Analysis: Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

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College athletics has become massively popular among Americans over the past 30 years. This popularity has resulted in increased revenues for the NCAA and the colleges that compete; this increased revenue sparked the debate on whether or not college athletes should be compensated for more than just their athletic scholarships. At this point in time no college athletes are being legally compensated for their participation in their college athletic program. According to NCAA rules it is illegal to get paid for competing in an athletic program through the college. A common thing for these athletes is to be paid under the table or being compensated “illegally.” Many athletes find it difficult to stay in school with tuition prices increasing …show more content…

Athletes play an active role in the promotion of activities like the NCAA organization but do not benefit from the profits that are generated. This can be viewed as exploitation and is therefore unethical. Student athletes should be compensated for their work, as they are the sole reason for the Athletic Program’s surplus in revenue.
Another common argument is that full-ride scholarships given to the best athletes do not actually cover all their expenses, a lot of these students while being respected and publicly recognized still fall very near the poverty line. Another extremely important reason to pay college athletes is that paying college athletes would help entice them to finish their college degree. If athletes are paid to play, not only can they cover some of their college expenses that scholarships couldn’t they will continue to want to play because of monetary value of it.
Logistics wise it would be very simple for the university athletic programs to compensate their student-athletes, it has been suggested that every university pays the same flat rate to each college athlete for three years, then offer a raise to senior athletes, which would create a fairly large incentive for students to receive their …show more content…

Paying athletes would undermine the primary role of universities which is to offer education. One reason is that the lifetime skills and education that athletes receive while in college cannot be equated to the amount they would receive were they to be paid. Athletes are also aware of the contractual agreements with the universities when signing their scholarship papers. The university caters for their upkeep and gives them an opportunity to play their preferred sport at a higher level as well as earn a degree. Another downside to paying all participants in college athletics is that not all college sports teams are profitable. For example, some of the less popular teams like swimming, tennis, or volleyball don’t earn the university much money. If we were to pay all these college athletes the college would lose money in these athletic areas. Another reason the NCAA has yet to change this rule is that people are worried that the students will be paid too much considering they are in college and don’t deserve/need extremely high paying

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