Should College Athletes Be Paid? Essay

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.

If college athletes were to start being paid, many questions would start to surface. The big question that would pop up first is, “What sports get paid?” Statistics show that football and basketball are the major revenue sports that actually make money for their universities, while most other college sports do not. While football brings in on average the most revenue, basketball is close to second. Another question that may be asked is, “How will the money be split?” Like many others, the writer believes that the biggest question lies in which areas of competition would get paid. Famous Fab Five member Jalen Rose states that, “Every student athlete should be paid $2000 a year” (Salvador). However, if you do that, in fairness, would one pay a star football player and a star rowing team member the same amount of money? Or would a woman athlete get paid just as much as a male athlete? If this not the case then it becomes extremely unfair and would just cause controversy. Fairness is important when coming to this, especially the fairness between females and males. There are several different questions that need to be reviewed and that proves why college athletes should not be paid. It would cause absolute chaos and a plethora

Universities would not get financially hurt if they would decide to pay players just a little. The average Division One School profits around $6 million per year only on football and basketball. Universities like University of Florida or University of Michigan have profits of more than $10 million per year on all their

Although athletes would be able to leave college with more than just a degree, they can take other classes to increase knowledge to earn more degrees. Even a little bit of money would be really helpful for these athletes who do so much for their school. It would help them out on their new path. Many athletes expect and believe that they should get paid more than just a fully-funded degree. For the athletes that work 90 hours a week for their time in college, the end of their college years, it may seem as if it was a burn out and can be damaging to the athlete. Paying the student-athletes would help them leave college with a little bit of money to help them out on there new path (“Top 10 Reasons College…”). If they stay in school just a couple more years instead of transferring to the pros, it would help them out in the long run so much because

The issue of pay or no pay goes beyond athletic or academic scholarships. The money would be used for additional pay completely separate from the costs the school covers for the athlete already. Just as professional athletes receive a paycheck for the efforts they put in, so would student-athletes. The NCAA has opposed this idea since it came into existence. All officials of the Association believe that college sports should, “preserve the status of amateur athletics” (Mondello & Beckham, 2002), and

Each year in the United States over 100,000 collegiate student-athletes participate in a variety of different sports and currently they do not receive paychecks for their performances. Many people have asked the question, should college athletes start getting paid? The simple answer to that question is no. The answer is no because the system that is in place now for current athletes is perfect since it gives athletes opportunities, but does not spoil them. There would be many downfalls if the NCAA and universities started to pay their athletes. College athletes would feel as if they are professional athletes and that is exactly what they are not. They are simply playing a sport, whichever one it may be, and that is it. Sports are games

Another concern is that the students would waste their money and would go broke because of poor money decisions like buying flashy clothes, cars, jewelry and investments in untrustworthy companies. One major concern is that the student athletes would stop playing their best and would stop working hard and just play the sport for the money and nothing else. There are also many counter arguments to the things I listed in my essay. After studying this topic for a couple of weeks I have decided that I think it would be fair to pay student athletes in college for all of their hard work and

And if their sports career doesn’t pan out or is derailed by injury, what then? They wont know how or where to start. Sure they have a degree, but no knowledge of what they should have learned when “earning” said degree. Paying athletes could directly take a toll on the money of the university and create a great debate on who gets paid, and how much. Colleges can only collect a certain amount of money and paying athletes would severely deplete this money, especially for those who need it most. It would also take money out of scholarships that would go to the academically centered students. These students are usually counting on large amounts of scholarship money, otherwise it becomes impossible to attend these institutions for the expenses. There needs to be a scholarship balance between money for athletes and non-athletic students. And who decides which teams get more money? Or better yet, which athletes get paid more? Everyone can’t be paid equally; the starting quarter back should not be on the same pay as a substitute that has played one game the entire season.

