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 ).

Most people don’t know that college athletes are already getting paid in different ways than just direct money. "A student athlete at a major conference school on a full scholarship is likely receiving a package of education, room, board, and coaching/training worth between $50,000 and $125,000 per year depending on their sport and whether they attend public or private university"(Dorfman). These athletes get training and coaching for free that professionals pay $2,000-$3,000 per week for. They also receive free schooling if they received scholarships from the school. They can also have free room which means the athletes don’t have to pay for their houses. The average college student pays $20,000 in tuition that these athletes get

One of the hottest debates in the sports industry is if college athletes should be paid. If you want to pay these athletes, how would the college determine the dollar amount that should be paid? Should the basketball team make more than the football team? Should the the soccer team be paid as well? Cheerleading? Chess team? Should everyone on the team get a salary? What if your college is good at football and your basketball team is awful? Rather than thinking about these questions, the college board is just better off not paying athletes like how they did in the old days. For example, “When the National Collegiate Athletic Association was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1905, the institution was devoted to the belief of not providing a salary to the college-athletes who took participated in the organization. It is based on the belief of amateurism, and it was a remarkable idea” (Meshefejian). However, The continuous growth of NCAA causes a huge amount of revenue to come into colleges and this cause controversy to whether if athletes should be paid for what they do. The opinions on this subject can be grouped into two general categories. Some feel that college athletes should not be paid because education comes first and athletes are already paid in full. Others feel that college athletes should be paid because playing a sport is a full-time job and it would make the sport more competitive. Although some

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

Every morning, millions of people around the world get up and go to their jobs in hopes of a paycheck to support themselves and their families. Full time or part time, where there is work to be done, there are money and benefits to be earned. Collegiate athletes not only work to excel in the classroom but are also expected to train and perform like professional athletes. College athletes participating in the NCAA should get paid because a scholarship does not cover all college athlete expenses, the return on investment received by the college or university is large enough to do so, and with money as motivation, the level of play could significantly improve.

College sports are extremely popular across America and bring in billions of dollars of revenue every year through ticket and merchandise sales. Currently, the National Collegiate Athletics Association, or the NCAA, gains around 11 billion dollars in revenue annually (listland.com). The problem at hand is that the college athletes who are performing on the field to bring in all of this money do not receive any of it, all of the revenue goes to the university and the NCAA. This money then vanishes into growing black holes such as million dollar coach contracts and stadium renovations. The NCAA argues that a full ride scholarship is compensation enough for players, but in reality that is not true and some players are not even on scholarship.

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

Being a college athlete myself, the one question that tends to be asked by most of the

Throughout the years, the United States has been struggling on whether or not college athlete students should be paid. According to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), association that regulates college sports, it is against the law to pay athlete students. Even though they are a lot of lawsuits and complains the law remains the same. Student athletes should not be paid because: it would not be profitable for the universities, athletes should go to college for an educational purpose rather than for a business purpose, and paying them would change the essentials of college sports.

student athletes, should be designed in a way that promotes academic progress as well as graduation.

On the field or court, college athletes look like they have it easy or are “living the high life”, while in reality 86% of college athletes come from families that are not very wealthy. The average college tuition during the 2017-2018 school year was $50,900, and the families that are not very wealthy cannot pay that immense sum of money. Although it may seem like college athletes get paid through a scholarship, the actual scholarship they are receiving is around $11,000, that still leaves $39,900 to still need to be paid by the family. If college athletes were compensated, then they would be able to provide more money towards their tuition.

College entertainment has become more widely known in today’s society. College athletes these days are bigger and stronger than there were in the past. Knowing a former athlete one might say that most people do not realize the pressure and stress college athletes face every day. College athletes, being the size they are today, make a more high risk of injury. They play a great role in university revenues depending on their performance. Sports also play a great role in our economy such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, and the NH which are professional sports that are allowed to receive a set paid salary rate making millions each year, doing the same they did as college athletes. So why not pay them? Many people do not realize the pressure college athletes are under all school year and in the summer. When a player takes on the challenge of committing to the responsibility of being part of a program and representing a university, it becomes is a full-time job. Collegiate athletes have to make sacrifices, good choices, and maintain their promises to their team and to uphold requirements of them in the classroom. Collegiate sports entertainment has been the world’s fastest revenue source in history. College sports are televised on network stations in America. College level sports bring in billions of dollars every year. Although people argue that college athletes should get paid compensation because they lack the time to pursue jobs, they are the source of most of the schools

College athletes are explicitly what their name applies: college students, and athletes. With money involved, the sport turns into a game of fame. Undoubtedly, athletes are worked to death and expected to keep up an ordinary life after leaving the field, track, quart, pool, or rink, but paying athletes turns it into a system about money and not education or athleticism. Without turning the college athletes into rich students, I believe the players need to be getting more than a free education with all of the hard work they are doing. With all of the intense work that these Division 1 athletes are leaving out on the field, and the millions of dollars the department is making per year, on top of their scholarships, the

eves that college athletes are already paid, not with money but with education. College athletes don’t have to worry about student loans, paying for textbooks, the cost of on-campus living, and meal plans, which is a huge advantage. Even though they’re college students that doesn’t mean they will be responsible with their money. Besides there are plenty of of athletes in college that would love to still play the sport they are very much dedicated to, even if they’re not getting paid.

The problem is that many of these students are coming from educationally and financially disadvantaged backgrounds, so when they finally graduate their school, they most likely would not know how to manage their money. So if colleges start paying their athletes it will teach them how to start managing their money for future purposes. Also each of these students want to be known as “One and Done” athletes. So when they go to the professionals they would spend all their money and get bankrupted later on in their life. Which is bad because these athletes were not trained on how to save their money while they were in college, so if we starting paying athletes now, it would teach them to not spend all their money while they got