College Athletes Should Be Paid

Pay For Play

Since athletes bring millions of dollars into their colleges every year, universities should compensate their athletes. College athletes today put in as much time as someone with a full time job.
Ramog Huma, a Korean College athlete and president of the National College Players Association says “college athletes are just like all other hard www.scholastic working Americans’, they should receive a fair days pay for a fair days work” (sic)(Rebeca Zisscu np.) College athletes often work 40 hours a week practicing, training, and competing. This does not include their time at school and their housing unit doing college work. To put this in perspective, a typical day for a college athlete is just like a full time job. They
wake up before class to lift or condition, go to class, then practice, mandatory study hall, and finally finish homework or study for a test (Tyson Hartnett n.p.). Although colleges claim being an athlete is not a job, athletes often miss class for a game or other sports related things. Meanwhile, the Annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament affects more than six days or classes, truly “madness” if the players aren’t “employees” (21 Reasons Why… n.p.). That is truly crazy.
Athletes bring in millions of dollars to their college every year.
“Athletic departments in colleges nationwide generate massive revenue and depend on the success of their athletes for income. For example, the Southeastern Conference became the first conference in 2010 to earn over $1 billion in athletic receipts, Taylor Branch wrote in The Atlantic last year. The Big Ten was a close second with earnings close to $905 million, he wrote” (Rebecca Barry n.p.). Opposers of paying college athletes always seem to complain “Athletes are already on scholarships, they don’t need to get paid “when in fact scholarships exceeding $20,000 may seem like a lot but in reality it only covers tuition, housing, a meal plan, and textbooks (Tyson Hartnett n.p.). No matter what type of scholarship college athletes are normally dead broke. But top NCAA executives make 1 million dollars a year; coaches on average make $100,000 a year plus bonuses for wins, records, etc. (Tyson Hartnett n.p.). Opposers also say “It is unfair to students who are paying tuition and don’t get paid to go there, for athletes to get scholarships and to get paid to go there”(Anna Simmons n.p.). When in fact the non-athletes are not bringing in money to the school like the athletes are. Universities bring in millions of dollars every year with their athletic programs through donations, ticket sales, media rights, advertising, ect. Colleges make all this money, yet most of it is not used for the benefit of the college athletes (21 Reasons
why…n.p.).

Athletes shouldn’t get paid Professional salaries but as little as $2,000 per month would give them money to spend and manage. Critics against paying college athletes often say “Athletes would not try as hard in if they were getting paid to play sports”. When in fact to be eligible to play sports you have to have a certain GPA and without this GPA you are not allowed to play, therefore, no longer receiving their payment. This factor would make players more motivated to try harder in school and to keep their grades up and continue to receive their payments. Paying college athletes comes with many benefits, such as more even teams. People against paying college athletes commonly say “If we pay college athletes won’t the biggest and richest athletic programs get all the players” (Anna Simmons n.p.) In reality they already do. Big colleges such as University of Alabama and Florida State University already get a lot of the great athletes because of the athletic programs reputations. But by paying college athletes this would reduce this because with no artificial spending limits on money, great athletes would become very expensive, and this would keep teams from stockpiling talent and make more even teams throughout the Leagues. “Schools will go broke paying college athletes to come play for them”. Yet everyday tons of businesses figure out how to pay all of their employees every day without losing money or going broke, so college athlete’s salaries shouldn’t be any harder. Schools may drop sports to better fit their budget and skills, people complain about this but quality is better than quantity (Johnathon Mahler n.p.).

Scandals in sports will decrease and possibly fade out once athletes are compensated. Many sports scandals today happen when players begin to receive unauthorized funds to be able to make ends meet due to financial reasons. Reggie Bush a Heisman trophy winner at USC and now a NFL football player was caught in a scandal involving money not too long ago. $300,000 in various benefits were given to Reggie and his family while he was playing at USC (Lulla Rivera np.). Later Reggie Bush was caught years after being in the pros and stripped of his prestigious trophy and was frowned upon in his community. Reggie coming from a low income household needed money to get him through college for items that his scholarship did not cover. Bush being a great athlete was offered money under the table to come and play football at USC. As of today, it is still illegal to be paid as a college athlete and he was penalized by losing his Heisman (Lulla Rivera np.).This all could have and can be prevented in today’s time if colleges would compensate their athletes. With as little as $2,000 to make up for what the scholar ship does not cover Bush would’ve been okay and able to make it through college and still have his Heisman today.

Athletes should be paid. Being a college athlete is a full time job. Everywhere from late night hours of studying after practice to missed classes for games. They also bring in tons of money into the school, without earning a penny. While some Administration members are making 1 million dollars a year. Besides being fair, many benefits come from paying college athletes such as more even teams, better recruiting, better grades, and reduced scandals. All in all, since college athletes bring in millions of dollars to their college every year, universities should compensate their athletes.

Citations:
Chernin, Stephen. Reggie losing his Heisman trophy. Privet colloction. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Manfred, Toney. College Football Pay Chart. Privet colloction. Web. 11 Mar. 2014

Change date on citations in the date accessed to the same as the others. (part bolded and bigger) Manfred, Toney. College Football Pay Chart. Privet colloction. Web. 11 Mar. 2014