You were just shown some of the many reasons why college athletes should be paid but opponents of this will say that that if the athletes were paid that it would make lower level colleges more undesirable for the players. But the reality of that is that the lower level colleges are always, and have alway been less desirable for college athletes. They have smaller facilities and less attention. The reason athletes go to lower level schools is because they were denied by the higher level colleges(Wall Street Journal,2016,p.1). Another reason why lower level collages won’t suffer from paying the athletes is the NCAA is a nonprofit so the money made off of sports is supposed to be spent on sports so if that can be enforced they can definitely

A lot of the athletes wouldn’t have the “drive” to get better. A majority of athletes would say to themselves, “I’m already getting paid, so I don’t have to worry about getting better.” Although that statement is not true for everyone, I definitely think it’s true for some. Lastly, probably the most important reason I believe college athletes should not be paid is athletes are already receiving free tuition, housing, and meals for attending school in the first place. Athletes should not be getting paid extra money when they already have the cost of college paid for partially, if not fully. Many other students could use that money instead of paying someone just for playing the sport they

The first reason why college athletes should be paid is because the athletes will be able to support their families earlier in life. The players would be able to afford a decent meal and possibly send money back home. Many of these athletes come from urban, low-class families and often leave school early because of the unimaginable pressure to be the main provider for their family at a young age (Lemmons). As stated earlier, 86% of college athletes come from families which are in poverty (Hayes). The families which gave everything to their kids should be rewarded back, but most of them never are if their children do not make the professional league. People who oppose the idea say that amateur players receiving payment just seems like a complete disaster. The college athletes don’t know how

One of the lucrative activities that many colleges use are their sports. Just as their professional counterpart, crowds of people pay to see their favorite team, or in this case college, go against a rival team. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), reportedly made billions of dollars in revenue off college sports. Though, this aroused a serious issue, as none of the college athletes, the ones who made such a revenue possible, never received any of the profit. As college sports grows ever more popular, should they start paying their athletes? The answer is yes they should for the athletes as they put a lot of work, many of them live in poverty, and colleges makes profit

The main point to why there would be a problem in paying athletes is, it could take away from the competitive edge to sports. (Edelman) Bigger schools would be able to spend more money to get the players they want, and the players would not try as hard because they are being paid. The solution would be just pay a small monthly salary of a few hundred dollars per player that each player receives regardless of the team they play. As well as, it would make the athletes happier because they wouldn't have to stress and worry about money and what they will do for their next meal. The problem has a valid solution that can be effective. “If educational institutions pay their players, the gap between major division one schools and mid-major teams will only widen” (Cassavaugh) This is another problem that can be easily eliminated by just a flat salary that division one and two football and basketball athletes receive. Divisions two could receive a little less because of the revenue gap between the two division, which is very fair. “And yet I believe that the drive to pay college athletes is a grave mistake—not because it misdiagnoses the disease but because it suggests that the only cure is to put the patient out of his misery. It fails, first of all, to recognize the value of sports as a part of education.” (Yankah) This is the only quote that truly supports why college athletes should not be paid. It has no solution, the fact of the matter is these athletes do have a privilege that most don't have. It may fail to recognize what sports actually are. They get to play these sports and money could be addressing it in a wrong manner. However, the United States enjoys money and football. It's America's pastime and how our country and economy operate. There is no difference from an 18 year old signing a semi pro contract in soccer versus a 18 year old in college. The

As Scoop Jackson stated, “There is no system of payment that can be put in place that is fair across the board to all students, al sports, and all schools that participate in college athletics” (1). At this point, people should be viewing colleges and universities that make money off of the backs, performances, and success of major football and men’s basketball programs and the scholarship athletes who play them as a business. College athletics are essentially a business, if a person takes away the university/college “label” associated with college football. College football would essentially turn into the NFL. As for any other college sports, the professional equivalent of that sport comes up as the answer. For example, every college athlete knows that when they sign the letter of intent to accept the scholarship, the school’s would take make the most money off of his or her efforts. It’s not different than a professional athlete signing a contract. Furthermore, people need to realize that college is a business platform. It is a business that will offer athletes the chance to get an education in college and build their image in their respected

It is not worth having to go through all the trouble in order to get paid. Is it really worth spending so much time on the things you have to do to get paid? NO! Plus not all students and families can afford to pay for their tuition. At the end these athletes could end up paying for their own tuition. A problem is that tuition and college expenses would not be deductible because the income level surpasses the IRS eligibility limit (Thelin). Basically if a student were to get a certain amount of money he will be paying for his tuition, room and board , out of state fees (if they’re from out of state) , plus taxes on top of that. At the end, the amount of money he or she is getting paid will end up at the same place, and equal out to the amount