Izzy Britt

September 18, 2018

Should College Athletes Get Paid?

Being a student-athlete is a no joke, full time job. You have to lift everyday, practice with the team everyday, and individual workouts. Did I forget to say that you STILL HAVE TO GO TO CLASS TOO?

Millions of people watch college sports, from March Madness to the NCAA Football Championship.

Both generate millions of dollars. Not to forget that there are many other college sports, too.

There are many pros and cons as to whether student-athletes should get paid to play college sports.

Some reasons why student-athletes should be paid to play college sports are:

• Student-athletes make a lot of money for the NCAA and their schools, so they should get some of the profit. (Change this from a question to a statement)

• Student-athletes burn out their bodies everyday from working out all day, going to their classes, and much more. Their rewards should be some extra money to help keep them going and give them another reason to keep working so hard.

From 1993-2014, EA sports released yearly college football games. They had to stop because of an ongoing legal dispute regarding the use of player likenesses in the games.

By making profit from NCAA college football players, they could’ve given these players of cut of the money that they were making off of these video games.

Some reasons why student-athletes should not be paid to play college sports are:

• You shouldn’t have to pay a 3rd or 4th string football player, a player who isn’t getting playing time, or a red shirt player money to not play. These players aren’t really the reason for bringing in the money to the program, and paying them the same amount as a starter wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

• There are a crazy amount of student-athletes out there, paying every single one of them would put some colleges in debt.

• You would have to pay division 2 and 3 players the same amount as a d1 player, who’s also playing in front of millions of people.

Lebron James says that the NCAA is “corrupt”. “I’ve always heard the narrative they get a free education. But you guys aren’t bringing me on campus to get an education. You guys are bringing me on it to help you get to a Final Four or to a national championship,” Lebron said to reporters in February.

Carmelo Anthony also says players should be paid. “Players will stop going to college. NCAA and amateur sports have been corrupt for so long.  Yeah, they get a free education if they get a scholarship but how are they surviving on those campuses. A lot of them can’t afford food. I just wish and hope and pray that something happens.”

Many student-athletes have reported to practice more than 40 hours a week. That doesn’t leave enough time for student-athletes to get their school work done in college.

Give them something to work for, because players will just stop going to play college sports.