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Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay

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Introduction: Throughout the existence of the NCAA and the realm of intercollegiate competition, one of the largest topics of debate has been the idea to compensate athletes based on athletic performance above any scholarships awarded. Mark Emmert, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, has previously said “We can never move to a place where we are paying players to play sports for us” (Garcia, 2010, para.9). This statement by Emmert has again sparked several conversations concerning the specifics of what defines amateurism and the exploitation of our young student athletes. The awarding of a salary to athletes is both heavily supported and strongly opposed by players, spectators, coaches, and collegiate …show more content…

They view participation in sport as an aspect that goes along with one’s studies. This mindset is symbolic of collegiate authorities from the late 19th century who strongly worked towards maintaining the academic integrity of the institution that they were a part of. One of the things that makes this topic so special is the fact that millions of dollars are made every second off of collegiate competitions and days continue to pass where a solution is not found to make this fair for everyone. Years started to pass and the amount of money that colleges were charging for students began to gradually increase. Athletes were soon awarded incentives such as free room, board, and tuition. It wasn’t until the Sanity Code was adopted that universities were able to provide their athletes with a form of compensation. This was done in the form of athletic scholarships, which started to guide the use of the term amateurism. Athletes would essentially have their academics paid for on a scholarship similar to those awarded to students with outstanding academic achievements. However, even though athletes were awarded scholarships as amateurs, there were many things that an athlete was not able to receive while in college. They were unable to receive any money from businesses or corporations for endorsement deals, and were also ineligible to receive any payment in addition to scholarships for working at private athletic camps in their sport. The NCAA and specifically the

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