Explain Why College Athletes Should Be Paid Essay

Thousands of 18-21 year olds slave away for 60 hours or more every week. They are expected to work tirelessly hard to pass classes but at the same time dedicate most of their time to athletics. College athletes are used to create a billion dollar business, industries rely on them constantly working away and receive little to no compensation. College athletes should be compensated for being the working force behind a multi billion dollar industry and receive little to no payment for their time, while at the same time have to pass college classes.

College athletics have been incredibly profitable businesses for many years. With the advent of televised sporting events, the profit margin has increased exponentially. The Texas Longhorns’ football program alone grosses 104 million dollars annually (forbes.com). So, where is all that money going? Most of it goes right back to the school. The athletes who practice for endless hours and devote their lives to the sports get nothing but the satisfaction of winning. So, should Division One college athletes be paid? Division One athletes should be paid because they generate a significant amount of revenue for the school.

Along with college scholarships being a step to making it into professional sports, it is also many times the only way for some people to earn a college degree. College is very expensive and can many times run young adults into a large debt once out of college. For example, USC can cost up to $25,000 a year to attend. That includes tuition, books, parking, room, and board. At the end of a 4 year term at USC, the total comes out to about $100,000. That $100,000 is excluding other living expenses such as gas, car payment, car insurance, clothing, and general spending money. Not only is that figure contained to USC but can be easily applied to Georgetown, Brigham Young and The University of North Carolina. That’s a very expensive education and not everybody has the luxury of spending that much money. Many people would

There will be college athletes to get paid. The NCAA has voted on the choice to let sixty- five teams from big power conferences, the ACC, Pac 12, Big 10, and SEC, including Notre Dame, would be able to make their own decisions on paying their athletes. “If you’re an athlete, going for zero to three-thousand five hundred dollars is in a lot better,” said Andy Schwarz, an economist who has done work for the plaintiffs in the Ed O’Bannon case. “But, it still misses the point entirely” (Schwarz). Athletes will start to be guaranteed the benefits that they deserve while being paid by these “Top five” divisions and will be able to pay for things like families of the athletes, more money in athletic health care coverage, and to pay for post season

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.

Body 1- First off, these athlete programs basically last year round. The sport programs are a full time job and students spend about 43 hours a week of time and effort it these sports. They could be using this time for something more usefull than a job with no pay. For

Many high school athletes biggest dream is to become one of the men or women they watch every weekend playing the sport they love on television in front of the thousand in the stadium and the millions at home. Usually the only downfall to going to a favorite college teams game, is having to pay for the ticket to get in. Fans may think, “Where does all the money go to?” Because it doesn’t go to the player out on the field who is bringing the fans, TV contracts, and publicity to their games. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) makes an astonishing six billion dollars a year.

Imagine waking up at five thirty in the morning to participate in a team workout and practice scrimmage. Then, following a shower and breakfast, attending five hours of college level classes. And, after classes are completed, returning to the gym for practice for three physically exhausting hours. Then comes the hard part: sitting down to several grueling hours of the mental struggles associated with homework. Once the daily schedule is finally over, going to bed after one a.m. in order to repeat it all over again the next day. This is the life of a college athlete. No time to go hang out with friends. No time to go get a job to help pay off college debt. Many people realize their situations and want to compensate them for all of their

I come from a poor family, so having help and begin to be able to only worry about my studies and training sounds like a dream, which it kinda is. Paying college athletes have some cons, but I believe that all the students should be compensated for the amount of work being put by the athletes. If mistreating the system, students would no longer be paid. Even so, the NCAA doesn't see the use of paying the athletes, “They won’t give up their traditional—and now new—advantages in recruiting” (king). The NCAA won't be paying college athletes any time soon, the industry believes that athletes are already paid enough with their benefits and scholarships. But even with these benefits I truly believe that college athletes should get payment for the long hours spent in training and competing. The NCAA is more than capable of paying the athletes, especially with just part of the $6.2 billions that can be used to pay the

College athletes should be paid because slavery has been abolished in our country. I am comparing the hard work these kids do for no pay to slave labor. Slaves were forced to work against their will and the same thing happens to these athletes. The athletes need money to eat and do laundry but they do not have the time to get a job. School and sports are both full time jobs. Especially a college sport. That is the second highest level of sports in the U.S. They need to put all of their focus on the sport they play. A job would just distract them from their art, and a distraction would be bad. I’m sure their coaches wouldn’t appreciate them working at a place.

Paying college athletes would negate the whole point of a college. Colleges give many citizens across the country a chance to gain an incredible education that will aid them in their life. Colleges accept every person of any age to attend. Sometimes it may be middle aged citizens looking to go to school after waiting years to make a decision, and sometimes it may be a recently graduated teenager out of high school. No matter who it is or where they came from, colleges allow anyone to gain an education that fuels their interests and helps them obtain a job after they graduate. Although most students focus on getting an education, there is a significant amount of students, known as student-athletes, that focus only on playing sports. Through the years, men and women of America have created a controversy surrounding these student-athletes and the colleges they are currently attending. The argument is whether or not colleges should pay their student-athletes for their labors and contributions they give their teams and schools. Citizens of America love college sports.

Student-athletes have highly active training schedules and therefore have no time to get a job and support themselves with a steady income. “While regular students are able to have part-time jobs to help fend for their expenses in school, college players do not get to have this kind of luxury” (Green

With all the college athletes time is going towards their sports and studies they have no time to find a job or work.. Some of these athletes also have to pay for their tuition. This can harm families because no income is coming from paying for college. Student -athletes would love a little pay from the colleges.

Imagine dedicating a lifetime to something that will not return the same heartfelt devotion. Imagine losing all identity in a passion and placing all trust in an individual with no solid assurance that they will assist with making a dream come true. Well, that is the life of many college athletes as they pour all their time and energy into what they do; early days and long nights, signing away their names and faces for only a chance to do what they love as a career. There are those that believe this remarkable sort of allegiance can be bought for little to nothing; a chance the dream or a scholarship but college athletes deserve so much more than this. These men and women are entitled to the assurance that they will never have any lack, that they will be given a chance to generate income and support themselves, and they deserve to have the confidence that no matter what happens, they will be provided for.

Imagine it is 5 o’ clock in the morning. The sun is not yet shining into your dorm window or over the university. Your body is aching in pain, but you have no choice to get out of bed. You have the first round of your two-a-day practices. Despite being physical and mentally exhausted from practice and classes, you walk to the field and start your day. All of this while the rest of campus sleeps in until 5 minutes before class. Practice gets done at 7:45 a.m., and you have class at 8. You do not even get to eat breakfast as you have to run across campus to avoid being late. You get done with classes, and then you have your second round of practice at 3 p.m. After a 3 hour practice, you go back to your dorm. You look at your desk and start your overwhelming amount of homework. As an athlete, you do not have much of an opportunity to get a part-time job and earn some money as a result of time-budgeting. I felt it appropriate to write about college athletes and whether they should get paid for their efforts by the school because me being a student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the Track and Field program, I can directly relate to other student-athletes.