College Athletes: What is Fair Compensation?

College athletes devote much of their time and energy to their teams, and in return typically the teams often receive most of the money, so in return, student-athletes should be paid. College Athletics brings billions and billions of dollars toward the industry that attracts many more participants each year. As the years go by universities and athletes become much more competitive, which results in better performances and more revenue generation towards both the universities and athletics. Due to the nature of the sports industry, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) which, was founded in 1906 to protect the young athletes from these exploitations and has since continued to implement the policy.

The NCAA has always had a major emphasis, on both athletics and academic excellence and is tasked with the role of making and implementing laws in college sports.

The first reason college athletes should be paid because college athletes are often considered to be some of the luckiest young students in the world.

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Most of the time they’re riding on full-fledged scholarships that cover all the costs of the school; plus, they are in a prime position to make a reputation for themselves in the sporting world and prepare for the big leagues. However, there are a lot of problems with how college athletes are treated, and many students, coaches, team owners, and organizational members (such as those at NCAA, or the National College Athletic Association) are demanding reform. Their main desire? To see that dependable college athletes are getting paid for their skills on the field.

Many people believe college athletes need to be paid because financially, they are being taken advantage of by the NCAA and school systems.

These organizations are raking in huge profits from merchandise sales, live events of media coverage. Unlike the professional leagues, though, the athletes don’t get a cut. College teams may not have the same national weight as some professional ones, but they are just as avidly followed by thousands of adoring fans. Tons of merchandise, jerseys, tickets, food, and fan paraphernalia is sold thanks to their performances – but despite being the main reason the events are generating revenue; the players don’t see a dime. Many athletes feel discouraged and mistreated because they don’t receive any of the money that is generated on their account. Why should others keep benefiting from their performance while the get nothing back? College sports wouldn’t exist without the athletes, and it’s not fair that these hard-working, hard-playing individuals don’t get to benefit from sales attributed directly to them. The NCAA and other organizations will even put a college player’s name on a jersey, hat or other sportswear and never send a penny to the player. Student-athletes should not only be able to receive a percentage of revenue generated on their account, but also be able to pursue business deals and endorsement opportunities.

Many college athletes are kept back from pursuing these types of deals by their school, even though there’s nothing in regulations that should bar it. College athletes deserve financial recognition for the merchandise profit they generate, as well as the opportunity to pursue their own financial gains. As athletes, they work hard on the field every day to bring in fans and wins for their school; it’s only fair that they are rewarded for their efforts, at least in some small way. A $25,000 scholarship may seem like a lot of money, but it really only covers the basics. It covers thousands of dollars in mysterious, unknown university fees, tuition, housing, a meal plan, and multiple hundred-dollar textbooks. Some players, if they come from a low-income household, get a few hundred dollars each semester from Pell Grants which enables them to buy chicken soup instead of chicken-flavored ramen. Contrary to what all the opponents believe, being an athlete is a full-time job.

On a typical day, a player will wake up before classes, get a lift or conditioning session in, go to class until 3 or 4 p.m., go to practice, go to a mandatory study hall, and then finish homework or study for a test. For a little extra money to see a movie or go out to dinner once a week, my freshman roommate worked a job at the university, earning about $7/hour. He would work his butt off all day, with two or sometimes three basketball training sessions, plus classes and homework, and go to that job for a few hours late at night. He would come back exhausted, but he needed whatever money they would pay him.

However, once the season started up, he couldn’t work that job anymore. We were on the road all the time, even gone for two straight weeks at one point. The teachers let us do our work from the road, but the job wasn’t going to pay you just because you were playing basketball on a road trip. The team gave us meal money (about $7 per meal) so we could get chips and condiments with our sandwiches, but anything else was considered an NCAA violation. The point of this is that a scholarship doesn’t equal cash in a player’s pocket. Even with any type of scholarship, college athletes are typically dead broke. But how much do the top NCAA executives make? About $1 million per year.