Paying Student Athletes: Why should colleges pay student athletes? Many reasons come to mind of why colleges should pay the hard working athletes. Poverty, can’t afford the travel fees and equipment, and many other things.Student athletes in college should be paid because they're the ones playing the game and risking their bodies. Some players are getting paid for their name, image, and likeness. However, the rest aren't and are just playing the sport with no money. In the article “Why The Public Strongly Supports Paying College Athletes” by Nicole Kraft, it is about how in the public’s eye paying college athletes is a great thing. Kraft states, “NIL (name, image, and likeness) became part of sports landscape in June 2021 when the NCAA Board …show more content…
“Paying College Athletes Top 3 Pros” by ProCon.org the author states, “As of Nov. 17, 2020, the University of Alabama head football coach Nick Sabon was the highest paid NCAA college football coach, making $9.3 million per year.” If Nick Sabon is making $9.3 million a year that means some of his pay from athletes that don't get paid and the college is just raising his salary. On the other hand, not all colleges have enough money to pay every athlete. Alden Abbott wrote an article called “The Case Against Paying College Athletes” and in the article it talks about why colleges can’t always pay the athletes. Alden Abbott states, “Reduction of funds and fewer scholarships due to the fact of increased focus on big-revenue sports superstars.” Colleges are more worried about which athlete is going to get the public's attention and that’s when the colleges start to make money off of specific athletes. Another example of why colleges can’t pay athletes is, “Schools can't afford to pay athletes for swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, volleyball, and track and field.” The reason why colleges can't afford to pay these athletes is because the sport isn't as popular as football when you have the Rose Bowl or playoffs. Basketball is another major sport that colleges focus on because of March Madness, which can bring in more money for the
College athletes should not be paid it will ruin college sports forever. Some people believe that college athletes should be paid by the school because of all of the hard work they put in however they shouldn’t be paid because there is no fair way to pay every college athlete. There are many reasons that college athletes shouldn’t be paid one of the main reasons is that colleges don’t have enough money, the second reason is that they already get money in the form of scholarships, and there is no fair way to pay each college athlete.
College athletes are undoubtedly some of the hardest working people in the world. Not only are they living the life of an average student, they also have a strenuous schedule with their specific sport. One of the most discussed topics in the world of college athletics is whether or not student-athletes should be paid money for playing sports. The people who disagree with the idea have some good arguments to make. Primarily that the athletes get to go to school for free for playing sports. Another argument is that if student-athletes were to get paid then it would ruin the amateurism of college sports. People who are against paying the athletes do not want to see the young people become focused on money. “Paying student-athletes would dramatically shift their focus away from where it should be - gaining knowledge and skills for life after college” (Lewis and Williams). This is very understandable because one of the biggest reasons college sports are so popular is because the athletes play for school pride and for bragging rights. They play because they enjoy the game, not because it is their job. Most people that disagree with the idea of paying the athletes fail to realize what really goes on behind the scenes. At most Universities around the country the bulk of the income the school receives is brought in through the athletic programs. In fact the football and basketball teams usually bring in enough money to completely pay for the rest of the athletic programs all together. To get a better understanding of how much has changed in the world of college sports a little history must be learned.
First lets explore the history behind the paying of college athletes. Over the past 50 years the NCAA has been in control of all Div.1, 2 and 3 athletic programs. The NCAA is an organization that delegates and regulates what things college athletes can and can’t do. These regulations are put in place under the label of ‘protecting amateurism’ in college sports. This allots
Tyson Hartnett of The Huffington Post once said “Even with any type of scholarship, college athletes are typically dead broke.” This quote regards a tremendous controversy that has been talked about for the past few years. He talks about whether or not college athletes should be paid for their duties. Despite the fact college athletes are not professionals, they should most certainly be paid for playing for their respective schools due to many factors. These factors include health risks and the income bring in for their colleges as well as to the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In 2004, over 40 schools brought in more than $10 million, with 10 of them bringing in over $30 million. Several athletes around the nation are worth more than $1 million to their school (Brown). Both of these statistics are proof that while these athletes are essential to their schools, they are still kept out of the revenue. Even though these universities won’t pay their players, the schools still have no problem giving their coaches some money. In 40 U.S. states, the head coach of the basketball or football program is the highest-paid public official (Edelman).
Another reason that college athletes should not be paid is because they are, under NCAA rules, to be considered amateurs. In the National Collegiate Athletic Association Rules it states, “College athletes are not to be paid, not to cash in on their prominence, never to cross any kind of line of professionalism.” Steve Wieberg, of the USA Today, studied the rules that the NCAA has placed on paying college athletes. He concludes that, “Athletic programs are meant to be an integral part of the educational program” (Weinberg). The reoccurring theme here should be obvious now —education is the most important part of the student’s time in college and being an athlete should come second.
