College Athletes Should be Compensated

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Today there is much controversy over the subject of compensating college athletes. Some believe that providing a payment would further complicate the issue, but others say that it would end all of the problems. College athletes should receive some form of compensation for participation in collegiate sports due to the hardships they endure, a failure of scholarships to cover all expenses , the exploitation of college athletes by the colleges and universities they play for, a disparity between coaches’ and players’ compensation, and the hypocrisy of National Collegiate Athletic Association’s rules.

A recent report states that playing at a large basketball or football program takes the same amount of time as a full time job (Sports Illustrated 2011). The athletes that come from less fortunate families cannot always rely on their family for money, and since they are playing a sport that takes so much time, they have little or no time for a job (USA Today 2008). The most influential college athletes have a full-time responsibility to the sport they play. They have an agreement with their “bosses” (coaches) and their team in the form of scholarships. They are paid with a college education, and most of the expenses along with it. Some athlete’s main goal is not to be educated, but to play a sport (Griffin 75). A study conducted by the NCAA discovered that players that played for the highest ranking schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) committed close to 43.3 hours a week to football related activities. It also found that Division I men’s basketball players spent around 39 hours a week related to basketball (Sports Illustrated 2011).

When asked if he believed a college education is payment enough for a college...

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... Greenhaven Press 2008.

Pros.cons on pay for play. (2008) USA Today. 13 September 2011.
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Report: Top college athletes worth 6 figures. (2011) Sports Illustrated. 19 September 2011. tp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/09/12/college.athletes.value.ap/index. htm>

Should Student-Athletes Get Paid? (2010) The Sport Digest. 13 September 2011. rtdigest.com/archive/article/should-student-athletes-get-paid> Whiteside,Kelly. College athletes want cut of action. USA Today. 31 August 2004. 22 September 2011.
Why student-athletes are not paid to play. NCAA. Nd. 22 September 2011.

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