Should College Athletes Be Paid?

College athletics assume a large role in the entertainment industry of America. Each week, millions of people tune in to watch their favorite team, buy tickets to go to the games, or spend money on university athletic merchandise to show their pride. The NCAA and universities benefit enormously from college sports. The top 10 total revenues generated by universities were all well over the $100,000,000 mark in 2012 (“College Finances 2012”). The University of Texas tops the list with $163,295,115 total revenue from athletics (“College Finances 2012”). Last football season, Texas A&M University quarterback Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy. As the first freshman to ever win the trophy, he propagated over 1.8 million media impressions which translated to $37 million of media exposure (Cook). The University’s licensing revenue jumped 23% this past year due to the success of one player (Cook). The NCAA itself generated $871,600,000 in revenue from the championship games (“College Finances 2012”). All of this revenue is impossible without the student-athletes. The NCAA is strict on making sure that athletes should be treated no different from any other student (Blias). However, the athletes are involved in a heavily commercialized multi-billion dollar industry. As amateurs, athletes remain restricted solely to scholarships as the only form

“But Whittenburg beats Anders to the ball, retrieves it and with the clock showing 0:02 he heaves a 35-foot desperation shot. Charles, reading the shot all the way, leaps, snatches the ball from the air and slams the ball into the net with a second left” (Espn). Fans all over the world pay hundreds of dollars to view college sports games similar to this one. People are about as entertained as they can get. But how much do they players make for this? It 's an argument that pops up every year approaching the legendary NCAA basketball championships. College athletes should not be paid by the NCAA because it would be too difficult to determine the amount each player earns from the NCAA, schools can have unfair advantages over one another recruiting wise, and athletes who receive full scholarships gain advantages for the rest of their life.

College athletes should receive some form of compensation for their efforts because, TV revenue, coach salary, and risk to players and their careers.

When will loving a sport be enough to play? When will athletes feel like their work is being recognized? When will athletes quit demanding more: more chances, more freedom, and now, more money? When will student-athletes truly become “student-athletes”, without putting athletics before academics? Do student-athletes deserve to be paid a salary, in addition to their scholarships? How would a salary effect the way collegiate sports are being played now? Paying a college athlete a salary goes far beyond simply writing a check to the student. Paying a college athlete would consist of determining the rate of pay for all athletes and all sports, the changes it would bring to the athlete’s life, and even the overall academic commitment of these athletes.

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

What college athlete would not want to be paid to play the sport that he or she loves? The real question is, though, should college athletes be paid for their roles in a college’s athletics? They are many points to each side of this recent controversial topic, which is why this has been made into such a hot debate in the past couple of years. As of right now, these athletes are not getting paid, but many of them truly believe that they should. Others believe that they already are being paid through certain types of scholarships and don’t deserve anything more than that. With that being said, there are two sides of this topic that have quality points.

The primary sources for these revenues are from ticket sales, sponsors, broadcasting, apparel sales, and donations which all generate that money (Chait 1). Athletes are recruited to colleges because the coaches think they have the talent to help the team succeed in their sport. At Auburn University, Cam Newton received a full ride scholarship. He became the “star” quarterback for the team, which produced a lot of revenue for the football team and the university (Belson 1). The school thought of additional methods to create more profit, so they put Newton’s number on jerseys, sweatshirts, hats, and other wanted apparel. Those sales alone increased the profit margins enormously (Belson 1), and it all went to the team and the university. All the extra money that resulted from promotional efforts generated even more controversy. Questions arose, such as where to spend the additional funds, whether the school needed new athletic facilities, or even whether the star quarterback should receive a portion of the profits, and were debated. Both sides held passionately to their opinions, and the topic generated a strong response from people on both sides of the debate (Belson 2).

