Analysis: Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

Only about 2% percent of high school athletes get sports scholarships every year at NCAA colleges and universities. For those who do get one, the average scholarship is less than $11,000 (Eitzen, D. Stanley). Every year college athletes are publicized and exploited for their talents and skills. Universities and Colleges sell jerseys and put athletes names on billboards and jumbotrons, and even used their likeness to have video games dedicated to the athletes themselves. In 2011-2012, the NCAA made 871.6 million dollars in revenue (Eitzen, D. Stanley). And guess how much money the athletes, who actually make the money, get from this exposure, 0%. The exposure or publicity of the athletes is the main reason why college athletes should be paid. College athletes are publicized on TV, magazines, and

even at one point, video games.

Athletes lives and personalities have never been more open to the public than before and usually someone would get paid for this exposure but in this case, college athletes are not. College athletes should be paid because of the exposure and publicity they experience everyday.

College athletes should be paid because of how publicized their lives are. The reason college athletes should be paid is because colleges and the NCAA make billions of dollars annually off of their name name but none of the money goes back to the players who actually make the money. Eitzen, D. Stanley said in his article about college athletes being paid, “Obviously, big-time athletic programs are commercial enterprises. The irony is that, while sports events generate millions for each school, the workers are not paid” (Eitzen, D. Stanley). Pretty much any university or college makes millions and millions of dollars in revenue each year from their personal athletic programs. If colleges were like most business, the workers or this case the athletes, should get paid

what they earned or deserve. “The notion that a full scholarship isn't a fair exchange for athletic services provided to a university, regardless of how much money an athletic department generates from those services is ridiculous”, said Jason Whitlock in his reasoning of why college athletes should not be paid (Jason Whitlock). On average, a person that gets an athletic scholarship from a college receives less than a $11,000. The general notion that every athlete at a college for athletics is on a full ride is ridiculous. And anyway, if every athlete that played a sport for the NCAA was on a full scholarship, the NCAA would still be make hundreds of millions of dollars. Emma Thomas, a former college athlete herself, talked about how college athletes lives are so engaging, “Without a doubt, the biggest obstacle between scholarship basketball players and academic success is lack of time” (Emma Thomas). College athletes are always busy with something like practice, class, homework, etc. So there really is not much time for fun and excitement. College athletes should get paid for their daily busy schedules.
College athletes experience exposure and publicity of their lives everyday, and that's why they should be paid. College athletes names and even faces are splattered all over magazines, billboards and sometimes on the TV. Usually someone would get paid for a business to use their name or likeness or anything to represent them. So why do not colleges pay their athletes for using their name or likeness. A lot of people think that a college is giving an athlete more than enough when they give them a scholarship. But little do people know that a college is usually making thousands or even millions more than that scholarship they gave that player off of their abilities. This is why college athletes should get paid.