Why College Athletes Should be Paid Essay

all over the globe generating a lot of money to the industry. The most common college games, for instance, the men’s basketball and football, made large amounts of money to the industry. Due to a large amount of money made by the college athletes, their coaches are well paid. For instance NCAA football coach, Saban Nick, made $7.3 million last year while Krzyzewski Mike, who is the basketball coach, made $9.6 million the same year. The NCAA and the coaches make a lot of money because of the college athletes. This is unfair not to pay the athletes for their performances. Hence, the college athletes should be well paid.
College athletes make money for their colleges in many ways apart from making money for the NCAA and their coaches. One of the ways is that it markets the college all over the globe. For example, the Butler University undergraduate applications increased by 43% after the University basketball team qualified for the finals for two consecutive years. Different Universities sell player jersey online making a lot of money (Coakley). For example, the fans can buy officially trademarked Florida Gators shirts with prices ranging from $35 and $350. The NCAA does not allow the use of amateur’s name to make money. To evade this, the parties involved in the production of the jerseys such as the Nike use the player’s team number instead. The jerseys are marketable, and they make a lot of money out of them. This is not good for the college and other parties to make money out of the college athlete names, yet the athletes receive no benefits. They should be considered to be

part of it and be well paid.

The TV stations in the United States pay a lot of money for them to broadcast any college games. The huge premiums enable the stations to air the athletes and even to use them for any advertisement. The spectators also have to buy expensive tickets for them to watch the games live. Michigan made close to $4 million last year from TV stations only (Stewart and Albanese ). Considering the total revenue made by the college athletes from basketball, football, and other NCAA games, it accounts to large sums of cash. Furthermore, the community benefits mostly from the college games. They make money from the many people coming to watch the college games in the town. Different kind of businesses such as the hotels, ticket brokers, and bars generate more incomes during the tournaments. Hence, the athletes play a great role in improving the economy of the country, and they should be appreciated for it. Paying the athletes will encourage them, and they will attract more spectator hence generating more income (Chen).

In the United States both colleges and universities term student-athletes as amateurs. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), an amateur is not allowed to participate in sports to generate income or to promise for pay. If you take any pay, you should never engage in college games but participate in professional games for that sport. The NCAA calls for the need of protecting college athletes from exploitation. The athletes should be protected from exploitation by commercial enterprises and professionals. But, considering this statement stated by the NCAA, universities and colleges are then exploiting student-athletes. The NCAA

are part of this exploitations. The colleges and NCAA make a lot of money from the athletes hence ignoring the above statement. After exploiting them to generate income, they cannot even give them any benefits. This is illegal, and the college athletes should be well paid.

A survey done shows that many student-athletes in the United States take scholarships because they were unable to join college due to financial constraints (US News. ). A college athletic scholarship offers room, tuition, and books only. Due to their poor background, their families cannot provide any financial support to them. So for the athletes to survive in college, they have to create their own time to work. However, it is hard for the college athletes to balance the responsibilities they have. In a day, they have to play their sport, work a job and attend classes which are nearly impossible to achieve. According to Hartnett, the athletes have to attend classes up to 4 pm and then for practice (Hartnett). Hartnett interviewed his roommate Victor in college who had to work a job till late night so as to earn extra money to meet his daily needs (Victor). During tournaments, his roommate was unable to work because they could travel to different places. Hence, the college athletes cannot do any job and play their sports at the same time. Travelling during games seasons costs them a lot, and they need extra money for them to enjoy college life even watching a movie. The athletes then should be paid so as to meet their needs as they cannot work.

The United States is constructed on a free and fair enterprise system.

The system should give the college athletes the right to be paid well. The free enterprise system allows anyone to earn profit legally with limited regulations. However, the NCAA deny the athletes to enjoy their rights as American citizens. NCAA are not adhering to this right, and they are making a lot of money from the athletes. The government should then stop the NCAA from using the athletes to earn money, yet they are not willing to pay them any money. This is a form of exploitation, and it should be prevented. College athletes are also denied to sign any deals with commercials for them to earn money, and this is unfair to them. The athletes should be given the chance to earn money for their hard work.

I support that the college athletes must be paid, but the NCAA and the colleges also have a reason why they should not pay the athletes. Student-athletes main reason in college is to acquire education. They are provided with free education by the college, and they participate in college games for them to get professional contracts. When the student-athlete signs a contract they can play as professionals and be well paid. Colleges see that if they pay the athletes, they will be pushing them away from academics instead of bringing them closer for a better future. The arguments provided are true but we should consider that the athletes still need money. Some of them are not even provided with all the requirements for studies by the college yet than athletes are dedicated to their respective sports. Reforms have to bed to stop the athletes from suffering and be

paid for what they work hard for daily.

The question that how should the student-athletes be paid may arise. There are many ways in which the money to be used to pay the athletes can be obtained. The NCAA in itself can share the billion dollars they make yearly to the student athletes. NCAA and CBS signed a $10.8 billion television deal for the next fourteen years. The athletes can be paid using part of this money without even considering the other many ways in which the NCAA make money from the college games. The colleges can pay the athletes well from the benefits they get from the players. This only requires the change of law by the NCAA to allow colleges to pay the athletes (Madesen). The colleges should offer sponsorships and allow athletes to get money from commercial enterprises. This will encourage the athletes, and the colleges will be able to generate more publicity by creating future star athletes.

In conclusion, the student-athletes should be paid due to their accomplishments and hard work. Most of the athletes in American colleges struggle to meet their basic needs because the scholarship covers not everything. The athletes have to enjoy their private life like taking their girlfriends out to watch a movie, but they cannot do that without extra money. Money can be reallocated from senior officers in NCAA to pay the athletes. The large amounts of money paid to NCAA board members, coaches and NCAA itself can be reduced so as to compensate the student-athletes well. The NCAA law can be then changed to allow the athletes to be paid and even sell their products to commercial

enterprises for money. This will motivate future athletes to join colleges and not to run to professional bodies directly. Universities and colleges should begin compensating the student-athletes for their work.

Works Cited

1. Chen, J. Jay Bilas argues for colleges to pay student athletes. . 8 October 2013. Document. 23 May 2016. <http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/10/08/jay-bilas-argues-colleges-pay-student-athletes>.
2. Coakley, J. Sports in society: Issues and controversies. New York: McGraw-Hill., 2007. Print.
3. Hartnett, T. Why college athletes, should be paid. 21 October 2013. Document. 23 March 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tyson-hartnett/college-athletes-should-be-paid_b_4133847.html>.
4. Madesen, R. The role of the NCAA and the need for reform in big-time college sports. Academic Exchange – EXTRA. Retrieved from. 3 June 2001. Print. 24 May 2016. <http:/www.unco.edu/AE-Extra/2001/3/NCAA.html>.
5. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Perf. J Stewart and R Albanese . Prod. Jon Stewart. 2011. TV Broadcast.
6. US News. College Athletes Should Get Paid Survey. PhD Thesis. New York: U.S.News & World Report, 2013. Print.
7. Victor, R. Why College Athletes, should be paid. T Harnet. 21 October 2013. Document.
8. Wilbon, M. College athletes, deserve to be paid. 11 July 2011. Print. 23 May 2016. <http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6778847/college-athletes-deserve-paid>.