Should Student Athletes Be Paid?

Over the past 30 years or so college athletics have gained immense popularity and has resulted in an amazing amount of revenues from the NCAA and its Subsidiaries. The debate as to whether college athletes should be paid even beyond their athletic scholarships. While reading this paper it will answer the question as to whether college athletes should be paid by exploring the reasons for and against the payments of these athletes beyond their scholarship.

There have been much controversy weather universities should pay student athletes. The nation is divided into two groups, financially compensating the student-athlete or not. One side declares Division I and Division II schools make millions of dollars off ticket and merchandise, therefore, the athlete should receive a salary. The argument arises when for instance in football or basketball, schools make millions for winning bowls or tournaments, which the money awarded to the schools goes far beyond a four-year education. Video games along with last names on jersey have been banned for sale since college athletes were used without receiving financial compensation. On top of this are the multimillion dollar sponsorship deals universities are making with athletic apparel companies. The other side argues student athletes receive a free college education from prestigious schools and therefore should not receive financial gains. They declare a student-athlete receives free national exposure and paying them will uneven the playing field in college sports. In addition, a student will be deducted income taxes from their salary if paid. Most imply, some of the students come from inner city neighborhoods and some cannot read or write at a college level. As a result, these athletes are assigned tutors and therefore pass the courses with ease. In all, college sports have become huge money makers, but the question arises whether an

It is mid-February and for college athletes and fans everywhere that means that the College Football “Bowl” season is over and “March Madness” is around the corner. The “Bowl” Season is a series of college football games from the elite teams, sponsored by various corporations and “March Madness” is a 68 team single elimination tournament to decide who the best team in college basketball is. For the students involved they get a chance to have their legacy live on forever and for some it is a chance to show professional teams they have what it takes to compete on the next level, but for the universities it is a chance to bring in millions of dollars in revenue. As a student-athlete, and a volunteer basketball coach, I believe that it is unfair that student athletes across the country have decided to give their lives to these sports in hopes that they get lucky and “win the lottery” by making in into professional sports. I believe that student athletes have earned the right to be compensated for their hard work, dedication and commitment to these universities across the country.

In America sports wherever there is people, there will also be sports. Sports have played a major role in American history. To some people sports is all they have. It is just the way that things are. The issue in sports now is that the NCAA exploit the sports world and the very backbone of the corporation is the poorest. It is an issue that has been around for quite some time now. The issue is that the sports world face is the fact that college athletes are not paid, although they perform in a multibillion dollar industry. The NCAA basically has a monopoly on college athletics, and generate about one billion dollars a year. College sports are extremely demanding both in and out of season, and these athletes put their future on the line. The NCAA should be legally obligated to compensate athletes, based solely on the fact that the money made, is from their performance.

Jarrod Uthoff, a Cedar Rapids native, left a legacy at the University of Iowa. He scored 30 points in one half at one of the most hostile arenas, Iowa State. He has made history by now being one of the Big Tens most dominate players. He was named Mr.Basketball in 2011 and also Gatorade Player of the Year. They put in around half of their time practicing their sport and that is without school work involved, according to Peter Jacobs author of an article from college student athletes. Yet after all that time they are not getting paid. As of right now the student-athletes do not get a wage, but they do get a scholarship, which is why this is such an important topic because the college players are a huge part of this issue. Many people

Arian Foster, former running back for University of Tennessee, said “Indentured Servant definition is exactly what a student athlete is; [they] get food, accommodations, and training, but not paid.” (qtd. in Finkel, Martin, and Paley). Being a college athlete is a full time job, add in the travel, homework, and having to go to class. Is there even anytime to work a part time job to make some money? All college athletes are under a giant spotlight. Every move they make is watched and judged closely by the NCAA to make sure they don’t break the amateur rule. They are not allowed to accept anything from anyone, and many don’t have enough money to even buy themselves food to eat. College athletes not only draw audiences to the games, but

Tyson Hartnett says, “Contrary to what all the opponents believe, being an athlete is a full-time job. On a typical day, a player will wake up before classes, get a lift or conditioning session in, go to class until 3 or 4 p.m., go to practice, go to mandatory study hall, and then finish homework or study for a test.For a little extra money to see a movie or go out to dinner once a week, my freshman roommate worked a job at the university, earning about $7/hour. He would work his butt off all day, with two or sometimes three basketball training sessions, plus classes and homework, and go to that job for a few hours late at night. He would come back exhausted, but he needed whatever money they would pay him. However, once the season started up, he couldn 't work that job anymore.” Student athletes should be paid due to school and playing a sport taking up all of their time. This is basically the same principle as having a job and going to school. Playing a sport and going to school is equal to working and going to school.

