many of the schools’ annual revenues reach above $260 million” (Miller). Universities and athletic departments, “have gained huge gate receipts, television revenues, national visibility, donors to university programs, and more as a result of the performances of gifted basketball and football players” (Rheenen). When there is a surplus, none of it goes to increasing scholarships, it is used to pay for

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the governing body for college athletics. They currently oversee twenty-three sports in over 1,200 institutions encompassing more than 460,000 student athletes (NCAA About Us, 2015). Revenues are at an all time high nearly topping $1 billion in 2014 with a record setting surplus after expenses of $80.5 million (Berkowitz, 2015). And yet, the athletes who play the sports that generate that income see none of those dollars despite the sales of broadcast contracts, jerseys, posters, and almost any other type of merchandise you can imagine with player names and numbers on them.

Athletes simply can’t fit a part time job around their hectic schedule of attending their sports training and practices while also keeping up with their classes and school work. This inability to hold a job leaves many college athletes in a murky situation. They don’t have time to hold a job and generate spending money for themselves, schools aren’t allowed to provide them much beyond the essentials of a scholarship--such as books, food, and room/board, and they aren’t allowed to sign endorsement deals or profit off of their own likeness in any manner. The NCAA is holding college athletes in a state of financial purgatory. To exemplify this point, Bill Plaschke, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, writes

The term “student-athlete,” coined by Walter Byers and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, has been frequently mentioned and used in intense arguments between the NCAA and former and current students (Nocera, 1). Today’s student-athletes are expected to be students first and athletes second, but when these athletes are forced to undergo countless hours of preparation for the big lights on Saturday in order to retain their scholarships, they often must ignore their studies. These athletes do not have the time to maintain jobs and make money because of their stressful schedules. The NCAA, an organization that the federal government qualifies as non-profit, makes nearly $1 billion a year and gives absolutely none of that money to the true makers of revenue, the athletes (primarily those in Division I football and men’s basketball). The only compensation that athletes receive for their work is scholarship money, which may be deemed priceless for one’s future but is really only worth $25,000 a year. Universities, television networks, and the NCAA are ignoring that college athletics is a real business (Jackson, 1). The educational benefits do not provide these athletes with food for their tables, money for their families, or even beds to sleep in. Student-athletes are commonly forced to take benefits from alumni, fans who have money, and their own coaches, despite it being an NCAA violation. Because college sports serve as one of America’s most profitable