Athletes Should Be Getting Paid for Playing in College

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) makes roughly $1 billion in income annually and the athletes do not receive any of it. This topic has been debated for many years and is still being debated. The debate dates back to the 1980s and now athletes are demanding that they deserve to be paid since profits are made off of them. Some athletes such as former and current basketball and football players came together with lawsuits to federal courts asking for rewards from profits NCAA makes gets of them. Research has opened several different opinions on this matter. There are many pros and cons for paying college athletes. College sports provide a huge source of the university’s income. The athletes, however, receive their scholarship

In the recent past, college athletics has gained massive fame in the United States. The immense fame of the college athletics has developed over the past twenty years. The massive development and fame of the college athletics have resulted in improved incomes for the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Due to increased revenue received by the NCAA, the participates in athletics in the colleges has fuelled the argument of whether the college athletes need to be paid and rewarded more than just the athletic scholarships. In this research paper, I will take a stab at to respond the question whether they should be paid by delving the explanations for and against the payment of the college athletes (Adams and Becky 108).

College sports is a multi-billion dollar industry. Each year thousands of high school students are recruited to play college sports, but under strict conditions. Students are required to do well in athletics while keeping up with their academics. College athletes spend up to forty five hours per week on practices, training, and games. In addition, they spend roughly forty hours on their academics. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) does not think it is necessary to pay these athletes because they want to maintain the “amateur sport” status. According to Stanley Eitzen in his “College Athletes should be Paid, “The universities and the NCAA claim their athletes in big-time sports programs

Now, paying these athletes doesn’t have to be for everyone. Only the high caliber, D1 athletes. The D1 athletes put in all this time and effort to get a scholarship, but don’t see any money. Now that’s not right. These D1 caliber players don’t come around all the time. There are not many of them. Plus the schools that do have these players are super rich. “These teams not only provide their supporters with a steady source of entertainment, but their performance also helps bring notoriety and pride to the universities they represent. College athletics, especially the so-called "revenue sports" of men 's basketball and football, is now a multi-million dollar business that is marketed, packaged, and sold in the same manner as other commercial products” (Acain).

Whether or not student-athletes should be paid has been a hotly debated topic since the 1900s. College athletes spend just as much time, if not more time, practicing and devoting time and energy to sports as they do academics. For this, many athletes are rewarded with scholarship money. However, many people believe it is not enough. Should we pay student-athletes a slice of the wealth or is a full-ride scholarship enough? (Business Insider). What if the athlete gets injured? Where does the money come out of to support each athlete’s salary? The huge amount of money being generated from college sports has led some people to think that the athletes are entitled to some of that revenue. While, some think that student-athletes should be paid, others disagree for various reasons.

College athletics are becoming more like the professional leagues except for one big issue, money. Student athletes bring in a vast amount of revenue for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) not to mention recognition and notoriety regarding the athlete’s university. However, the debate continues as to whether student athletes should or should not receive payment for playing college sports.

Some college athletic departments are as wealthy as professional sports teams. The NCAA has an average annual revenue of $10.6 billion dollars. College athletes should be paid because of the amount of revenue that they bring to their college. Each individual college should pay its athletes based on how much revenue they bring to the college in which they attend. The colleges that win their Division title, their Conference title, or the National championship, give bonuses to the Head coach of that team. If colleges have enough money to give bonuses to coaches, that means they have money that is left over for the athlete who gives them recognition to pay them. College athletes should be paid based solely upon the performance and success that they have.

College athletes spend numerous hours every week playing games during their season and working to strengthen their athletic abilities. With long hours of practice, exercising, and games, it can make managing school work and their sport difficult to handle. According to Rodney K. Smith, author of “A Brief History of the National Collegiate Athletic Association 's Role in Regulating Intercollegiate Athletics” in the Marquette Sports Law Review, “In 1905 alone, there were over eighteen deaths and one hundred major injuries in intercollegiate football (Vol 11:9).” With a history of an abundant amount of players getting injured while playing, the discussion of paying college athletes was debated between different colleges. The issue of whether or not to pay college athletes was recently brought to attention in the public eye. In 2013, Johnny Manziel held up his Heisman trophy on the cover of Time Magazine and stated, “It’s time to pay college athletes” (ESPN).

