College Athletes should be paid

For as long as college sports have existed, student-athletes have not been paid, but the demand for payment for these students has increased with time, as the industry of college sports continues to grow. There are plenty of strong and reasonable arguments for both sides of the discussion, which has made it the easy decision for the NCAA to just leave it the way it is. As time has gone on, the amount of money made by the main conferences of college sports has rapidly increased, which has only spiraled the debate out of control. Players, according to the NCAA, are paid back for their work with scholarships. Still, due to the substantial amount of money brought in as a result of the hard work put in by male college football and basketball players, these athletes deserve a reasonable amount of payment on top of their scholarships. The simplest argument for this viewpoint is the fact that college football and basketball generate billions of dollars annually, and they are still a growing business. The fact that so much money is made solely off of the entertainment of watching these young talents play, yet they receive $0.00 is outrageous. The players in college sports must be paid back for bringing in so much money year in and year out.

College sports is a tough industry to get into, as it requires an absurd work ethic and loads of natural talent. Therefore, being involved in Division-1 football or basketball could be considered a full time job. Focusing on classes and learning a subject that could lead to a future career is another activity that requires countless hours of work. When potential professional athletes are given full-time scholarships, they feel the pressure to do well in their athletics and not their education. Making their sport a job and giving them some payment for their work could relieve the stress of these students having to find another job, and it could lead to them having a better experience in their academics. Also, the opportunity that these Division-1 college athletes are given is extraordinary in the way that their experience could be setting them up for a long career in the professional leagues. Many people say that this is another way that college athletes are paid, as if they happen to go pro, they end up making millions of dollars. However, this scenario where the college star football or basketball player later makes a living off of playing their sport is rare. Only 1.7% of college football players make it to the NFL, and only 1.2% of college basketball players play in the NBA. On top of that, the average career for a player in the NFL lasts roughly three years. This means that the majority of college football or basketball players end up coasting through their college career without an education because of their optimism in their sport. Most of them waste their education and therefore waste the opportunity they were given. If these players are paid, they can at least say that they got a little out of their years. A possibly deal-breaking point is that players of sports other than men’s basketball and football would not receive payment for their work, even though they put in just as much work. It can be imagined that the star pitcher for UCLA’s softball team, or the goalie for Boston College’s hockey team would be agitated as they watch their fellow students receive money while they did not. Seeing this system set up would almost be cruel to other sports players, and knowing that these sometimes desperate for money students would be told that there is no money for them because the sport they play is not popular enough. Hopefully, there would eventually be enough money for the student-athletes of other sports after college football and basketball players are paid.