Should collegiate athletes get paid while pursuing their education?
This topic has been up for discussion for several years, there has been arguments both sides in which some agree that collegiate athletes should get paid and some argue they should not.
Statistics show “more than 460,00 NCAA student-athletes- more than ever before compete in 24 sports every year.”
According to New Mexico State University’s statistic athletic page the total amount of revenue related to sports is approximately $24,074,291/yearly. Collegiate athletes bring in an obscene amount of the school's income in which they do not receive any of the proceeds due to NCAA rules and regulations. These student athletes can not receive financial support, benefits, and or gifts from agents or anybody associated with collegiate athletic programs according NCAA rules and regulations.
Student athletes have a rigorous work program they deal with on a daily basis, this includes, 3-5 hours of daily practice, (about 18+ hours a week) traveling to and from away games, having to maintain a 2.5 GPA to remain eligible to play. With this amount of workload that these student athletes face shouldn’t they be paid?
Although the NCAA claims college athletes are just students, the NCAA's own tournament schedules require college athletes to miss classes for nationally televised games that bring in revenue. Only in this year according to the University of Alabama they reported $143.3 Million in athletic revenues which is more than all 30 NHL teams and 25 of the 30 NBA teams. Many of the revenues collected from college athletics do not go directly back into the classroom. Instead, a substantial share of college sports' revenues stay in the hands of a select few administrators, athletic directors, and coaches.
Universities profit from these athletes in every way imaginable. If it were not for majority of the athletes bringing people to the seats, universities would lose a substantial amount of income. Universities also market these athletes; from star football quarterbacks to all star volleyball players. They make money on jersey sales and memorabilia which represent these athletes. The only “perks” that these student receive are scholarships, and athletic wear. As nice as that may be, athletic wear doesn’t fill their stomachs or put gas in their vehicles
Collegiate athletes having to maintain the required GPA, and the amount of stress they carry day to day having to train for sports and continue their studies at the same time is understandable at why some may agree that collegiate athletes should be paid to play sports while pursuing their education.
With college athletes having so much on their plates to handle I see no reason for them not to paid a little bit of money for them to be able to survive off of. I don't think they should get a lot of money some at least. I know a few college athletes right now on full ride scholarships that do struggle to pay there bills.
I agree with you. Students should get paid maybe not millions but at least something that can help them support themselves while attending college. Earning some money while doing something they love is great. It also lifts some weight off their shoulders knowing they do not need to find a job to support basic necessities.
ReplyDeleteYou have a very interesting point. While I'm not an advocate of student athletes getting paid, I am an advocate of free public education... with some caveats. Maybe the NCAA should pay for students education, room and board? After all, those are profiting tremendously from the work of others. Shouldn't they pay back?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would argue that ALL students should get free tuition and room/board; the payback would be that they have to work for the government for a few years in their chosen field (the feds need people with ALL sorts of knowledge and skills) to pay back the bill. That way, no one ends up saddled with massive amounts of student debt when they get out and they still give back to their community.
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