Essay Why Student Athletes Should Be Paid

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, (NCAA) generates 11 billion dollars a year in some sports. Yet not a single penny goes to the people who make it all possible. These people are the student athletes. College sports are a prime-time industry. The issue usually comes up every year in March when the greatest period of college basketball is being played in an annual tournament each year that is called “March Madness.” Because of this, the controversy is widely debated and there are many different opinions on why the athletes shouldn’t be paid or why they deserve to be paid. College athletes should have the opportunity to be paid because they make money for the schools, some student athletes need money for basic necessities, and the average athletes spend more time around the playing field more than the classroom.

Take football players' orientation week. It consists of 14-hour days in early August -- often in blistering heat -- with just about every minute from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. devoted to football-related activity.” (Money CNN, 2014) Since the athletes have such busy days they don’t necessarily have the time and drive to apply for a job. A few athletes know they could care less about academics because the pros is their next stop. In college basketball, a player can go to the draft after one year, they just want to be good enough. The general name is student athletes, but in some minds they are called “athlete students” because the athletes are around the field more than the classroom. According to an article on Business Insider, it stated, “Collegiate student-athletes may spend more than 40 hours a week practicing, leaving little time to keep up with academic commitments.” (2015) The average athlete spends up to 6 hours on sports related activities, which is nearly the same as a full time job or shift. In the end, more time is spent away from