College Athletes: Should They Get Paid?

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.

In his article “The Shame of College Sports,” Taylor Branch (2011) describes how universities are focused on advancing and receiving money from major athletics and having star athletes, but how the universities are not caring for the “student athlete.” The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made college sports into an unmerited business. However, as years progress more athletes are getting smart and are taking the NCAA to court. The more students that challenges the rules by the NCAA and take them to court, the secrets and undermining values of the NCAA come out and the closer the NCAA comes to an end.

College sports are one of the largest and fastest growing markets in today’s culture. With some college sports games attracting more viewers than their professional counterparts, the NCAA is one of the most profiting organizations in America. Recently there has been controversy in the world of college sports as to whether the college athletes that are making their universities and the NCAA money should receive payment while they are playing their respective sport. Many believe that these athletes should be paid. Others argue that they are already receiving numerous benefits for playing that sport from their universities. Many of the proponents of paying college athletes are current or former college athletes who believe their hard work and hours put into practice and competing go under appreciated. They feel that while the athletes are making the university money, the athletes do not receive any cut of these profits. Opponents feel that athletes already receive numerous perks and should not receive extra compensation on top of the perks they already receive.

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.

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.

College athletes deserve compensation because of the money they make for the NCAA. The market for college sports is extensive and has shown tremendous growth over the past years. Mainly derived from Division I men’s basketball and football, according to economist Maxwell Strachan, the NCAA generated over $989 million in revenue in the most recent financial year and is projected to

In America we feel comfortable deciding how much somebody should get paid or if in fact they should get paid. We like to make decisions like that because it gives us power over somebody else. There are numerous ways where throughout history we have tried to influence how much a group of people get paid, or to influence the how much a certain race should get paid. We want to give everybody the same opportunity to succeed not depending on race, religion, or ethnicity. To give everybody a fair shot in life doesn’t always work out because you can’t always please everybody. You might work hard and put in a lot of effort, but to reach a certain outcome doesn’t always home to fruition. Being an elite level athlete and studying in school is one of

Imagine, if you were in college, and a football player, spending all your time and energy playing football and you are being paid. You work your way up to the NFL tryouts and haven’t been picked . Wouldn’t you be devastated. Now you have nothing else to do. You should’ve focused on something to lean back on in case this would have happened. The article I read was, ‘Should College Athletes be Paid?’. The topic was that people are considering paying college football players. But I don’t beleive that should happen. I chose this considering that anything involving college has always been of interest. Especially on this problem, whether the college’s money should fund a sport.

In 2013, postsecondary universities spent $499 billion dollars (“U.S.News”). A great deal of colleges today in America are in debt for the heavy spending they do to make their university the best place to receive an education. College athletes, who receive a scholarship to represent a college in a sport, go to college for free and obtain many benefits normal college students would not get. Paying college athletes would be unfair to students who go through college with debt up to their neck along with not being able to receive sport scholarships. Paying college athletes would put colleges into more debt as well as would start a crisis across America because college sports performers and students would not be treated as equals. The rising opinion that college athletes should be paid can be stifled by aggressive media campaigns, investigations, and strict enforcement of rules.

There are a few things that separate professional athletes from college athletes. What separates them is that professionals receive money for their hard work and dedication to their specific sport. When you think about it, the professional athletes get paid for what they do best while the college athletes juggle academics, social life, jobs, etc. To me, that is absurd. However, college athletes are receiving pay for the time they spend playing their sports. The college athletes pay is actually an education. Therefore, despite the salaries of college coaches, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) annual income, the responsibilities of

Are colleges athletes fairly compensated for their sacrifices as sports representatives of their universities? Although student athletes are offered full scholarships to cover most of their expenses, the debate whether they should be paid invites a tremendous amount of controversy. Professional and collegiate sports are viewed and highly favored nationwide and are highly profitable to the nation’s economy. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA, generates millions of dollars throughout seasons and bowl games in addition to their primary source of revenue accumulated from their television contracts the broadcast games

College athletes are working so hard for their Universities every day. They are responsible for increasing revenues but aren’t rewarded with any monetary compensation. These students are working for their schools and are doing a service that seems to be overlooked. Some may argue that these athletes are being exploited by their schools, tv, and video games, which make millions of dollars off of intercollegiate athletics. Colleges are just using these hard working athletes to increase their reputations. Compensation of athletes I believe is necessity not only to keep competition at a constant level in college athletics, but also to encourage students to want to graduate high school, and get their college degrees. Everywhere else in this

Whether you are on a college campus or listening to a sports talk radio show, the question of should college athletes be paid seems to have been discussed forever. One of the major arguments for paying student athletes is that the colleges use the athletes to generate revenue for the college. “There are also those that argue that athletes should be paid for the hours that they often put in their respective sports and classrooms” (Jung, 2013).

Over the years, we have seen colleges and universities benefit extremely from their sports programs. Every year a great team brings tremendous amounts of revenue for their university. However, as these universities increase their finances, their athletes are falling behind financially, academically, socially and personally creating a huge burden upon them. College/university athletes practically work overtime for their academic institutions. While many perceive student athletes as living ‘the life’ because of sports, the reality remains that they suffer from social, personal, academic and psychological stress. They constantly live their lives by strict schedules to avoid falling behind in their multiple responsibilities .Student athletes face various pressures, yet they are not frequently rewarded; therefore their academic institutions should reward them financially, beyond scholarships for their participation in collegiate sports.

Over the last few decades college athletics has gained immense popularity since the turn of the century. Many people even prefer collegiate sports to professional sports. Whether it is football or basketball, no matter the sport, college athletics bring large amounts of money to their respective Universities as well as increasing the popularity. Many Universities make millions of dollars off the games and the merchandise they sell. The only reason that the Universities make this kind of money is because the student-athletes fill the seats. Yet, even with the Universities making that kind of money off what the student-athletes do, the student-athletes aren’t paid, and there lies the problem. According to 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 1). So, that leaves the question “Should College Athletes Be Paid?”