Summary: College Athletes Should Be Paid

College athletes should receive some sort of payment for playing for their college. Many people believe that college athletes should be paid financially, because they are considered to be taken advantage of by the NCAA and most other school systems, because they should receive pay. Most college athletes are the main reason for huge profits from many merchandise sales; live events such as the game itself, and media and live coverage also provide sales increases. Differently from the professional sports, the athletes don’t get any type of cut. College teams may not have the same national expectations as the professional ones, but they are just as important, if not, even more important than professional athletes. Millions of dollars of merchandise,

Griffin, Geoff,  Should College Athletes Be Paid? Greenhaven Press. Farmington Hills, MI:    2008. Charles H. Hammer, Walter Byers. Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes.

Have you ever thought to realize that collegiate athletes are actually employees of the NCAA? On average, a Division I college football player works about 43.3 hours a week either on studies, in class, or during football, which is 3.3 hours more than the average working American. It is no question that collegiate student athletes have a difficult task to handle between playing a sport and keeping their grades up for eligibility. The definition of an employee is “An individual who works part-time or full-time under a contract of employment” (BusinessDictionary.com). Collegiate athletes are hired, or “given scholarships”, by schools to work and play for them to bring in money, so shouldn’t they be considered an employee? Employees earn wages for their work and student-athletes should too.

With eleven billion dollars’ worth of revenue, that is billion with a b, NCAA athletes struggle everyday with major issues such as finding time to study or even just having enough money to eat. Collegiate athletics are a full-time job themselves. While many people believe collegian athletes get paid through scholarships and education, the fact is these sports participants deserve monetary rewards for their efforts because their dedication brings in big revenue for the schools they play for.

Wall Street Journal asks “Should college athletes be paid?”. The question colleges are arguing about. College athletes that don’t have a scholarship should be paid because they are doing work without a reward. If they don’t want to pay them, pay their college and it will be better. About half of college athletes don’t get any financial aid. Why are they doing work without any reward? College athletes are being paid illegally. Most americans can’t afford college and drop out because of the cost. ESPN said “The United States finished last (46 percent) for the percentage of students who completed college once they started it” (ESPN). It all started 43 years ago when the first scholarship limitation was put.

Some say college student-athletes should not be paid argue that they receive scholarships as a form of payment for their talents. (4) Others might say that being a college student-athlete is a full-time job, bouncing between the weight room, the court/field, classes, and film sessions. (4) Some of these extracurricular activities cause the students to miss class, and make millions of dollars for the league. (4) Since some of these student-athletes are making money for a place, missing school while doing it, they should surely make something off of

NCAA would be allowed to use these players names in video games and on jerseys

College athletes should not be paid to participate in sports at the collegiate level because it is a choice, they receive some form of scholarship, and it would cost more money. To begin with, one article suggests that the student has the choice to play sports. All colleges offer a variety of different majors and minors to choose from. College is not just about sports, it is also about getting your education, whether you take it seriously or not (Let’s Not Pay College Athletes, Chudacoff). Furthermore, Smith states that college athletes receive some form of scholarship. On top of having their tuition paid for, they also receive benefits, like room and boarding fees waived and their textbooks paid for. These athletes get to enjoy going to college

In this society, many people get paid for services rendered who normally would not receive pay. One of the great debates has been whether or not college athletes should be paid. Some feel college athletes should be paid and others believe they should not. College athletes should not be compensated because many athletes already receive scholarships to attend college; they receive goods and services that money would otherwise purchase, and non-athletes who are learning professions at the same university are not paid.

There has been much debate about whether or not collegiate level athletes should be paid for the work they put in for their team. These student-athletes are the major reason why colleges acquire the millions of dollars of revenue that they do. The names and faces of the more popular players in college sports are used for advertising quite often, so others believe that companies who use this method of advertising should share the profit they obtain with the player. Many do not realize the issues that could spawn from compensating athletes this young. Also, sports players are already being paid in scholarships.

Picture yourself in a scenario where you, a college athlete playing your favorite sport, score the game winning points in the championship in front of thousands of fans in the stands and millions more watching at home. You’re the hero of the night and you are loved and adored by everyone. You go back to college the next day with little to no food and barely enough money for your basic needs. Division I athletes should be paid for playing college sports. Division I athletes should be compensated for playing sports because they are no longer amateurs in their sport, they are generating billions of dollars in revenue for their college and the NCAA organization, and they are being used for branding and advertisement.

Every year at the beginning of the college football and basketball seasons the same intense debate comes up: should student athletes be compensated for their work. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently estimated that college athletics is a $10-billion marketplace (Suggs). That is $500-million more than Major League Baseball (MLB) (Brown), and $2-billion shy of the National Football League (NFL) (Belzer). It’s quite obvious college sports are making money. However, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules, “You are not eligible for participation in a sport if you have ever: taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport” (NCAA Regulations). While college sports, particularly football, have brought in huge amounts of

Joe Johnson attends the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). He is a straight A student and dedicated football player who earned a scholarship because of those virtues. Last year, he averaged 171 passing yards, 42 touchdowns, and helped his team win the championship game. If asked, his teachers and coach will have nothing but great things to say. After practice, Joe goes home to a two bedroom apartment where he lives with his single mother and two younger brothers. Hungry from practice, he sits down to eat the meals that his mother so lovingly prepares for her children but struggles to make because of the lack of income. College athletes like Joe should be compensated because legally college players cannot make money from their

     The typical high school/college athlete is distracted by all the glitter of things and money that schools are offering to the athlete rather than being consured about the education the schools can offer. Let’s say an athlete named Edward Thomas is rated number one in the nation in high school basketball. He has every big time college (university) wanting him badly, even a couple of NBA scouts are checking him out. Thomas even has a couple of highlights on Sports Center already. Now he has it in his head he can go straight to the league in the pros and get paid and finish school later. Thomas thinks that he can go to college for two years to develop better skills, and then he would stack up his paper by playing the pros, making $100,000 a year without a college degree.

I would find it a bit too drastic to resemble the structural hierarchy of the NCAA with slavery.