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Should College Athletes Be Paid

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Samuel Wingert Professor Grimm ENG100G Midterm Research Paper 18 October 2012 Collegiate Level “Pay to play? That’s the question being fiercely debated on campuses and across the college conferences. And it’s shocking to see the level of support the answer “yes” is getting—because the idea tears at the very nature of amateur college sports” (Should). There are views from both sides as this is quite the controversial subject in the sporting world. Looking at the facts, it is difficult to decide either way. First off, we must decide what qualifies under the pay to play category. There are numerous ways that college athletes can be compensated for their time dedicated to the sport. They consist of scholarships, free tuition, …show more content…

To be fair to the whole university, you would think that they should pay all varsity sports teams. “Let’s be real here; men’s football and basketball teams are usually the programs that make the most money for universities, so if football players and basketball players got paid, does that mean that the men’s lacrosse and baseball players would get paid too?” (Pros and Cons). What happens when college athletes decide to make themselves eligible for the professional league before they graduate? This could cause a wrinkle in the system if you create a contract. Will it be able to broken or does the athlete have to stay all four years? The big factor that all athletes fear is the risk of injury. Some feel that players should have some sort of compensation while injured. Is it worth the college spending money on an athlete who may not play up to his ability since becoming hurt? A Nebraska state senator who is a longtime supporter of providing stipends to college athletes submitted a bill in 2003 to allow players of Nebraska’s football team to be paid. He stated that they are unpaid workers who just aren’t amateurs. They call it a scholarship but he wanted to see the athletes to have some spendable money. An Oklahoma university football player said that he plays for one of the top football schools in the country and is struggling to get groceries every month.

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