Analysis: Should College Athletes Be Paid

A question that has been rising to the surface lately is “should college athletes be paid a salary?” One cannot get on the internet nowadays and not see some kind of college sport headline. The world of college sports has been changed greatly the past decade due to college athletes. These athletes make insurmountable amounts of money and an unbelievable amount of recognition for the universities. The athletes that provide and make a ton of revenue for the colleges also spend a huge amount of their time practicing and staying committed to sports. They also have to maintain good grades in school which requires quite a bit of overtime. Because college athletes generate massive amounts of revenue and put in massive amounts of personal time for their individual universities, colleges need to financially compensate players for their contributions. The colleges that these superstars represent reaps all the benefits of the accomplishments the athletes have, yet the big named players are making nothing from what they do.

“775,000 dollars in recently acquired T.V. revenue… Of its approximately $775 million in annual revenues, the NCAA invests 96 percent, or 96 cents of every dollar, in student-athletes (APNewsBreak: College Athletes Press NCAA Reform)”. Some will say that athletes are struggling more than the average student financially. In reality “the average Division I athlete on a "full scholarship" winds up having to pay $2,951 annually in school-related expenses not covered by grants-in-aid (APNewsBreak: College Athletes Press NCAA

The NCAA or the National Collegiate Athletic Association in its 2014 total fiscal revenue collection data racked up a whopping $989 million dollars, nearly reaching a billion dollars according to USA Today Sports in article done by Steve Berkowitz. The biggest revenue earners in NCAA sports are men’s college football and basketball, with those two sports alone making $166 million alone. In addition to that $166 million, the television revenues from viewers, ticket sales, and merchandise purchases add another surplus of hundreds of millions of dollars unaccounted for. At times going respectfully to the university as their profit, where for example a standalone college like Texas A&M in the year 2014-2015 generated a total revenue of $192 million itself, which factored in ticket sales, rights/licensing to the team’s name, contributions, and other sources of revenue, according to USA

“In 2013, the average amount of money awarded to NCAA Division 1 athletes was $13,821 for men and $14,660 for women.”(Fantasy Football: College Scholarship Myths Busted). That is thousands of dollars that college athletes don't have to worry about coming up with, that other students without athletic scholarships must earn elsewhere. Despite this, some people think they should get paid more. Further more, the purpose of colleges is to educate, not to entertain. College athletes should not be paid, because if they were that would be the focus of their college experience instead of gaining an education.

Recently, the topic around college sports has been whether or not college athletes should be paid. Many student athletes have threatened to unionize and have demanded to be paid, for everything from video game royalties and jersey sales, to their god given ability. College sports have become extremely profitable throughout the years, but the athletes who perform all the spectacular dunks and jukes that keep us wanting more, see none of that money. College athletes should be paid as there are many benefits that would come with it.

For years, there have always been talks about should college athletes be paid. That conversation stirs up a huge argument it never fails. College sports such as Football, Basketball, and baseball bring in massive amounts of revenues to the university, but the players are not allowed to get a portion. Division I football players say they spend over 40 hours a week practicing or playing their sport, and fewer than 40 hours on academics. The athletes are working a full-time job when involved in sports. Not being allowed to have a job to have money for extracurricular activities. College athletes put their bodies on the line every day, risking minor injuries or sometimes even career ending injuries. In my opinion, college athletes should be

College sports raise huge sums of money, we all know that, but you may be surprised on how much money they actually make. Texas A&M, a university in Texas makes more than 190 million dollars every year off of college sports alone, and none of it goes to the athletes who

On average annually schools make all the way up to over 50 million dollars across every sport in profit. All these schools are making a great deal of money off these star athletes and they are only going to have a bunch a books in return. On the other hand, how could this affect the other programs in the school? This is where the discourse begins on whether we should pay the college athletes or, is a scholarship more than content for the student.

Collegiate sports have been a huge American pastime. Since the beginning of college level sports people have debated if college athletes should paid. College athletes should be paid because there sport requires them to work year round, therefore they do not have time to get money from a normal job. Also the hardwork and dedication it takes to be a college athlete should be rewarded because not a lot of people can go that far in their career. While it may be true that college sports are run through a school however the school gets money from these events and put elsewhere.

College athletes have a hard life. They have to keep up with their grades in school, and focus on sports. For all of the work they do and how much time they put in to sports, they should get paid. They should get money for working as hard as they do. College athletes shouldn’t get paid as much as a professional sports athlete, but they should get paid a descent amount. If all the colleges were paying their athletes, it would take away from their scholarship purposes.

Many argue that college athletes should not be paid because attending America’s top universities on scholarship is payment enough. People wonder where the money to pay these athletes is going to come from. Many schools do not have the money in their budgets to operate without student fees and investors, so finding the money to pay hundred or thousands of athletes would throw many budgets out of balance. Students question the equality of a student to a student athlete. Student athletes even question how equal individual sports are. Kristi Dosh of SportsMoney magazine questions, “How much do you pay players? Is it one set amount for every athlete no matter what the sport or the school in order to keep things fair?” (Dosh 2). There are nearly 460,000 college athletes active today, and it would be very difficult for the NCAA to decide how to pay a Division III cross-country runner versus a Division I football star.

Just about everyone would assume that colleges would pay their athletes, but unfortunately that's not the case. In fact colleges are ripping off their student athletes. Athletes that are still in college are risking their bodies, just like players that made it professional and though nothing is really done to compensate them for that. Also almost all colleges rank in their money through sports sales, and the players get none of it even though they are the reason the money comes in. And most athletes have a crammed schedule, most of that is due to the sports too.

Here are some statements from former players and officials on college athletes getting paid. These are some current players commenting on if college athletes should be paid or not. Current Seattle Seahawks cornerback (Richard Sherman) makes a big statement and impact on this argument. He says “No, I don’t think college athletes are given enough time to really take advantage of the free education that they’re given, and it’s frustrating because a lot of people get upset with student-athletes and say they’re not focused on school and they’re not taking advantage of the opportunity they’re given. They should get paid. I would love for a regular student to have a student-athlete’s schedule during the season for just one quarter or one semester and show me

College Athletes should be paid because billions of dollars are being made each year. Universities’ make most of their income from the Athletic Department. When the student enters college as an athlete, his or her role as a player become their job and lifestyle. The athletes receive scholarships, but that is still not normally enough base on each person personal need. College athletes are not allowed to work. Who will pay for all the necessary expenses if they come from poor families? College athletes make the school millions of dollars through merchandise and games. Most of the athletes that can leave school and turn professional do so, because most college athletes come from poverty.

The first reason a college athlete should be paid is that they put in more time on their game than an average american. An average full time working American works 40 hours a week based on a set salary. Division One NCAA football players spend more than 40 hours a week on their game alone. In addition to those 40 plus hours that the players use to train, travel, play, they also have to attend ten plus hours of class time each week. All around college athletes have to work more than 40 hours a week just to remain an unpaid student athlete.