Persuation Paper

With college basketball and football originating in the 1800’s, the game has had much time to adapt. Over the years, the sports have become more and more popular, gaining a bigger fan base, which has resulted in substantial profits from the sale of merchandise representing the teams and players. There is one thing that has not changed; all of the athletes are still not being paid. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, is an organization that regulates most aspects of

On the contrary, there is a reason the NCAA has not passed a law saying athletes should be paid and numerous reasons support this view. In fact “according to NCAA rules, Section 2, Title V reads, ‘It is a violation of the NCAA rules for athletes to accept money or gifts while intending to remain eligible.’” (Way, par. 16) There is a reason for this law and why it has not changed. Individuals

But why should a student athlete be paid in the first place? Their just athletes right? They go to school just like everyone else? What makes them so special? What makes a college athlete different than the average student is the amount of revenue that they help bring to their selected colleges. This type of revenue is made up from ticket sales, merchandise, media rights and contributions. “USA today” reported that the University of Texas generated $167.7 million dollars from their athletic programs, and that’s just one school. With this in mind, imagine just how much money other colleges are making from their athletics. Sure one can make the argument that they should not be paid because they are not professionals, but one can’t ignore the fact that they are bringing in millions of dollars and seeing none of it.

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.

Throughout the years college sports have been about the love of the game, filled with adrenaline moments. However, the following question still remains: Should college athletes get paid to play sports in college? Seemingly, this debate has been endless, yet the questions have gone unanswered. The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) plays a vital role in this debate. The NCAA is a billion dollar industry, but yet sees that the athlete should get paid for their hard work and dedication.

There are many high school basketball phenoms that are scouted by pro teams even when they are in high school. A select few in the past have gone straight to the NBA out of high school and had a lot of success, while some players go to college all four years to develop their skills at the next level. However, there are athletes that will waste one year at the college level just so they could get to the NBA. Why would you waste one year of your life when you could have already been in the NBA a year earlier? Basketball players should either go to college all four years and enhance their skills and get a solid education. If not, skip college and go straight to the NBA, rather than wasting a year of your life, and possibly a classroom seat for a person who wanted to get an education.

Student athletes should not be paid. A misconception is that all athletic programs in the NCAA make head-over-toe profit. There are three divisions of intercollegiate athletics, and frankly division three athletic programs don’t make as much or have a profit when compared to division one programs. “Critics of paying college athletes note that only a small number of them compete in sports or on teams that actually generate revenue”. (Paying College Athletes) The truth is only a fraction of athletic programs are actually profitable, while most pose a cost to the institution. The question arises primarily in division one programs and typically in the sports of basketball and football. The argument is made that these institutions receive millions of dollars from their student athletes’ performance, in return they should be paid.

Whether college athletes should or should not get paid has been a controversial topic throughout the Collegiate Athletic Association for many years now. According to the article “My Priceless Opportunity” by Bill Walton , he believes that NCAA student athletes should not get paid because “the players entering the game know the rules going in and that they have been given a chance to make something of their lives in exchange for the privilege of being a student athlete”. Others like Michael Wilbon, author of “As Colleges’ Greed Grows, So Does the Hypocrisy”, thinks student athletes should get paid due to their hard work and labor. While I respect and admire the diligent task of being both a student and an athlete, I strongly agree with Bill Walton and the many others who support college athletes not being paid.

College athletes, especially division 1 athletes have tremendous talent in whatever sport that they play in college, this is why college coaches recruit them and make sure that they attend their university. There is some speculation as to whether or not a college athlete should be paid while attending any university. The answer is no. College athletes are not professional athletes and this is one of the main points and they should not get paid due to the fact that some are not ready for that privilege and it defeats the purpose of them going to college. College athletes are labeled as student-athletes and the first term in that name is “student”. This is for a specific reason which is that not all college athletes are going to end up playing in a professional league and attending college

One of the most controversial subjects we as individuals hear about this day in age is whether or not college athletes deserve to be paid. Many people argue that these athletes do intact, deserve to be paid for their time and hard work. NCAA athletes create a name for themselves by playing and performing well on their college teams. The better these athletes perform, the more publicity the school revives. This then leads to higher ticket sales and stores around campus selling jerseys and other clothing items with athletes names and numbers on the back. NCAA schools have become comfortable with using athletes’ names to bring in a revenue for the school, and yet the athletes never see any of that money. On the other hand, many people believe that these athletes do not deserve, nor should they expect to receive payment in return. They believe that these scholarships and the education are payment in itself. Some even bring up the question on if it is affordable or even realistic to pay college athletes.

First, some say that college athletes should be paid because of the fact that the schools and the NCAA make billions. In an article from USA Today, it stated: “NCAA made more than $1 billion for the year” (Mama). On the other hand, they should not be paid because tons of the athletes get scholarships, they are rewarded with a free education, and they are technically getting around twenty-thousand dollars a year. First, in an article from Scholorshipstats.com in statistics from 2015 regarding the amount of scholarship money that was given out was nearly 2.2 billion dollars.

College athletes should not be paid. “ They argue that the main purpose of going to college is to get a education, not to make money” (“Should college”...1). College is not a job, it is a place to learn. Also many college athletes receive scholarships to attend that school. “The value of the scholarships athletes receive during four years of college can be well over $250,000” (Weiss et al.1). Therefore, athletes

“In 2013, the average amount of money awarded to NCAA Division 1 athletes was $13,821 for men and $14,660 for women.”(Fantasy Football: College Scholarship Myths Busted). That is thousands of dollars that college athletes don't have to worry about coming up with, that other students without athletic scholarships must earn elsewhere. Despite this, some people think they should get paid more. Further more, the purpose of colleges is to educate, not to entertain. College athletes should not be paid, because if they were that would be the focus of their college experience instead of gaining an education.

Not all players make it in the NBA it is very hard to do it. The NBA draft is a 2 round draft. 60 players are selected in total. 30 per round. Only the first round draft selections, get a guaranteed contract. So only 30 of the 60 selected are guaranteed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_draft). Not every player that enters the draft is selected. The players that enter and aren’t selected can try to play in the D league or try to make a NBA team with a tryout with that team. With no college education the players don’t have much to fall back on like Tiny Gallon. "[Tiny] had a family, and it was a decision to take care of [them]," says Gallon, who played at Oklahoma and was selected 47th overall by the Milwaukee Buck in 2010. "[Tiny] was at Oklahoma for the money. [Tiny] had to take care of [his] family. [Tiny] felt [he] was ready, so [Tiny] came out. Tiny Gallon now plays in the NBA’s developmental league because he struggled to stay in the NBA. (Auerbach and Martin 2) If Tiny got his college degree than he could be working and doing something else other than basketball. Tiny will not be able to get a good job with no college degree. Arizona coach Sean Miller talks about what players think when they stay longer than one year in college."It's taking the players who return for their second and third years to a level of insanity, where you become a failure

Many kids, mostly in high school, dream about becoming professional athletes because they are not required to further their education beyond high school, as being a professional athlete does not require any education. If you are good at your sport then you are in. But there is a low percentage of athletes that actually make it to the pro stage, so most kids fall short