College Athletes Should Be Paid
Outstanding college athletes have the opportunity to attend higher education on a scholarship and it is their superb play in the field, on the court, rink, or in the pool that has given them their edge.
College athletes are the reason a university becomes well known. The athletes are getting a “free” education, but they still are paying for the following: tuition, (in some cases) food, board, travel, books, and other materials needed during the course of the school year. Money is the game changer for athletes; some athletes are even quitting the sport because they can not afford the necessities of school. The college athletes are bringing in over “10.8 billion dollars for their outstanding play on the field, court, rink, and even in the pool, and are not getting one penny for it” (Where Does The NCAA Get its Money). It is clear that the athletes who play a college sport, are the ones who make the money and they do not get anything for that.
These players are not being paid for the entertainment that they provide people, and this issue should be changed. For this first time in 2015, the NCAA is starting to allow some schools to pay their athletes for food, laundry, and social activities (Isidore 1). Scholarships cover the tuition that is needed to attend college. If an athlete is going to school to play sports in college, they put everything they have into that specific sport. Sports jerseys have players’ names on the back, players are sponsored by video games, the players go to the signing, and not one penny is received for their excessive work.
The NCAA states that they just do not have the money to pay the athletes. Former players in college and men who played in the NBA have said, “‘I would try to find a way to compensate players for their time. It’s a full-time job. If you play college athletics, if you play college football, college basketball, it’s a full-time job”‘ (Strachan 1). These quotes prove the point that the athletes NEED the money for school.
Shane Battier was a supporter of this topic, and he was not only a basketball player, but he also went through the same situation that the players are struggling with today. Shane Battier is a former basketball player for Duke University, who played for the Miami Heat. Recently, he had an interview with the Huffington Post about the controversial topic on whether or not he thinks the athlete should be paid. Paying the athletes could take away for the coaches getting their pay for their job. ” I did not have time to get a part-time job [when you play college basketball or football], so when I was in college, things like buying a pizza for my girlfriend –who is now my wife — or going to a movie, I necessarily couldn’t afford.” (Strachan 1) Shane Battier is a perfect example to use when the NCAA is deciding whether or not to pay the athletes.
This quote from Battier shows that college athletes do not have enough money to support themselves during the four years of college. In 2012, a law in California was passed called the “Student-Athlete Bill of Rights, which required the university of California Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, and USC to pay for medical expenses for sport related injuries” (Emmert 2). With the money the athletes could potentially make for the universities, their medical experiences should be covered because the money is coming from their play. Paying these athletes could also be something that would make the professional level not as much as an accomplishment as it is to the NBA players now. Going to college is still school and students go there to find their pathway for when the graduate, school does not work.
“Take a step back and look at the whole picture. A college is a place for people to obtain a degree and help jumpstart their “real world” career aspirations. Whether people want to capitalize on that opportunity or not is up to them. However, it is not a place for athletes to get paid to play sports, that’s why the professional level exists. Remember student comes first in student-athlete” (McCauley 1).
This quote is explaining that there is no point in paying the athletes because at the professional level players can negotiate to play for millions of dollars. College athletes that go to school for not only a high education but to get the best experience with playing the sport of their dreams. Basketball and football players bring in over two billion dollars to the NCAA sports program, and they are what makes that university known, and why kids dream to go to that same college as their favorite player. College’s should pay their athletes for their amazing play while they competitively compete in front of millions of fans.Having the athletes get paid not only helps them, and supports them, but it makes the player continue to play that sport all four years and the school would make more money. Giving these players money for their superb play will teach them how to properly save the money they make, which will help them in the future.
Shane Battier, a former Duke player and also a player for the Miami Heat, strongly supports the topic; whether or not these athletes should be paid, as he went through the experience that players are going through today.The athletes should be paid due to their superb play and advertise their school or university.
