Should Student Athletes Be Paid Essay

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One of the lingering issues right now in sports is whether or not student athletes should be paid for their participation in collegiate sports. A lot of schools and athletic programs argue that there are reasons why athletes should not be paid ,but the school consumes their time with athletics that leaves little time for the classroom while making a lucrative amount of money off the student athletes. Student athletes should be compensated for their efforts in athletics because of the income they generate for the school, the big time commitment in athletics, and the health risks while participating in a sport. College athletes at certain levels help generate millions of dollars for their respective universities. Even though they help bring…show more content…
The NCAA claims student athletes are compensated with a free education, but this is not true if most of their day is consumed on the practice field and other related activities. There are over 460,000 student-athletes nationwide who struggle with balancing athletics with academics and collegiate life. (He, Eric) It does not seem fair for the College Athletic Association to treat them like employees when essentially college athletics is a full time job while limiting their time to devote to education. Even though these young adults are called student athletes, with the student before the athlete, they are not treated this way. The weekly schedule for a average college football player is very similar to full time job with 40-50 hours a week devoted to football related activities. During the regular season, the football players will be given up to 16-hour daily itineraries. This does not include road games, which will consume up to 24 hours of time on a Friday and Saturday alone. For the majority of college student athletes, playing professionally in their sport under scholarship is not in their future. This means they must have to work extra hard and submit to a strict and exhaustive lifestyle in order to keep up with their scholarship. A scholarship that is more focused on the athlete side of things rather than the
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