College Athletes Do Not Get Paid

Work Without Pay

It is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. In 1970 the median amount of money was 6.5 million dollars. What is that figure now? A whopping 56 million dollars.That is a 49.5 million dollar increase over about 40 years… or an astounding 861% increase (Marc and Rohan).

College sports is a multi-billion dollar industry; yet, unlike professional sports the athletes do not get paid. The individual college and the NCAA are the ones making the money off the kids. In a way, colleges are even allowed to market their athletes. Sure, although they can not put the names of a player on a jersey, they can sell it with that intention. The university can also put up posters and even show tv commercials with their athlete, but the athlete can’t profit in any way. Since when is it okay for people generating billions of dollars to not get anything for all their hard work?

The college football industry is huge and it is only getting bigger.

In 2012 the profit was somewhere north of a BILLION dollars. Roughly 60% of all the profit made goes back into the program to pay for new uniforms, upkeep of their million dollars stadiums, and to give out scholarships. The other 40% are paying for people’s yachts and ridiculous salaries. For example, Jim Harbaugh, former coach of the San Francisco 49’s, left the NFL for a much more lucrative coaching job at University of Michigan. And nobody can blame the guy. In 2015 alone he made seven million dollars (Gaines). Meanwhile the people actually bringing in all the money, the athletes themselves, are getting

nothing.
People often argue that college athletes shouldn’t be paid because if they are playing at a national level, odds are, they’re education is already being paid for by the school. So if they are going to a really expenses school (we’ll call that $40,000 a year) they are “making” $160,000. Be that as it may, if they are playing at a national level their team is probably bringing in a ton of money. According to ESPN the top ten highest grossing college football teams are bringing in an average revenue of $104,527,502 per year (College Athletics Revenue 2008). So paying out $160,000 to a few kids isn’t going to put much of a dent in a football program’s overall revenue.
Some argue: they are still college kids, so it’s not like they should be able to make a living off of money earned through their sport, nor should they be getting a straight check. They should just be getting enough to repay them for for all of their hard work and sacrifices they’ve made on their journey to being a successful Division 1 or Division 2 athlete.
There are tons of expenses that athletes have to endure throughout their career before college such as travel teams, equipment, lessons, and the biggest expense of all: time. Weekends are given to tournaments, weeknights to practices, mornings to workouts, and school gets the rest of their time. The path to being a successfully athlete is a tireless one, and not for the weak of heart. They don’t get to have the childhood that other kids have time for, they are too busy working, practicing, and playing to have that luxury.
For some, the road ends there. For years they can practice and work at becoming the best athlete they possibly can, and it still may not pay off. They will try and justify it by saying things like, “Oh yeah I had a blast,” and, “I never really wanted to play college ball anyway,” but in the end it will always be their biggest regret. All of the time and money put into a dying cause. Sacrificing their childhood for a dream that they could never truly achieve.
Then, for the few and far between, their goal of going on and playing on a competitive college team is achieved. They get their full ride scholarships and they head off across the nation to play their game. They practice and workout every single day, rain or shine, and put their heart and soul into the game. Most of the time their classwork and education doesn’t make it’s way into their routine. Time that could be spent getting job interviews or doing independent studies is spent on the field which, for most, isn’t going to pay off in the long run. Sure they may win that week, maybe even going on to become division champions, but only the best of the best get to move on to the nearly unreachable goal of playing in the professional leagues. The rest of the athletes are then hung out to dry. Four of the “best years of their life” went by in a flash but they won’t have much to show for it, even if it is a big name school. That is why it is only fitting that they are getting some sort of compensation for all of their hard work and dedication.
An athlete that competitively plays in a Division 1 sport isn’t going to have time to be fully dedicated to their schoolwork. They will need to practice constantly, both on the field and off. When they aren’t on the field practicing, they are hitting the gym or studying game film. They are risking their future by committing to a sport that may or may not pay their bills later. For all of the good-but-not-great players, they are often left out in the cold. For four years they did little except practice and play and are rewarded with a slap on the back from their coach and a diploma that they somehow managed to earn through taking the easiest classes available. So what does that get them? What does a 2.0 GPA and a diploma from a big name school get an athletic 22 year old? Not the career that many of his hard working classmates are out getting, especially the ones that had the time to have internships and other job experience. That’s why they should be receiving some money from the school while they are there. Otherwise what is the point of playing if they aren’ t going to go pro?
College athletes shouldn’t be paid enough to making a living, that would be ridiculous. But their hard work and time should still be compensated. All of their classmates that aren’t occupied with sports work in their time and they make at least minimum wage, more often they will make more than that. So is it really that crazy to propose that the ones making their schools millions of dollars should get a little something something?
Now of course some athletes should get more than others, for any number of reasons. Some sports make more money, some players play different roles, the time commitment for sports can vary, and of course some schools are bigger. Proposing that each player get some type of percentage of a school’s revenue would be crazy because players would be making a huge sum of money. Now of course this wouldn’t be applying to every athlete at all schools, it would only apply to the athletes that play for programs that are making money. Players would be paid a set amount depending on how much money their school is making off of their sport. For example, a Division 2 women’s golf team probably isn’t bringing in much money so odd are none of their athletes would be getting paid. On the other hand Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team is pulling in over $123 million dollars in revenue so their players should and would be getting a substantial sum (College Athletic Revenue 2008). They play on a national level on a weekly basis and their fanbase is enomourse. Starters would get a set amount as would second stringers and third stringers, decreasing accordingly.
Also, the current system in place that doesn’t allow schools to sell a jersey with a player's name on it is ridiculous. They instead proceed to sell jerseys with the players number, clearly selling the identity of the player, but said player is given no recognition for it, or part of the profit (Kirk). Players that become the face of their school's athletic program deserve to make some money off of all the marketing the school does based around them, it’s only fair
Marcus Mariota, currently the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, graduated from Oregon State University in 2015. He was the clear cut Heisman Trophy winner and was the second overall pick in the 2015 draft. During his time at Oregon he practically achieved God-like status on and off the field. It was because of this, that Oregon was able to market him so successfully. During his senior year, the Oregon Duck’s official merchandising store offered 25 different variations of the number eight (his number) so how were they not selling the player (Holleran)? When he took the field there were literally thousands of fans cheering him on, all the while wearing his number.
People say that you have to work hard if you want to be able to play hard, but for collegiate athletes that is often the same thing. Each and every one of them works so hard, not because they want to, but because they need to if they want to compete at that level. People that work so hard and generate so much money should be paid for their efforts, regardless of the fact that they play at a college level.