Should College Athletes Be Paid?

Collegiate sports have turned into a billion dollar industry and are probably just as popular, if not more popular than professional sports. College athletes put their bodies on the line to play a sport they love, many with hopes and dreams to one day make it to the professional leagues. Athletic facilities are the major money makers for all universities. Colleges bring in billions of dollars in revenue annually, yet athletes do not get paid. Some fans believe athletes should not get paid due to their sports level being “amateurish.”; however, this is far from the truth. There is much more to being a college athlete than just practicing and playing games. These student-athletes must practice, weight lift, go to meetings, travel, go to tutoring and study groups, all the while maintaining sufficient grades. This is very tedious work and is very time consuming. College athletes have a high standard to live up to (Frederick Web; Huma Web; Patterson Web ).

In America sports wherever there is people, there will also be sports. Sports have played a major role in American history. To some people sports is all they have. It is just the way that things are. The issue in sports now is that the NCAA exploit the sports world and the very backbone of the corporation is the poorest. It is an issue that has been around for quite some time now. The issue is that the sports world face is the fact that college athletes are not paid, although they perform in a multibillion dollar industry. The NCAA basically has a monopoly on college athletics, and generate about one billion dollars a year. College sports are extremely demanding both in and out of season, and these athletes put their future on the line. The NCAA should be legally obligated to compensate athletes, based solely on the fact that the money made, is from their performance.

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.

What has been a hot topic for several years now is why the NCAA still refuses to pay their student athletes as well as ban them from making any financial income off their names. The amount of time put in to athletics can interfere with performance in the classroom. They are students first and athletes second and the purpose of the scholarship is to get an education while competing in athletics. A highly controversial topic for several is the amount of time put in to athletics can interfere in the classroom while at the same time, they are students first and athletes second NCAA athletes have gone on for several years trying

Over the last decade, the question of whether or not to pay collegiate student-athletes has

College sports players gain so much revenue which, as resulted from the (NCAA) National Collegiate Athletic Association. Due to, this situation rising over the few past decades. Participating colleges have caused such debate in whether college athletes should be compensated.

Playing college sports is a full time job and should be a paying one at that considering how much effort and hard work is put into the game. There has been an ongoing controversy about if college athletes should be paid or not. College athletes should be paid because they put a lot of heart into the game. This passion, that they put into the game, brings in a lot of money for other people yet they can’t see any of the money that they’re making for other people. Some of these athletes have a scholarship to play, but these scholarships don’t cover everything that is needed to survive and thrive in a college atmosphere. Some of these thoughts have surfaced about not paying college athletes because some people deem college sports an amateur playing field. This causes some athletes to take things into their own hands because they are not properly financially taken care of due to the money hungry thoughts of others. Surviving in college is an enormous problem, but it is not as extensive as having lifelong health problems due to playing in college.

Now granted college student athletes usually have scholarships which covers tuition, housing, fees, and course related books. That’s what a lot of people argue about, when someone says “college students should get paid.” College student athletes don’t have time for a job at all. The schedule of an average college student athlete consists of going to classes, practicing for 2-3 hours, going to a mandatory study hall to do homework or study. These athletes spend up to 44.8 per week on their sports (Hartnell) . It's almost nearly impossible for college athletes to even have time to have a good paying job. Colleges should pay their athletes' in some payment, not saying that they should get $1 million but $2500 wouldn't kill anything. People claim that the NCAA couldn't afford to pay college student athletes, but the NCAA is a multi-billion company. Nevertheless college student athletes need some extra pocket change to help them make things meet, and to help college athletes learn to manage their

Over the past few decades college sports has grown in popularity across the United States. But it hasn’t been until recent years that many Americans have started to argue about the big revenues generated by many of the elite sports programs. However the big question that stands out is: should the athletes generating millions of dollars worth of profit a year for their University receive any of the money for their performance? Even though student athletes don’t receive a big paycheck at the end of the month, in one way or the other they do receive rewarding benefits through scholarships and grants because of their ability to be successful on the playing field. Thus, college athletes should not be paid because they are receiving a free education through scholarships and earning countless other benefits for being part of the university’s athletic program.

In 2013, postsecondary universities spent $499 billion dollars (“U.S.News”). A great deal of colleges today in America are in debt for the heavy spending they do to make their university the best place to receive an education. College athletes, who receive a scholarship to represent a college in a sport, go to college for free and obtain many benefits normal college students would not get. Paying college athletes would be unfair to students who go through college with debt up to their neck along with not being able to receive sport scholarships. Paying college athletes would put colleges into more debt as well as would start a crisis across America because college sports performers and students would not be treated as equals. The rising opinion that college athletes should be paid can be stifled by aggressive media campaigns, investigations, and strict enforcement of rules.

At a time when colleges all over the country are having to cut back on educational expenditures, justifying spending additional amounts of money on collegiate sports, as well as the players, has become a very hot pressed topic in which the collegiate athlete is losing out on much of the money generated by their performances either on the field or the court. Because many of these players help bring in money to the university, they believe that a portion of that money should be given back to them. Millions of dollars are made each year in collegiate sports but few of those dollars have been given back to the players, who are the one’s actually playing the sports colleges participate in. Merchandise with players names, video games using a player’s likeness, and all the obligations involving media interviews, as well as maintaining ones grades can cause a collegiate athlete to believe that their efforts are not being rewarded in a monetary sense. Now colleges and universities around the country are rebutting that argument by having all of the college athletes expenses paid for. They believe giving them a free education should be enough. Colleges believe that being a student should trump all other obligations, including sports, so helping a young adult pay for college is something universities hold in high regard. Universities are a place for higher learning, not a place where athletes are supposed to come and make money. Also, many colleges would have a burden paying their

Growing up people loved watching and imitating athletes, wanting to be them, not knowing the struggle it takes to get there. It ponders to say the college athlete who risk life and limb just by going out on the field no matter if an amateur or a professional should get paid or not by colleges. The professionals get paid, why not on the collegiate level? Some feel by the student’s getting paid it will lose what some say is lost in “paid professional sports” today, playing just for the love of the game. Every college athlete should be rewarded with money for sacrificing their time, schedule, schoolwork, and their bodies.

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

Not to mention that practice is a requirement; if somebody misses too many practices, there’s a high chance they will get kicked off the team. The equivalent to a job, someone could say that they are being fired. Along with attempting to be the best at the sport an athlete performs, comes the struggle of maintaining a minimum grade point average to actually play. This means adding another 10-20 hours a week of studying, not to mention the time spent in class. The usual college football team requires a minimum of a 2.0 grade point average. Now, that might not seem like too hard of a challenge, but add in the exhaustion from said sport and the temptation of wanting to have a social life. Another thing to mention is that certain sports require student-athletes to miss class for away games. For example, the NCAA championship required Florida State University (FSU) football players to miss the first day of Spring Classes. When comparing the workload and pay between a coach and a collegiate athlete, the difference is absurd. At the moment, these students are only compensated with free tuition, free room, and free board. In the event that times change and college students begin to earn an hourly minimum wage, the estimated amount of money they would receive is $330 dollars a week, not including the local and federal taxes taken out. Universities refuse to acknowledge the thought of a minimum wage. According to them it is tradition to not pay college athletes

Student athletes should be paid to play for the college level. Athletics is something that takes time and energy, it is a job to them. Sports can be seen as a hobby, but if you do it in a way that it feels like you can make it big, then it should be seen as a job. Athletes spend countless hours outside of studying for school, practicing and making sure everything is perfected. People come from all over the world to watch a beloved school play many different types of sports. Everything must be perfected and to the best of each player’s abilities, these players should be paid for their efforts.