Essay About Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

United States. College sports have gained tremendous popularity over the past decades attracting large crowds of fans and supporters from all over the United States. Whether it be football, soccer, basketball, hockey, or lacrosse, college sports have resulted in colossal amounts of revenue for their respective colleges or universities.

Other than the surplus revenues, intercollegiate tournaments increase the popularity and maintain the status quo of colleges. Research conducted recently by Orland Sentientnel revealed the college with the highest amount of revenues gathered from college sports program, and it happened to be the University of Texas. The university’s athletics program made $120,288,370, making it the highest of any other college or university. Still with this huge amount of revenues, no college athlete is paid for their effort towards the contribution of revenues. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, NCAA Regulations 1 states that “You are not eligible for participation in a sport if you have ever: Taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport” ("Student-Athlete Handbook", 2016). This rule makes college athletes struggle to cope with their financial demands in colleges, and it has resulted to college athletes seeking other illegal sources of revenue, for instance, being paid for sport in black markets.

The NCAA argue that they want to maintain an amateur sports image for reasons that if they make college athletics profession, it will kill the game’s spirit (Cooper, 2011). College athletes or amateur athletes as they call them have no motivation to stay in the university to complete their college degrees because many cannot manage to pay cater for the expensive college life (Hartnet, 2014). While the NCAA and

other people argue that college scholarship is enough and that college athletes should not be paid because they are just amateur athletes representing their colleges, there is an increasing need for these athletes to be compensated for saving the legality of college sports.

Reasons Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

College athletes should be remunerated for their work and effort because they are the only reason for the surplus revenues received by Athletics Programs in their respective colleges. Student athletes are going far and beyond just academics in class (Cooper, 2011).

They work hard to bring money and glory to their colleges but still are not compensated. These unique students stretch to unbelievable limits to do their respective universities a service that goes unnoticed. Like any other work, these students should be paid for their work. Without pay, colleges are simply exploiting student athletes while they make millions of dollars during intercollegiate competitions (Sonny, 2012). Student athletes work hard boosting their college’s reputation and bring in huge amounts of revenue.

Universities are using these students but do not return the favor by compensating them. Athletics are paid in every part of the world, why not college athletes? Some critics would argue that these students are amateur athletes, so if paid they would become professional athletes. While this statement could be true, Amateur Hockey League (AHL) athletes are deemed to be amateurs but are paid for their work (Strachan, 2015). Being a student athlete does not necessarily mean that the student is an amateur. When it comes to skills, college athletes possess the same quality and skills as their fellow professional players, the only difference being, compensation (Keolanui,

2014).

On average, a college athlete trains for 43.3 hours in a week, yet Americans works for only 40 hours in a week. Furthermore, university athletes are also required to study. According to the NCAA rules, students are required to skip classes to take part in sports that are televised nationally. These are the games that bring in revenue (Edelman, 2014). If the NCAA require student-athletes to sacrifice classes to participate in nationally televised games to bring in the revenue, why would they not pay them? Considering this, it is quite obvious that university athletes should be compensated.

Defining student-athletes as amateurs mean that they cannot be compensated by their colleges and therefore, cannot promote or advance themselves (Schneider, 2001). In its rules, the NCAA clearly outlines “Student-athletes shall be amateurs…and should be protected from exploitation by professional and commercial enterprises” ("Student-Athlete Handbook", 2016). As clears as this statement is, exploitation by universities and colleges is as clear as day (Martin, 2002). For a while now, the cost of education is on the rise, and when the NCAA realized these, in 2000, it approved college-athletes employment to cater for expenses.

Student-athletes were allowed to be employed in jobs that paid up to $2000 in one academic year ("Amateurism", 2013). $2000 barely covers high expenses in the university or college. Furthermore, $2000 cannot allow student-athletes to advance themselves (Cooper, 2011). Besides, with work waiting for them in the classroom and routine practice, how many college athletes find the time to look for a job? To be honest, student-athletes are already working by representing their colleges and university in courts and pitches during intercollegiate sports. While giant sportswear firms are

promoting their jerseys and fans wearing their jerseys, students do not receive a penny from it.

Some cannot even buy their jerseys. This was revealed in a documentary prepared by the ESPN in their bid to reveal the plight of college athletes. College athletes should clearly be paid. Sale of jerseys of popular college athletes is another reason while student-athletes should be paid. Sales of apparel is a lucrative business in many colleges. Colleges and the NCAA take advantage of the status of individual college athletes and the glory they bring to their respective universities for their financial gain.

When colleges sell jerseys of popular stars, they are obviously selling the image of that student. Student-athletes should gain from their image rights although indirectly, through compensations. Such sales together with gate tickets result in profits which translate to increased revenues. NCAA states that universities and colleges are not supposed to take advantage of their student-athletes celebrity status ("Amateurism", 2013). The rule equally applies to students. However, while they bar the student from capitalizing his or her celebrity status for promotional purposes, the NCAA and colleges use the student-athlete to generate billions of dollars through enrollment and more importantly through sales.

