Essay Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

Earning a Salary within Collegiate Athletics

Athletes at the college level should be paid a salary for their athletic performance based on the amount of time college athletes dedicate to sporting activities, the revenue of the NCAA overall and their employed coaches, and the fact that paying the athletes would increase the competitivity level of the players. Giving the athletes a salary besides the cost of tuition to the university or college they attend would greatly aid the students.

College level athletes spend an average of 43.3 hours each week dedicated to sports practices, matches, and games (Listland). This number alone expresses that these students are originally committed to nearly a full work week of activities, disincluding a job, classes, and schoolwork. As of 2014, the average working week for an American is 46.7 hours (McGregor). Balancing

athletic schedules, class syllabi, connections with friends and family, and an outside source of income is a very large issue for college athletes across the United States.The NCAA, however, has set strict guidelines and reasonings of why collegiate athletes are not receiving pay based on the NCAA’s definition of amateurism. The web page referring to this topic directly states that “the NCAA membership has adopted amateurism rules to ensure the students’ priority remains on obtaining a quality educational experience and that all of student-athletes are competing equitably” (“Amateurism”). But by giving the athletic participants a salary, the need to find time for a paying job would be less commonly required, allowing the students to focus more of their time and energy towards furthering their education and earning an academic degree. Some schools do provide scholarships for athletes to attend. These include partial or full tuition coverage by the college or university while the student is rostered on an athletic team. Although this does benefit the players, it does not cover the cost of personal items such as a vehicle, gas, groceries, or activities outside of designated school functions. The need to cover these outside costs are what clutter the already booked schedules of the athletes,
Each year, the college sports industry generates $11 billion dollars (Siebold). This revenue is largely attained through advertisements, broadcasting, and ticket sales. These earnings would not be possible without the dedication of the student athletes involved. College athletes “are the very backbone of college sports and the ones who drive television ratings and generate millions of dollars for the NCAA, schools, vendors and local cities and towns where the sporting events take place” (Siebold). Coaches in the NCAA are also payed very well for their work. In 2013 alone, Nick Saban, the football coach at Alabama, was paid $5.5 million (Siebold). Coaches and other staff pertaining to collegiate athletics are considered employees of the NCAA and the university or college that they coach, train, manage, or direct. Players, however, are not represented on anything other than team rosters and advertisements. Some see this as unfair or unjust
As previously mentioned, the NCAA guidelines also focus on the equitability of the athletes.

Although some may see this as a substantial ruling base, not paying each athletic participant equally reflects directly on future occupations, both within professional athletics and otherwise. If the players are eventually drafted onto a professional sports team, they will be paid based on performance and playing time. Anywhere from large corporations to small businesses, employees are based on the amount of work they put in and the status level of their occupation. This way of earning money is common in every workplace, so reflecting it onto collegiate athletes would only increase their knowledge of it and push them to play at their highest level. Steve Siebold, professional speaker on athletics and author on mental toughness, stated that giving the athletes a stable salary “would be more motivation and increase that competitive spirit” (Siebold). Doing so would not only assist the players, but increase the amount of viewers of the events, which in turn increases the amount of revenue that the NCAA accumulates per

year.