College athletes are a huge part of our American culture, and play a huge role in the universities they attend. For example, some of these colleges bring in lots of revenue for their successful athletic teams. However, none of these college athletes get paid for their accomplishments and athletic ability, and many people think they should. If they are the reason why they bring in so much money, then why should they not be rewarded for it? But then again why should they be paid if they are getting a free education to play the sport they love? Many people forget the whole purpose of college sports.
Not all of these college athletes will play professionally, but these athletes will for sure be making a living some other way. Some of these athletes can have up to a $200,000 scholarship and attend a university which includes free housing, free meals, and most importantly a free degree. Therefore, why should they be paid if they are given so many free opportunities that most would kill for. Lots of college students across the United States have a hard time paying for college, when college athletes want to be paid on top of getting a free education. Also, some of these big universities may make a ton of money, but lots of this money goes towards the school or the athletic department. Even some universities have a hard time paying the departments expenses even if they receive a huge amount of revenue from their successes. For instance, Ohio State’s revenue only makes up one third of the university’s budget each year. This just proves how hard it would be to pay each college athlete. Also, would you pay all of the college athletes the same, or pay the better players more? What also needs to be put into consideration is do all of the college athletes on every sport team get paid? For instance, the golf and tennis teams could have as much of a time commitment compared to their school’s football team. Or do the teams that bring in the most revenue pay their athletes? Obviously it would be extremely unfair to only pay certain teams over others because why should certain college athletes be put on a pedestal over others?
Also, the idea of college sports would completely change if the NCAA starts paying these college athletes. The main point for these athletes to play in college is that they should to want to play the sport they love. If they started to get paid it would take away the real incentive as to why they should be playing. Also, what about the division three schools? Should smaller schools pay their athletes, or should only the well known schools with successful sports team pay their athletes? Overall, the whole idea of paying these athletes would cause more problems than benefits. Therefore, why should the NCAA take away from the sport. The whole premise of participating on an college athletic team is to possibly gain opportunities to pursue a career professionally, or to merely appreciate the opportunity to continue playing the sport they love.
Therefore, the many who believe they should be paid need to look at the grand scheme of things. The NCAA actually does not have enough money to pay every college athlete, and you cannot just pay certain college teams over others. It would completely take away the love for the game. It would also make college sports more of a business deal, and would may discourage athletes to continue playing after high school. The whole premise of playing a sport is because the athlete enjoys playing it, not because they want to make money. Especially many of these college athletes receive so many benefits from these higher education institutions, so why should they receive more of a reward when they already do not have to pay a cent to attend college?
Ryder, Lesley. “Don’t Pay College Athletes.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Nov. 2011, www.huffingtonpost.com/lesley-ryder/pay-college-athletes-_b_968479.html.
Sport Debates 