Not paying college athletes not only unethical but morally reprehensible (Keolanui, 2014). If colleges and the NCAA can afford lucrative salary packages for their coaches, why not pay students? An NCAA coach can earn on average $100,000 annually. The coach is surrounded by a technical team that helps him, coach, head the team, and even make his or work easier. Their salaries, however, cannot be compared with that of college professors who earn a little less.

One cannot deny

that coaches do an immense job to bring success to the team and the college in general, and that’s why an annual salary of $100,000 is fair. However, colleges with huge sports program pay their coaches millions of dollars annually, begging the question, why would they not the same gesture to their athletes? According to (Keolanui, 2014). “The head football coach at Alabama is reported to have made $5.5 million in the year 2013 and recently received a new contract to the tune of $7 million each year. The head football coach at Texas made slightly less; he brought in only $5.4 million”. If colleges and universities can spend more than $2 million annually on a single person, it is unreasonable not to pay college athletes.

Money does not seem to be an issue after all. Compensation of college athletes could solve the issue of college athletes quitting colleges. Is it not obvious that a large number of college athletes quit school because of financial constraint? Many athletes cannot support themselves financially while in college. Most of them quit or are lured by the prospect of making a lot of money outside the college, and rightly so. What is the point of taking part in college athletics to study for free when one can earn millions of dollars annually playing as a professional, and without NCAA rules? Compensating university athletes can help keep many students in the university to earn a degree or a diploma (Keolanui, 2014).

Paying college athletes would make them stay in colleges earn their degrees instead of being lured to professional leagues (Cooper, 2011). Perhaps this is the most important reason college athletes

should be paid. Paying student-athletes not only help them cover for college expenses that are not included in their scholarship programs but also gives them a perspective of staying in college to complete their education. The NCAA claims that college athletes are “students first and athletes second” but is not always the case because most college athletes leave for the professional league early than expected (Keolanui, 2014). Another credible reason college athletes should be paid is that it would make college sports competitive.

NCAA claim that paying student-athletes would kill the competitive spirit of the sport makes little or no sense at all. Most professional players are in the leagues because of their worth and performance. Compensation made to professional players make them more competitive through motivation. Competitiveness results to renewed contract with lucrative salary packages, sponsorship deals, and media events. Paying college students would also bring out the same spirit as witnessed in the professional leagues. Students would stay put as they would not think of other alternative sources of money to finance their need.

If student-athletes are paid, they center their focus on studies and sport, which in return eliminates fatigue that can lead to underperformance. Student-athletes would no longer chase part time jobs but instead invest the energy on the game to become better and better. Logically, paying college athletes would make the NCAA double the profit they used to make (Keolanui, 2014). And lastly, paying student-athletes would make them learn the skills of managing and saving money. Any kind of compensation would make student-athletes more responsible and help them learn the art of money management. By the time they leave college to pursue

a professional career, they would have grasped the need to manage their money properly.

Compensating students is a gesture that makes them aware of the need of the money they receive from playing sport. Another important money lesson that justifies the reason why college athletes should be paid is to learn the art of saving. Not all students come from a well-to-do family. Most students struggle through the college life. Compensating them would make them learn how to save for they know the future is uncertain (Cooper, 2011).

Conclusion

While many with the NCAA at the forefront would argue that paying or compensating college athletes is unfair, considering the fact that their scholarship is fully paid for, the truth is, college athletes’ remuneration is significant.

College athletes should be paid for many reasons including, the NCAA in collaboration with universities and colleges is more than capable to pay for student-athletes scholarship and compensate them; intercollegiate competitions generate huge amounts of money that should be used to pay student-athletes for their tremendous effort in the sports; compensation of student athletes can make them stay in school and not be lured to professional leagues through illegal channels; paying these students makes the sports more competitive, and finally, college athletes compensations can help student athletes cater for other expenses not covered by scholarship funds.

References

1. Keolanui, C. (2014). Top 10 Reasons College Football Players Should Get Paid. TheSportster. Retrieved 7 April 2016, from http://www.thesportster.com/football/top-10-reasons-college-football-players-should-get-paid/?view=all
2. Cooper, K. (2011). Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play? Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, 28(10), 12-13. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ931405
3. Hehir, Jason, Dir. (2011) “The Fab Five” Espn Films.
4. Martin, M. (2002, August 20).

   “NCAA limitations

placed upon scholarship allocation hurt sports.” The Lantern. Retrieved 7 April 2016from http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2002/08/20/Sports/Ncaa-Limitations.Placed.Upon.Scholarship.Allocation.Hurt.Sports-261460-page2.shtml