Today there are over 450,000 college athletes and the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) faces a difficult decision on whether or not college athletes should be paid. Many people believe that they should and many believe they should not. There are several benefits that college’s athletes receive for being a student athlete. Why should they receive even more benefits than their scholarship and numerous perks?
The debate on whether college athletes should be paid to play is a sensitive controversy, with strong support on both sides. College athletics have been around for a long time and always been worth a good amount of money. This billion dollar industry continues to grow in popularity and net worth, while they continue to see more and more money come in. The student-athletes who they are making the money off of see absolutely none of this income. It is time that the student-athletes start to see some of this income he or she may by helping bring the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are many people who do not think this is in the best interest of the student-athletes or Universities, but that being said there are also many people who are in favor of the change.
There is currently a major issue in today’s college athletics. Universities and the NCAA make billions of dollars while some student-athletes go hungry. There is a huge debate over whether or not student-athletes should be paid as employees of their respective colleges. Personally, I don’t believe players should receive full-time salaries, but Universities and the NCAA should be required to increase the value of the scholarships that they award to student-athletes. By requiring that colleges provide athletes with an additional $2,000 per semester as part of their scholarship you can greatly increase the well-being (welfare) of the students.
Are college sports an extracurricular activity or a job? The argument to pay college athletes has increased in the last few years. Some say athletes have a full time job and deserve to be paid since they are over-scheduled with many school-related activities. College athletes should not be paid because it is a privilege to play a sport for a college.
The scholarships given to college athletes are not sufficient enough to sustain them throughout the year, which is why I believe they should get paid and receive benefits. Student athletes, especially football and basketball players, play a major role in generating revenue for schools, businesses, coaches and the players do not see a penny. College athletes often do not have money in their pockets for extra food, clothes, housing and extracurricular activities. They also can potentially get dropped from their teams due to injury, leaving them incapable of paying for college. College athletes should be treated like every other employee because they work hard, and make everyone but themselves a lot of money.
In today’s society, one of the big controversies with sports is, should student athletes be be paid a salary? Some people believe that they should be paid and others would completely disagree. Even though they technically are being paid, they really are not. The only type of way the athletes would be paid is through financial aid or if they have a job. Only their education is being paid by the school. Although some people believe that they should be paid, it would not be a good idea at all. So college athletes should not be paid at all because they are basically being paid to study and play a sport.
There has always been a lot of debate on whether or not college athletes should get paid. With as much money as college sports makes from these student athletes, should these student athletes be getting paid? There are many different stances on why I feel like these student athletes should be getting paid. I will talk about some of the reasons on why they should get paid. Being a student athlete is a very stressful thing in life at that age as they are attending school full time and working extremely hard at being the best athlete they can on the field.
College athletes should be paid! College athletes are often considered to be some of the luckiest students in the world. Most of them receiving all inclusive scholarships that cover all the costs of their education. They are also in a position to make a reputation for themselves in the sporting world preparing them for the next step. The ongoing debate whether student athletes should be paid has been going on for years. These athletes bring in millions of dollars for their respective schools and receive zero in return. Many will argue that they do receive payment, but in reality it is just not true. Costs associated with getting a college education will be discussed, information pertaining to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and benefits student athletes receive. First, I’ll start with costs associated with college and most of all why student athletes should be paid!
Over time the landscape of college sports in the United States have changed drastically. Since it was created in 1906, the format of the “IAAUS” has been drastically altered five times. Not to mention the seemingly constant realignment of teams, placing teams like Memphis in the “Big East” even though they are not located in the east. (Smith, Ronald) The people who are most affected by the atrocities preformed by the NCAA are the players. Every higher up in the NCAA, from the coaches to the president of the NCAA get paid boatloads of money. These people coaches, athletic directors, athletic trainers, everyone involved are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and at the big time schools millions. Everyone gets paid except for the players, and the players are the ones who deserve it the most. They put hours upon hours into their programs and Universities on top of the school work they are required to due. They risk getting hurt or even severely, and buried under years of high medical bills. Meanwhile, the NCAA higher ups are living large off their “non-profit organization.” The NCAA recently made a huge deal with CBS and CBS sports. The deal is worth 11.2 billion dollars. The University of Alabama, alone, reported $143.4 million in athletic revenue during 2012-13. That is more money than any of the NHL franchises and 25 of the 30 NBA franchises. (Branch, Taylor) Alabama football players dedicate their lives to football and in turn the NCAA. They are the most valuable pieces to the billions of dollars the NCAA rakes in every year. In most businesses, the most important employees get paid the most. In the case of the NCAA, their most important employees are not even on the pay role.