Student Athletes Should Not Be Paid

Actions towards paying athletes are being taken and according to the TCU Daily Skiff, “There’s a legislation being passed around in the Big 12 states to provide athletes with an extra stipend in addition to their all-expenses paid education. The idea is that these students are producing truckloads of revenue for the university and should see some of the fruits of their labor.” (Jennings, par. 2) Because athletes aren’t paid for producing such money, supporters feel some of the money made should go towards helping with extra expenses. An average student athlete has to pay for phone bills, transportation, entertainment, laundry, toiletries and other things. While the typical college student has the opportunity to work, athletes don’t. Some students in college receive academic full ride scholarships, which are the same as athletic full rides, but they have time to earn extra money on the side. If these students are receiving a full ride scholarship and have the opportunity to work then an athlete should be paid a compensation for his or her efforts on the playing field.

Joe Posnanski, a sports journalist and former columnist for Sports Illustrated, weighed in on the controversial issue of college athletes receiving money as a service of their play. “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid” published 2011 from the Norton Sampler starts off by introducing one of his main arguments that “College athletics are not about the players” (Posnanski 585) but instead are about the alumni and the colleges themselves that people support. If player on a team left and made their own team would that colleges alumni now support their semi-pro team, no chance. College Supporters love the youthful feeling and the how close they feel too it. He shows how big time college athletes do get paid in tuition, room and board, food,

Division 1 and Division 2 colleges provide over 2.9 billion dollars a year in scholarships to student athletes. Student athletes should not be compensated for participating in college sports. College athletes can receive full ride scholarships for playing their sport of choice. Is the 40,000 dollars they are receiving in scholarships not compensation; thus prompting the question is the top tier education they are being provided with, not compensation enough? Most of the thousands of students that participate in college sports compete for the love of the game, not for a paycheck. Furthermore, college athletes understand that they may not compete at the pro level, in fact, only 2 % of college athletes go on to play professionally. The main part of the term student-athletes is student. Students do not go to college expecting a check at the end of every month or to land a spot in the first round of the draft, instead the purpose is to receive an education. All things considered, student athletes should not receive compensation for playing sports in college because it would be almost financially impossible, some are already provided with money from scholarships , and finally they are being provided with an excellent higher education.

Many student-athletes can have their whole career, their passion, and love of their respected sport taken away from them with just 1 play. The student-athletes are representing their respective school and making the school more popular and more students will want to enroll there and the student-athletes are making the NCAA millions of dollars, but the NCAA will not give the student-athletes just a little allowance because it will “ruin the integrity of college sports”. Student athletes-athletes should get paid because students could get hurt in one play, the NCAA makes millions of dollars on the the players, and it will make the players do smarter things with their money.

We often forget that playing a sport is not the only way to earn a scholarship. Many students are accepted for exceptional grades, involvement in the band, clubs, or being well rounded. Most of these students just have to study to keep their scholarship, while the athletes have to work hard and be a student. In a competitive market, “workers” are paid according to the value of the output they produce (Heath). It does not seem right that the college journalist can sell their piece to a paper for extra cash, or the local band can play for a few dollars at the bar Saturday night, or the biology major that takes an internship at the school lab can be profitable yet college athletes cannot. Under the NCAA they are not allowed to make any money of their skill. Any college student should be able to endorse products (Wilbon). This is why the idea of going to school for free should not be an argument against paying athletes, because that is not the case and they have earned it.

Furthermore, where should the money come from? Is it the responsibility of the school to pay these athletes or the NCAA? Other questions include how much should students-athletes be paid, how often, will it work in a similar way that professional contracts work, etc.? All these questions reveal how difficult it would be to change the college athletic system to compensate college athletes. Regardless of what number of individuals feels that athletes ought not to be paid for their ability, there is pretty much the same number of individuals whom feel they ought to. There are numerous reasons why individuals think a student athlete ought to be adjusted. Some of those reasons incorporate; individuals feel that frequently the college utilizes these athletes as boards for their school. Additionally, the universities are "offering the athletes' names and achievements for the schools own acknowledgment. “Athletic organizations are utilizing college athletes to offer their items, along these lines the athletes ought to see a portion of the money that is earned. It has even been demonstrated that promoting through understudy athletes extraordinarily impacts more youthful

$9,139 is the average cost of college for a student to go attend an in-state four year public university (“College Costs”). This amount does not include housing, food, books, or supplies; this can end up totaling near $10,000, but imagine if both of these figures were paid for you. This would mean you would pay nothing to attend a four year college, and this is the reality for many individuals today; these people are commonly known as student-athletes. Many student-athletes receive full scholarships to schools covering their room, board, tuition, books and any other expenses they may incur because they are playing a sport at the institution. Not to mention many of these individuals will receive stipends to use at their own will. However, these same students feel like these benefits are not enough (“Here’s”). Some students feel like they are being cheated out of their talents because NCAA uses them in media and in other profitable ventures but they are not paid. Others just feel that the role of a college athlete should include receiving payment since they are like professional athletes and see their sport as their only profession. Student- athletes may have a similar role to professional athletes, but do not deserve the same compensation because they are receiving their payment through a school scholarship.