Another year has come and gone in which thousands of fans have been able to enjoy a variety of sports at the collegiate level. Many spectators of collegiate sports would affirm that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) provides as much entertainment as professional sports; a fact that is prove to by the organization’s annual revenue, which nets more than $6 billion yearly (Fitzel, 3). Interestingly enough, National Basketball Association (NBA) generates less then college football and basketball (the value, 7). There is one key difference between the NBA and the NCAA. NBA players are paid on a commission basis for the revenue they help bring in. On the other hand, NCAA athletes are denied any monetary compensation. NCAA athletes are promised a free education if they dedicate themselves completely to their sports (Schneider, 2). This essay seeks to explore the reasons and consequences of not paying these college athletes, as well as the ethics of doing so. It will explore both points of view to answer the question “should college athletes be paid to play?” This issue is relevant to student athletes, Division One Universities, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. For this analysis it is important to note the definition of a student athlete. A student athlete is described as a full time student who participates in a sport at the school he or she attends. Additionally, Division One Universities are institutions that offer up to a doctorate degree for

Universities establish their reputation in their accreditation, the success rate of their students, and believe it or not, their athletic achievements. Upon applying to colleges, an applicant will almost always base their interest in the institution on its educational value, location, student feedback, and sports. Many of these universities grant extremely generous scholarships to student athletes, offering them a practically free education. While some agree with this method of accommodation, others argue that these athletes are being taken advantage of. They contest the college’s intentions by claiming that it is simply profiting from the labor of its football and basketball teams. The current question at hand is whether or not colleges and universities should pay their student athletes. However, I believe that doing so would devalue the university’s education by insinuating that athletics are greater than or come before academics. This would also be an unfair advantage, given the countless other students that get academic scholarships and take part in collegiate clubs but receive no additional monetary help. There are also the students of the arts who participate in numerous performances and events that are equivalent to the work put forth by sports players. Therefore, in its simplest of terms, paying student athletes would just be inequitable.

For years now there have been the argument if college athletes should be paid to play or not. It is an ongoing debate between many people including the National Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA), athletes, coach, and other various people. The has debate has gone far enough that a lawsuit has started over it. There are many arguments for college athletes being paid such as; the athletes do not have time to work, their images are being used without any type of pay, and how the NCAA and coaches make millions of dollars off of the players while the players do not make anything. On the flip side of this, arguments that the athletes should not be paid include; they get paid in other varies ways, the average college athletic department loses enough money already without paying the athletes, and the fact that not all college athletes are in school to become professional athletes anyhow so making money from their athletic abilities should not be an issue for them at all.

The issue of whether college athletes should be paid is a topic that has been long debated, from the very inception of college sports in the 1920s. The NCAA considers college athletes to be amateur athletes and not professionals, this means that they should only be playing for the love of sport and not anything else. The dictionary definition of an amateur is “one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession” (Merriam-Webster). College athletes are supposed to make education their number one priority, with sports being a past time for them. In the real world, ranking an athlete’s priorities can get very difficult, an NLRB probe ruled that:

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.

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.

The hot topic in amateur sports has been as to whether or not college athletes should be paid. The NCAA amateur rule states that an athlete in college sports cannot be paid other than their athletic scholarship. These athletes spend a tremendous amount of time at school practice and then working on schoolwork after practice. The NCAA is an organization that oversees all of the athletes that make up the basic unit of intercollegiate sports. The success of the NCAA whether it’s through the sale of merchandise, game day revenue or NCAA tournaments that each individual sports has, despite the absolute success of these tournaments these athletes receive any monetary compensation .Some of the main reasons why the NCAA lack of payments are that it wants to maintain its amateur status and

Student athletes commonly go to school for one reason: their love for the sport they participate in. These student athletes get scholarships from large Division 1 schools, which means things such as schooling, board, and food will be paid for by the school so the student athletes do not have to pay for these benefits themselves (Patterson). If college athletes are to be paid, it will cause unfair compensation between players who are valued or played more than others. When student athletes are rewarded with a scholarship, they have nothing school related that they would need to pay for. This can lead them to blow all of their income on unnecessary or dangerous things such as drugs and alcohol which could get them removed from the team they