In 1906 the NCAA was born as a discussion group and rule making committee. The NCAA is a Non-profit organization, which is why players cannot be paid. For years the NCAA has been using the words “amateur” and “student athlete” in order for them to control and limit the benefits of these players, but while watching these players it is clear to tell they are far from amateur in a skill level perspective, which is shown when they garner the attentions of millions every Saturday during football season or during March Madness. College athletes are money making machines for the NCAA. It is time for the NCAA to get their hands out of their pockets and pay these players like they deserve, paying college athletes has been discussed for years and years now, but with schools like Northwestern being able to unionize and the celebrity of these athletes on the rise this will still be a heated debate. These student athletes put everything on the line for the sport they love, their time, their education, their health, all just to make the NCAA richer when they are just another number to them.

The idea of paying college athletes to compete is not new, unlike most people think. This debate has been around since the 1800’s. The college sports industry makes about $11 billion in annual revenues. Fifty colleges report annual revenues that exceed $50 million. Nationally in 2010-11, the top 15 college basketball programs generated roughly $293 million, less than a third of what the top 15 football programs generated, baseball makes very little money compare to basketball and football according to Jeffrey Dorfman. These revenues are coming from multiple sources, such as ticket sales, sponsorship, and broadcasting rights. The National Collegiate Athletic Association recently sold broadcast rights to its annual men 's basketball tournament for upwards of $770 million per season. At the University of Alabama, the head football coach, Nick Saban, recently signed a contract paying him $7 million per year; more than 91 times the average wage of an Orange County public school teacher. However, the facts I have mentioned so far concerns football only. Football and basketball are the biggest sources of athletic revenues in the majority of universities. So with all this money involved, should student athletes get a percentage of the revenue their sport brings to the university?

The college athlete has steadily grown in popularity in the United States over the span of the past decades. Monetarily speaking, this increased publicity has been extremely beneficial for National Athletic Association (NCAA) and all the colleges involved in athletics which has sparked the dispute of whether or not the athlete should be paid for their hard work and dedication on the field and to their school or if the athletic scholarship is more than enough. College athletes should be paid.

College sports players gain so much revenue which, as resulted from the (NCAA) National Collegiate Athletic Association. Due to, this situation rising over the few past decades. Participating colleges have caused such debate in whether college athletes should be compensated.

The topic of paying college athletes for their athletic performance has become a rising issue over the years. Currently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) does not allow college athletes to accept any money from sponsors or charge money for things such as autographs. College level athletes are also not allowed to receive payment for their participation under the NCAA rules. Therefore, it can be looked at as college athletes are working for virtually no reward. I find this to be a flaw in the NCAA system. I, myself, am a college athlete, and I understand what it is like to put in the hard work and time and get almost nothing in return. I believe that college athletes should receive some sort of payment for their hard work and dedication they put into their sports. I will be focusing this essay around the concept of why athletes deserve some form of payment. Although most athletes receive some sort of scholarship, it does not completely cover the cost of attending a university. Athletes are also a good part of the reason college level sports bring in such high revenue totals. Lastly, college athletes dedicate an extensive amount of extra time to their college sport, missing out on some of the most important college services. Because of this, college athletes deserve some sort of payment for their time.

Last year ESPN announced that they had reached a deal with the NCAA over the football playoff system; this deal was reportedly worth up to 500 million dollars per year, over twelve years. As most will say football and basketball are the most prominent sports in the collegiate level, and with all the money being made from March Madness (basketball) to the Rose Bowl (football), college athletes will see none of this money. College athletes should earn some compensation for their efforts on and off the field and or court; they are basically working full time with their sport, along with going to classes during the week.

During the years prior to the year 2017, there has been thousands of controversial topics that the world or United States has had to deal with. Whether the conflict is over a world problem such as Global Warming, or if it is a country conflict such as abortion laws. Many people have to work together in order to find the right solution to what will work best for everybody. The steps that is taken to come up with a solution is the same steps for any controversial topic that comes up. With that being said a big controversy in the United States today is whether or not college athletes should be paid while attending and playing for the University of their

When the topic of college comes up, many things come to mind. Those are the glory days for most of us. The college parties, the struggle to find a balance between having fun and maintaining a good GPA, and not to mention the amazing athletic departments that colleges offer. Everyone enjoys sports but does anyone ever stop to wonder how much goes into the preparation for those games? There’s much more effort that’s put into it other than just showing up for practice. It’s definitely a lot more work than your average college student which is why the question of whether or not college athletes should get paid comes up. Football alone brings in millions of dollars a year; and with all of that money floating around, it comes as a surprise that