It is one of the most disputed topics in college sports. Should college
athletes be paid? No, athletes should not be paid in college.
If they are not satisfied, there should be a way for
athletes to go into a sports club or minor league system, where they could be
paid, and universities could give the education to those who truly care about
it. This also would give larger universities that bring in more money an unfair
scouting advantage of offering more money than those smaller schools who will
may only be able to offer a very small amount.
The fact that many
athletes are already on scholarships shows that they are already making more
than the common student. Most students don’t receive even one scholarship from
the school. Some students work every day just so they can eat, because they
don’t have enough money. These students may start to resent their athletic
peers should they be paid.
The NCAA has said that “if
college athletes were to start being paid, many schools would leave Division I
sports” (Ganim, par. 1). Furthermore, “the universities that stayed in Division
I sports would have to start cutting other, less popular sports to be able to
afford the salaries” (Ganim, par. 2). Many of the athletes would also be left
with nothing to do and may even be forced to transfer to another school to
continue moving on in their respective sports.
If athletes were to be
paid, then the game may seem to be more about money and greed, rather than the
love of playing the sport. Again Mark Emmert of the NCAA states “if amateurism
goes away, so will the games as we know them now” (Ganim, par. 8). He goes on
to mention that many schools lose money on the sports but they keep them for
social cohesion, most likely among students who love to watch their respective
teams play.
One more huge issue is
who would actually be paid. Would all athletes receive the same pay or would
the most well-known and popular athletes receive more than those who barely get
to play? Would football and basketball (being the two largest sports) make more
than smaller sports teams because they bring in more money? This is possibly
the largest group of questions regarding whether or not athletes should be
paid. They would be the major issues needing worked out before many would
change their views on the issue.
There are many people who feel that college athletes should be paid. They have a variety of reasons as to why. They feel that because college athletes bring in so much money to the school that they deserve a cut of the pay. What they don't realize though, is that many schools are struggling to stay around, because their sports programs cost them so much money. They earn no money and in no way would they be able to pay all of their players. They feel that players are so special to the school that they deserve the compensation, but most players at any given level of any sport have been replaced and almost always are replaced.
As you can see there are
many reasons as to why athletes should not be paid in college sports. Many will
still argue this topic long after it is truly settled, but college athletes
should not be paid. That is unless there is a way for all schools to have a
fair shot at bringing in athletes by paying them.