One of the most controversial subjects we as individuals hear about this day in age is whether or not college athletes deserve to be paid. Many people argue that these athletes do intact, deserve to be paid for their time and hard work. NCAA athletes create a name for themselves by playing and performing well on their college teams. The better these athletes perform, the more publicity the school revives. This then leads to higher ticket sales and stores around campus selling jerseys and other clothing items with athletes names and numbers on the back. NCAA schools have become comfortable with using athletes’ names to bring in a revenue for the school, and yet the athletes never see any of that money. On the other hand, many people believe that these athletes do not deserve, nor should they expect to receive payment in return. They believe that these scholarships and the education are payment in itself. Some even bring up the question on if it is affordable or even realistic to pay college athletes.

With another academic school year passing by, college football fans were able to join another out the seat nail-biting highlighted NCAA football season. Majority of the people would agree that college football is just as competitive and popular as the NFL. The annual revenue of the top 25 college football teams can reflect that assumption by grossing over 1.2 billion dollars alone. There is one major difference between the two associations which is NFL players are paid off the money they help bring in and college student athletes are not. Providing scholarships to the athletes isn’t enough anymore if the NCAA Football wants to perceive themselves as a money making competitor, and not reward the athletes that helped bring in that type of money.

College sports coming to an end with another emotional chutes and ladders match between the best teams within the NCAA. March Madness knocking at the door, along with a overwhelming “$11 billion for three weekends” that these teams pull in for NCAA (Michael). You have the best athletes in college competing in one of the most vigorous sports competitions in the USA. Now exactly how much do these athletes get paid for bringing in billions of dollars and putting on these shows for thousands if not millions to watch? Absolutely none of that is given to them not even a penny. There payment is the $5,000 to $10,000 scholarship that some of them have. Video games, ticket sales, advertising, and merchandise

As of today, there are over 460,000 NCAA student-athletes that compete in 24 different sports while in college throughout the United States (NCAA). Over the past couple decades, the argument for paying these college athletes has gained steam and is a hot topic in the sports community. However, paying these college athletes is not feasible because most universities do not generate enough revenue to provide them with a salary and some even lose money from the sports programs. These collegiate student-athletes are amateurs and paying them would ruin the meaning of college athletics. Also, playing college sports is a choice and a privilege with no mention or guarantee of a salary besides a full-ride scholarship. Although some argue that

College sports are big business. For many universities, the athletic program serves as a cash-generating machine. Exploited athletes generate millions of dollars for the NCAA and their schools, and never see a dime. In terms of profit, if all ties with the university were eliminated, an athletic program acting as its own separate entity could compete with some fortune 500 companies. So, why do the vital pieces of the machine, the players, fail to receive any compensation for their performance? The answer lies in the money-hungry NCAA and their practice of hoarding all the revenue. College athletes should receive payment for their play to make their college experience more bearable because they create huge profits and

Imagine working day in and day out every day to meet academic standards and trying to keep your level of play competitive up. That’s what college athletes go through every day. College athletes have gained immense popularity over the past few decades. The NCAA took advantage of this and made billions of dollars off college athletics According to USA Today, the NCAA last season the NCAA made over $845 Billion dollars in revenue from games, merchandise sales, television contracts, and ticket. At the end of the year, the NCAA counts its revenue and pay coaches and executives millions of dollars. The athletes don’t get a penny. This is truly unfair while these athletes work their butt off and give their

In, recent years, there has been much controversy over whether college athletes should be paid. The argument has primarily consisted of whether college athletes deserve special monetary treatment over the other students at universities. Some athletes are starting to feel exploited because the universities are using the players in their advertising campaigns. These students aren’t receiving any financial compensation for their images being used in the media. These athletes are bringing in millions of dollars to their schools in sponsorships, but what are they getting in return? College athletes should have their full tuition, meals, and housing paid for, but the school should not be responsible for giving these student athletes money for playing. The school should not be responsible for paying the athletes because they are financially irresponsible, college athletic programs cannot afford to pay athletes, playing sports is a privilege, and it would remove athletes’ competitive nature and passion for the game.