When the NCAA was established in March of 1904, both players as well as coaches were not allowed to be paid. Now many years later, once volunteer coaches, are now worth millions dollars and college athletes make nothing. The athletes who bring the most revenue to school, will see none of it because of the strict rules put in place by the NCAA. There are many arguments against paying college athletes such as; there is not enough money or scholarship is enough, but if wanted a way could be found to pay these athletes. The ‘students’ are forced to miss classes for games and practices, which could hurt their grades and may lead to failing the class. Most of the student athletes would

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

The NCAA does not allow athletes to make any type of money. For example, Donald De La Haye, was a kicker for UCF who was ruled ineligible for making money off YouTube. The NCAA may want to pay every single athlete, but that is not possible considering the amount of college students play sports. The NCAA is a $11 Billion Industry that makes money off of these players by having televised games that NCAA would make money. This is especially emphasized during March Madness or the College Football Playoffs. Fans will also come to see the games which the money made with seating will go to the NCAA. Coaches get paid millions of dollars per year while players receive nothing for putting their bodies on the line. For example, Mike Krzyzewski, who is the basketball coach for Duke University, is being paid $7.2 million per year. Being a college athlete is like a full time job. Each athlete trains and practices trying to get to the professionals and make a living. Some athletes don’t really pay attention in class where they could be learning valuable

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.

The argument that college athletes should be compensated is invalid in that colleges currently award their athletes through a variety of ways. In return for their athletic ability, colleges give full and partial scholarships to the student athletes. “Athletic scholarships enable many students to attend college who would otherwise be excluded by economic factors” (Gerstein 51). So, athletes who lack the competence to attend college would scrape by acceptance with their physical ability. And, athletes that would otherwise be unable to receive benefits would then be awarded with scholarships that very intelligent students would miss out on. Such an privilege should be taken seriously by any athlete no matter what the expense. Unfortunately, many still feel a sense of entitlement to money and perks while in college.

Another argument in the case for college athletes to be paid would be that the scholarships that are offered to athletes aren’t enough to cover the lost wages they would gain from working a job. Even though some athletes are offered full ride scholarships to great universities, they aren’t enough to pay their rent and other bills that they have. With athletes committing so much time for sports they do not have the time to get a job and pay for their bills and other things they need. This puts more strain on the athletes and can cause them to drop out of their respective sports and when that happens they ultimately lose their scholarships. College athletics are more demanding than a full-time job should pay their athletes for their services provided to the university they play for. The wages lost by athletes at universities are even greater than those working typical eight-hour days. Since athletes, football in particular, commit an immense amount of time to their sports they could be obtaining a wage far greater than the amount of the scholarship they obtained for attending and participating in sports at a university. Another point to be made would be that only a small portion of the people associated with college athletics receive full scholarships. This means that not only are athletes committing so much time and effort for sports, they must pay out of pocket for the portion that their respective

College athletes are finally getting attention on the fact that they are not paid. I believe that whether or not it is college or pro sports they deserve a salary. These players put their heart and soul on the field and get nothing in return. In the articles “Athletes New Day” by Paul Marx and “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid” by Warren Hartenstine, the reasons for college athletes to be paid are very evident. No matter the case, if the students move on to pro sports or not after college, they should be entitled to some pay for their contributions. College athletes deserve to be compensated for their playtime in these sports, sales of products with their name on it, and even compensation for their injuries.

Division 1 and Division 2 colleges provide over 2.9 billion dollars a year in scholarships to student athletes. Student athletes should not be compensated for participating in college sports. College athletes can receive full ride scholarships for playing their sport of choice. Is the 40,000 dollars they are receiving in scholarships not compensation; thus prompting the question is the top tier education they are being provided with, not compensation enough? Most of the thousands of students that participate in college sports compete for the love of the game, not for a paycheck. Furthermore, college athletes understand that they may not compete at the pro level, in fact, only 2 % of college athletes go on to play professionally. The main part of the term student-athletes is student. Students do not go to college expecting a check at the end of every month or to land a spot in the first round of the draft, instead the purpose is to receive an education. All things considered, student athletes should not receive compensation for playing sports in college because it would be almost financially impossible, some are already provided with money from scholarships , and finally they are being provided with an excellent higher education.