College Athletes, is it Worth the Pay?

Olivia R. - LLI Cincinnati

An amateur, as defined by the NCAA, is someone who has not profited above his/her actual and necessary expenses or gained a competitive advantage in his/her sport. But, is this really true? Are students athletes amateurs, or are they professionals that don’t get paid? It is not easy having to decide if paying football and basketball players is worth the risk of having other students complain about not being paid.

I do think that students athletes should get paid because if students are getting paid, they will be able to pay off debt to college athlete injuries and will be able to pay the rest of college funds, if they don't have a full scholarship.

“The argument against paying students athletes is that if you pay two division I or II teams you should pay all division I or II teams. ”

Personally, I agree with that, because basketball and football are not the only division sport teams. There are other sports that you can get physically hurt by and are bringing in revenue to support the college's funding.

Another argument against paying students athletes is that if we start paying these athletes they are only going to be focused on money and not school and education. I think a solution to solve that problem would be that we make it mandatory for all students athletes to keep about a 2.5 GPA and just to do two years of college. Yes, I agree college education is super important, but we should let the college student choose. If they are good enough and want to go professional, let them. If not, that’s okay too.

It can be tricky in the way college sports run and how these students spend a lot of their lives going towards a goal, but if we don't give them the chance to do that, how are they going to score.

 

SOURCES CONSIDERED: 

  • "Amateurism." Web blog Post. NCAA.org. 15 September 2017.
  • "Amateurism Eligibility Requirements." Web blog Post. NCAA.org. 15 September 2017. 
  • Martinez, Madison. "Should College Student-Athletes Be Paid? Both Sides of the Debate." Web blog Post. Blog. CollegeXpress,  20 March 2017.
  • Boor, William. "College Athletes Do Not Deserve to be Paid, Now or Ever." College Football. Bleacher Report, 6 June 2011. 
  • Mandel, Stewart. "Why the NCAA Won't Be Paying College Athletes Anytime Soon." NCAA FB. FOX Sports, 15 Nov. 2016. 
  • Wilbon, Michael. "College Athletes Deserve to be Paid." College Sports. ESPN, 18 July 2011. 
  • Tracy, Marc and Strauss, Ben. "Court Strikes Down Payments to College Athletes." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 30 Sept. 2015. 

 

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