Case Study: Should College Athletes Be Paid

A Rising Topic: Should College Athletes Be Paid?

In 1905, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) was founded by President Roosevelt to help establish rules that would help cut down on the rising amount of sports injuries and deaths that were occurring. Ever since the beginning of the NCAA, it has been classified as a non-profit organization and all the money the company makes goes back into paying the employees and improving the organization. This includes the equipment the players use, researching for better safety, employing new people to help expand the organization to new sports, etc (Investing). People are starting to think that the NCAA should re-evaluate how they are spending their money and that they should begin to

pay the athletes for playing their sport. Even though many people believe the student athletes should receive payment, the truth is the NCAA should continue to pay the athletes because the college already keeps the students from getting in debt, money would make the world of college sports less competitive, and college is a place where amateurs turn into professionals.
On average, in 2015-2016, tuition and fees for a college add up to be $9,410 for in-state four-year public college, $23,893 for out-of-state four-year public college, and $32,405 for four-year private college(Average). This does not include room and board or books that the students need to buy. In 2014, the average student graduates while being $33,000 in debt(Barr). Colleges provide more than 2.7 billion dollars in athletic scholarships annually to more than 150,000 student-athletes and full scholarships cover tuition and fees, room, board, and course-related books (Scholarships ). The colleges are paying the athletes just not directly, the colleges pay for the athletes needs and not their wants. If colleges were to pay the athletes they would not have enough money to provide the athletes with scholarships too, and they would have to pay for their own tuition, fees, housing, etc. With how the system is setup now the colleges are making it to where the student athletes can not go out and waste their money on things that would hurt them in the future and not be able to pay to go to college. Once athletes leave college, they are on their own and make their own decisions that only affect them, but their decisions in college affect themselves and the college they represent. If you give eighteen and nineteen year old college athletes lots of money they will most likely not be responsible with it and they might go a little crazy with the money. They have to uphold the reputation of that college and the whole NCAA organization, so the athletes should not be going out doing crazy things. Even if the NCAA did decide to pay the athletes it would corrupt the world of college sports.
If college sports involved more money, the competitive edge in these sports would be lost.

College sports are so entertaining because any team can win any game due to the spread of great athletes all over the country. If colleges started to pay the athletes, whatever team had the most money would have the best athletes, meaning there would only be a couple of good teams in each sport and they would dominate. Professional sports teams are a collection of the best and most skilled athletes in that sport that can play for 15 or more years. In college, athletes only have four years of eligibility before they are ineligible and can not participate in college athletics anymore and many of the great athletes leave after one or two years of playing college sports. If money was used to pay the athletes, the corruption of college sports would increase. Money is never a good idea to be involved in sports, because it always causes bribery or exploitation. For example, the recent events with the FIFA organization and how some of the top authority figures have just been banned for many years for taking bribes, illegal ticket sales, and other scandals (Davis). This relates because it goes to show any CEO or president of a company can be bought and if money started to get more involved in the world of college sports it is hard not to think that some authority figure for some team would be bribed. Even the students might be involved in the bribery. If college athletes were to get paid there would be a limit to how much they would get paid. Fans and sponsors of the college teams would then offer additional benefits to get the athletes “persuaded” to come to their school. Then student athletes will not have to attend class or even participate in the student part of student athlete. The college athletes would start to be glorified and treated like kings even though they are coming into their college as just

amateurs.
College is a place where amateur scholars and students come to learn a profession they will get paid to do for the rest of their life. This includes the athletes who come to college to learn the sport they are involved in and to become a professional of their sport. All incoming college athletes have to be certified as amateurs. With recruiting becoming more global, this process is becoming more and more important. All students, this also includes athletes from other countries, must adhere to the NCAA amateurism requirements to remain eligible to play their sport. The general amateurism requirements do not allow: Contracts with professional teams; Salary for participating in athletics; Prize money above actual and necessary expenses; play with professionals; tryouts; practice or competition with a professional team; benefits from an agent or prospective agent; agreement to be represented by an agent; and delayed initial full-time collegiate enrollment to participate in organized sports competition (Amateurism). All of the incoming athletes are classified as amateurs for many reasons. The main reason is to make sure the students know that their academics come first and their athletics come second. This is also enforced by the required GPA provided from each individual college the athletes are supposed to uphold. The NCAA’s main purpose is to make sure the student athletes receive an educational experience (Amateurism).
The scholarships provided, the lack of competition, and the purpose of college as a means to learn a profession and to become a professional are the reasons college athletes should not get paid. If colleges and the NCAA started to pay the athletes it would take all the fun and excitement out of college sports. The best part of college sports is any athlete can pick any school without the pressure of thinking of the profit they will make, the budget they would have to set out for themselves, or the additional benefits they would get. Who would enjoy less competitive and corrupted college sports? No one would, that is why student athletes should not be paid.