Why Should College Athletes Be Paid

Student-athletes attending college often have a tight schedule, as their time is managed by school and sports. Athletes, their responsibility is to manage their practice, study, and maintain good grades as full-time students. However, where do these students manage to squeeze in a part-time job to provide for themselves? The National Collegiate Athletic Association, otherwise known as NCAA, provides students with scholarships but does not permit other financial payments. Student-athletes are not considered professionals, as the NCAA refers them to as amateurs considering scholarships would be fair to non-athletic students.

Often student-athletes find themselves going homeless trying to maintain sports and schooling at the same time. The question lies in whether the NCAA should provide student-athletes money, as colleges collect millions of dollars in revenue. There are numerous reasons supporting student-athletes receiving payments, and having trouble squeezing in a job is one of them.

Why Should College Athletes Be Paid? College students’ perceptions on the payment of intercollegiate student-athletes written by Raymond Schneider, explains the survey method results of whether student-athletes should be paid.

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Schneider states, “This investigation used the survey method to analyze college students' perceptions on additional payments, beyond an athletic scholarship, to intercollegiate student-athletes”.The results of the survey-based method provided a majority of their answers towards paying student-athletes for their time in sports.

He later states, “Overall, 54% of all respondents believed student-athletes should be paid for intercollegiate athletics participation.” Many athletes face the irony of being empty-handed as their school collects millions of dollars in revenue for their time in sports. Furthermore, he concludes the article by stating, “The results of this study suggest that college students believe student-athletes should be paid in addition to an athletic scholarship”. Scholarships have provided thousands of students a better part of education, but only a small part of financial responsibilities.

Matthew Brooks emphasizes the idea of providing separate incomes for student-athletes in his article, College athletes deserve to be paid for their play. Brooks argues, “College athletes should be making money in some way related to the sports that they play. Because of this, it only makes sense that college athletes should have some of the same financial opportunities as their professional counterparts.” Arguments of providing additional income would be thought to be unrealistic, as athletes are handed top scholarships. To justify the authors' opinion of paying student-athletes claiming, “Many students average 30 hours of practice a week, while some spend over 40. When you combine that amount of time with the time spent in classes and the time spent doing homework, it’s practically impossible for them to find time to work a part-time job to earn some spending money” Small percentage of collected revenue would become ideal to athletes who may struggle to squeeze a part-time job being a full-time student. The authors' argument justifies the idea of the NCAA paying athletes the money they deserve from their multi-million collected revenue.

Furthermore, The NCAA has yet to provide students with accurate endorsement deals for student-athletes, as it has been reported the millions they have collected in the year 2017. Several questions have surfaced wondering how colleges split revenue, while not having any percentage go towards athletes. The author of Paying College Athletes: Answers to Key Questions on New Law written by Allan Blinder, states how the law may change an athlete's ability to make such deals towards monetary. Blinder explains how the new California law may be passed in favor of allowing such deals of the public image to be displayed. Hiring agents to take over publicized endorsement deals would allow a safer route for athletes their focus could align more on school, as well as their public image in sports. As he later continues stating, “The law says that universities, athletic conferences, and the N.C.A.A. cannot punish students for reaching such deals by stripping them of scholarships or keeping them from playing.”The NCAA may take a while to jump on the same idea of paying athletes but should see the perspective of students who put their blood, sweat, and tears for getting nothing in return.

As controversy about athletes receiving monetary deals, overall how do they feel about the topic? Student-athletes struggle to maintain a balanced schedule through their time in sports, as schools emphasize the importance of their winnings. Elaine Povich, explains how colleges do not pay athletes when their talents are displayed for money. She states, “Some bills would allow the players to join a union and collectively bargain for remuneration. Others would allow them to qualify for worker’s compensation in the event of an injury. All are aimed at cutting the players in a system that pays coaches millions and earns multi-millions for the colleges and universities.”Bargaining the NCAA regarding student-athletes being for their hard work has undoubtedly produced serious revenue. For instance, basketball and football have been reported to be watched on television more than the NFL or NBA. Although not one cent is paid to athletes, who make the entertainment possible. The average revenue collected from college sports has been reported to generate billions for their sports. She concludes the article by stating, “But not all college athletes can cash in, only the ones who are drafted by leagues like the NBA, NFL, and NHL, or WNBA, and the odds of being drafted are slight”. The chances of being drafted to major leagues are slight as the author mentioned previously. Every student-athletes may not have the opportunity to join the billion-dollar leagues, however, they show a good example of what hard work looks like. Because of their hard work, injuries, and dedication they display should show the NCAA a chance to provide a percentage to their athletes.

In conclusion, the topic of paying student-athletes has many opinions on whether the NCAA should pay a small percentage. As the NCAA continues to collect millions of dollars, athletes provide a good example of juggling the grades and games, as their time equals a full-time job. Many athletes struggle to provide for necessities when trying to provide for themselves. Often athletes have to ask themselves if their time in sports may be worth struggling with the debate in the future. Financial opportunities would allow a healthier lifestyle, as students would hopefully not turn in the wrong direction. That's why should college athletes be paid. The majority of athletes are not paid for their time in sports, however, they should receive a percentage to help provide for themselves.