Should College Athletes Be Paid?

College sports are one of the largest and fastest growing markets in today’s culture. With some college sports games attracting more viewers than their professional counterparts, the NCAA is one of the most profiting organizations in America. Recently there has been controversy in the world of college sports as to whether the college athletes that are making their universities and the NCAA money should receive payment while they are playing their respective sport. Many believe that these athletes should be paid. Others argue that they are already receiving numerous benefits for playing that sport from their universities. Many of the proponents of paying college athletes are current or former college athletes who believe their hard work and hours put into practice and competing go under appreciated. They feel that while the athletes are making the university money, the athletes do not receive any cut of these profits. Opponents feel that athletes already receive numerous perks and should not receive extra compensation on top of the perks they already receive.

Many debates, court cases, and articles have been produced the past couple of years debating whether college student-athletes should be paid. I specifically chose this topic because it pertains to me, and I can relate to both sides of the argument. Being a student-athlete at St. Lawrence University, I can attest to how much time athletes put into their sport and all the hard-work put in on a daily basis. On one hand, I see how the student-athlete deems him/herself as a full-time athlete and spend more time practicing and working out for their team than they do in the classroom, which entails them to some sort of compensation. I can also see the other side of the argument, and how the athlete is either getting paid with a scholarship

Since 1906 When Theodore Roosevelt established the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to infose and make rule for intercollegiate sports. The NCAA had made billions of dollars out of college athletic increasing popularity. This has fuelled debates whether college athletes should be compensated beyond their athletic scholarship and how and who would do it.

The NCAA dates back to the early 20th century when president Theodore Roosevelt encouraged reforms to college football practices, which had resulted in a lot of injuries and deaths. Henry MacCracken of New York University arranged meetings about the football rules and regulations. On December 28, 1905 in New York, 62 education institutions became members of the IAAUS (Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States), which is now better known as the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). The NCAA started out as a rule making body. Finally in 1921 the first NCAA championship was born: the National Collegiate Track and Field championship. Later more championships were formed, including the big “March Madness” basketball tournament in 1939.

“From 1992 to 1996 the University of Michigan had a group of five young men known as the “Fab Five”, and their star player was Chris Webber. Throughout all four years they made millions of dollars for their athletic department as well as for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), but while doing so they somehow seemed to be making a large amount of money themselves. The public did not want to believe they could be taking part in gambling as Chris Webber would talk about how he did not have enough money to buy even a Big Mac from the dollar menu at McDonalds, so when the “Fab Five” would show up to practice in their new cars, fancy clothes, and gaudy jewelry, the public would not take notice. Because the public tends to take pity on the poor college athlete struggling to pay for food they instead took his side and agreed college athletes should somehow be reimbursed believing they had done nothing wrong. Eventually the truth came out that Chris Webber and his teammates had received thousands from Ed Martin, a big gambler in Michigan who made thousands, and he was arrested for money laundering. Along with that came speculation that Webber and his teammates had also taken place in “point shaving”, although never proven it was never forgotten. (Torr, 64-65) The NCAAs’ reasons for not paying athletes are as followed, the NCAA feels college athletes are still considered amateurs, athletes number one priority on college should be focusing on his or

How in today’s society is it equitable to have a person perform labor, benefit off of their actions and that person not being compensated? Each year over 400,000 collegiate student-athletes both male and female, compete on 3 different division levels nationwide. During the lifespan of these athletes’ careers a select few become the face of their respective universities, who in turn generate uncountable amounts of revenue. Over the past couple of years the debate of paying college athletes has heated up and has been argued whether paying student-athletes would take the amateurism out of the game. Both ways they are involved and providing illegal services for cash to survive in a financially strapped economy. At what point does the NCAA

Since its inception in 1906, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, commonly known as simply the NCAA, has pondered the burning question of whether student-athletes should be compensated for their play. Currently, the NCAA employs an amateurism policy, an eligibility regulation that all potential Division I athletes must abide by to participate in their respective sports. This set of rules prohibits players from receiving any form of compensation, whether that be as a result of participating in a sport, being awarded prize money, or signing with an agent. Athletes are allowed to accept financial aid administered by the university, but this generally small subsidy for education is accompanied with uncertainty, and is the only form of “payment” they are permitted to collect. However, there is sufficient evidence that college athletes should be paid as compensation for the money they make for the NCAA, the negative effects that sports have on the players ' lives, the benefits that the sports bring to the school, and for the potential profits missed on social media because of NCAA regulations.

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

During the years prior to the year 2017, there has been thousands of controversial topics that the world or United States has had to deal with. Whether the conflict is over a world problem such as Global Warming, or if it is a country conflict such as abortion laws. Many people have to work together in order to find the right solution to what will work best for everybody. The steps that is taken to come up with a solution is the same steps for any controversial topic that comes up. With that being said a big controversy in the United States today is whether or not college athletes should be paid while attending and playing for the University of their

Imagine, if you were in college, and a football player, spending all your time and energy playing football and you are being paid. You work your way up to the NFL tryouts and haven’t been picked . Wouldn’t you be devastated. Now you have nothing else to do. You should’ve focused on something to lean back on in case this would have happened. The article I read was, ‘Should College Athletes be Paid?’. The topic was that people are considering paying college football players. But I don’t beleive that should happen. I chose this considering that anything involving college has always been of interest. Especially on this problem, whether the college’s money should fund a sport.

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.

There is no doubt some of the highest salaries in America belong to professional athletes. Whether it’s LeBron James’s $19.3 million dollar salary with the Cleveland Cavaliers or Matt Ryan’s $42 million dollar deal with the Atlanta Falcons, professional athlete’s salaries prove just how valuable the players are to whatever organization they are a part of. (Forbes.com) In 2014 the average professional football franchise was valued at $1.4 billion and the average professional basketball franchise was valued at $1.1 billion so it’s no wonder why athletes can be paid such high sums of money.(Forbes.com) Besides professional sports American’s love college athletics, college football in particular. Drawing in an average of 44,997 fans per game

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.

All Division 1 athletes put their heart and soul into the sport that they work so hard for day after day, week after week, month after month. For many years, athletes’ passion and hard work for the game that they play has gotten them an opportunity to attend a university where they are able to showcase their talent and ability at one of the highest amateur levels of athletics. When one makes it to the Division 1 level, playing sports is more or less a business. The job that one has as a student athlete is to play sports and make a profit for the college he or she attends. In the past years, there has been one controversial question that lingers in the minds of athletes, sports analysts and fans across the nation. Should Division 1 athletes be paid to participate? Division 1 student athletes should not receive payment or a salary for competing in college athletics.

Funding is also said to impact the particular athletes that agree to attend the university. As many athletes attending universities seek scholarship, because of the rising cost of tuition. For UC Irvine Track and Field, scholarships are stretched in an attempt to assist as many athletes the head coach feels should receive. The splitting of funding allows more athletes receive help. During Coach Carter’s years on the track team, she remembered only 1 of the 70+ athletes was given a full ride. According to the coaches, there was a time when the athletes had to purchase their own running shoes and sponsored gear, where many other programs are provide this.