Essay Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

Due to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules and regulations no college athlete is able to receive any compensation or endorsement while participating in college athletics. These rules have long been challenged, however no changes have been made by the NCAA. With universities grossing close to $200 million a year college athletics has turned into one of the top industries in the world. The NCAA is a governing body of college athletics, but without people questioning the NCAA and demanding changes to the monopoly that the NCAA is nothing will happen to the unfairness to college athletes like it is currently.

Billy preston had a bright future but he may not get to play basketball for the rest of his life. The NCAA is very strict on these rules. They must receive no money from anybody but teammates or parents. O’Bannon and 19 others sued the NCAA, claiming the organization violated United States antitrust laws by not allowing athletes to get a share of the revenues generated from the use of their images in broadcasts and video games. Many former collegiate players were compensated, but some felt it was inadequate and they were owed more.

With college basketball and football originating in the 1800’s, the game has had much time to adapt. Over the years, the sports have become more and more popular, gaining a bigger fan base, which has resulted in substantial profits from the sale of merchandise representing the teams and players. There is one thing that has not changed; all of the athletes are still not being paid. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, is an organization that regulates most aspects of

The NCAA’s annual income of over 900 million dollars is a considerable amount of revenue, however, the players themselves do not deserve to receive any portion of this cash (Thellin). If payment is given to just a certain sport or a certain gender of sports, such as Division 1 men’s football or basketball, players of other divisions and sports will most certainly want a share of that as well. This would also create a monopoly-type of business in collegiate sports, causing players to be drawn to certain colleges who will pay out the most. Paying athletes would undermine the primary role of universities which is to offer education. The experiences and education that athletes receive while in college cannot be equated to the amount they would receive were they to be paid.

Many people preach that it's time to pay college players and that players should be paid because of how much money they make for their organizations over the years among other reasons like,hours invested, corruption prevention and teaching athletes how to manage money. There's more than just the money made that convinces me that college athletes should be paid , but how much exactly? The opposition would make tons of arguments Such as, financial irresponsibility, lack of maturity, its by choice, where the funding will go?. These are just a few points that I feel best argue the paying of collegiate athletes is the better option of the two. When earning an athletic scholarship it’s not as if all your day-to day responsibilities disappear, from

Many high school athletes biggest dream is to become one of the men or women they watch every weekend playing the sport they love on television in front of the thousand in the stadium and the millions at home. Usually the only downfall to going to a favorite college teams game, is having to pay for the ticket to get in. Fans may think, “Where does all the money go to?” Because it doesn’t go to the player out on the field who is bringing the fans, TV contracts, and publicity to their games. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) makes an astonishing six billion dollars a year.

There has been a major discussion recently if a college athlete should earn money while they are in school. Many people think that College athletes , but it is better for college athletes to paid for many reasons. College athletes should be paid because the NCAA is a billion dollar enterprise. Moreover College players should earn revenue because of how much time and effort they spend trying to get better and help their team win. When athletes do well in a sport they bring a great deal of attention to the school. Student athletes aren’t just regular students, they are people who help generate money and market for schools. Even though student -athletes generates tons of money for the school, none of that money ever trickles down to them.

Salaries for 8-5 individuals are based on approximately 40 hours a week. A division one NCAA college football player dedicates more than 40 hours a week to their sport. Therefore, they are bound to receive direct financial compensations just like a full-time working American (Karaim, p 20). It is important to note that the NCAA maintains that college athletes should attend classes and participate in sports. Therefore, their 40 hours of practice acquires an additional 11 hours of classes on a weekly basis (Karaim, p 21). I go to Passaic County Community college as a full-time student and work 40 hours a week just to live life. These college athletes are doing the same thing I am doing. The college athlete needs to maneuver their schedule smoothly to ensure they do not fail to attend classes and sports' practice. College athletes skip classes to travel and go to tournaments. Spectators purchase tickets to watch games which are made up of the college athletes. It is not only decent but sensible to pay the people who are the life of the

Some college or its boosters are caught giving "extra benefits" to college football players. In some case the allegations range into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The NCAA long ago allowed student-athletes to turn professional in one sport while retaining their eligibility in another. In recent years, the NCAA has

Before, college athletics was a stepping stone towards the athletes professional future. Now in the 21st century, it is a lucrative business. D-I college athletics is the majority of income for major universities. They collect money from ticket sales, merchandise, T.V. contracts, etc. The athletes, however, receive a scholarship and not much more. Even though receiving a college education is something most people would not complain about, when these athletes practice longer than the average American work week and don 't receive money to sustain themselves, it is time for a change. Athletes dedicate their lives to a sport and train hard to make it big. There has been a lot of controversy whether or not student athletes should be paid, and

College Athletes don’t make money even though they are the ones playing the sports they love! Pro sports give their players enormous salaries, but still play the same sport. The biggest contract ever in the NBA is James Harden’s current contract of $228 million for 6 years of playing. (Alsher). Although in college, athletes get $2,500- $5,000 to cover basic expenses.

Whether or not college athletes should be paid is a topic that is much debated recently. Some athletes even want to form unions so they can have the rights to complain about working conditions and their pay, or lack of pay. While some people believe college athletes should be paid, it would be a grave mistake to pay college athletes. Athletes play when they’re just little kids with a dream and it is their job to make that dream come true. They do this by being the best they can, by vigorously training almost every day. They play through middle school and through high school so they can ultimately show their talents and get into great intellectual and athletic schools. You should graduate in whatever field of school you are interested in. that is their duty to themselves, they work to get the pay checks later on in life. If I paid an elementary school student to play for me they wouldn’t want to go to high school, and if I paid a high school student they wouldn’t want to go to college, if I paid a college student to play for me they wouldn’t want to go and become a professional.

For years, a multimillion dollar organization has not only withheld money from its employees, but actively prevented them from receiving any sort of income. In almost any scenario, that organization would be denounced by the public, and everything would be done to ensure that those workers were given a chance to profit from their labor. However, since those workers are college athletes, many in the public turn the other cheek. The NCAA exploits college athletes under the guise of “amateurism” and prevents them from receiving their fair share of a multimillion dollar business.

An Indiana University study had researchers look at 232 men and women who played high level sports at the college ages and 225 men and women who weren't involved with high level sports at the same time. This study found that people who were involved with high-level sports at a younger age were more than twice as likely to have physical problems that limited to their daily activities and exercises. So colleges should pay their athletes in case of lifelong injuries or life threatening injuries that the college knows they couldn’t take back. The NCAA has has an injury surveillance system going since 1988 and just years after in 2004 the system found that in average 12,500 injuries were recorded each year, www.livestrong.com stated. Say a last year college athlete was just playing a game against one of the toughest teams in the country and he was running with the ball and then… CRASH!

     Also student athletes are given a monthly stipend to spend while they are on road trips, to pay for their food, laundry, and other things. On average students are given 200-250 dollars a month, that they can choose to do whatever like with. If the students wishes to keep the money and put it into a savings account this does not violate any rules. (Fleck, buzzle.com)