College Athletes Should Be Paid

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College athletics have amounted to enormous popularity among Americans over the past few decades. This has resulted in increased revenues for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the participating colleges, which has started the debate about whether college athletes should be rewarded beyond their athletic scholarships. This paper will attempt to answer the question as to whether college athletes should be paid by explaining some pros and cons of this subject. Athletes form the basic unit of intercollegiate sports. Despite the success of NCAA tournaments, athletes do not receive any money for play. The main reason fronted by the NCAA for lack of payment is that payment would compromise the honor of intercollegiate athletics.…show more content…
All athletes put in almost all their free time to either practices, games, tournaments, scrimmages, and/or off season training. The athletes are the main reason their coaches get paid. If they do the work, they deserve their own share of the profit. The line between elite college athletics and the pros has been shrinking, however. Top college football and men’s basketball players put in up to 60 hours a week in games and practice, leaving them little time for academics. Injuries can saddle them with years of medical bills. Still, the average full-scholarship athlete accumulates $3,200 in debt for each year they’re in school, according to a recent study, because meal plans and other incidentals often aren’t fully covered. “There are nights that I go to bed and I’m starving.” (Shabazz Napier, a star point guard for the University of Connecticut.) Lots of college athletes go through a lot of physical and mental hard times as well, going through college sports. Physical problems, including injuries during their sport, accidents that may happen to make them have to miss a season. They also go through a lot of mental abuse as well. Anywhere from trying to compete with your best friends for spots on the team and being posted about all the time from opposing fans and being criticized for how their team might be doing with their…show more content…
They go on to the professional sports world. College athletes also have pro-recruiters coming to watch them, and scout for their teams. The athletes have a lot of stress trying to deal with that. Also trying to deal with scheduling your classes around your sport and trying to build relationships during your college years can be stressful too. It’s important to remember a few things. First, only football and men’s basketball are money-making college sports. Most others, such as field hockey, wrestling and swimming, do not attract big crowds or make big bucks. So if all college athletes were paid, the money would probably come from football and men’s basketball programs. Second, college athletes are already given something valuable. A full football or basketball scholarship to a school such as Northwestern is worth as much as $250,000 over four years. The colleges also provide the players with expert coaching and medical care, as well as the opportunity to get an education. “A gentleman never competes for money.” (American football player, coach, and sports illustrator Walter Camp.) The players also have watched their schools do almost anything to make more money through their football and basketball teams. The colleges schedule more games and tournaments every season. Weekday games are now televised, bringing in more

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