Essay On Student Athletes Should Be Paid

Student athletes bring in billions of dollars for their universities, but what do they get in return? The money brought in by these athletes never goes to their pockets, but instead to their universities and the NCAA. While these athletes on scholarship, the talent possessed by them brings in a wealth that outdoes the amount of their scholarship. Being a college football or basketball player can be a full-time job. These players invest their lives in the sport they play; some athletes can spend insane amounts of hours on one sport. Athletes spend time in their sport and also have classes to tend to every day. Because college athletes have been bringing in billions of dollars annually for their universities; it is time they should be rewarded. The NCAA is a nonprofit organization that organizes and regulates athletes throughout universities. According to The Blue Line’s “College Athletes Should be Paid”, “The NCAA currently resides in a state of pure hypocrisy. It preaches that its main goal is to educate student-athletes, yet it continues to generate record-breaking revenues from players that must miss their classes in order to play basketball on national television.” (Gill). While the NCAA says its first priority is to allow students to further their education, it lets students participate in things that generate extraordinary amounts of revenue for the NCAA. Doing so, these student-athletes miss classes and fall behind in their education. Another thing The Blue Line’s “College Athletes Should be Paid” states is, “Deep playoff runs in both March Madness and the College Football Playoff takes students out of class, thus limiting the time they spend in class.” (Gill). When a team makes it far in the annual college basketball tournament also known as March Madness, the athletes who make a deep tournament run can miss over ten days of school. Participating in sports at universities can diminish the value of a student’s education. According to the NCAA, every student who participates in a college sport is an amateur. The NCAA looks at athletes as students and not employees. In a recent article by Matthew Green explains, “Officially considered “amateurs” by the NCAA, college athletes are contractually forbidden from receiving any kind of monetary compensation. That means they can not only receive wages, but are also prohibited from accepting sponsorship deals or any other kind of publicity-related payouts.” An amateur is a person who does something for pleasure and not for a job. Because they are considered amateurs, players such as Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota, and Jahlil Okafor couldn’t make profits even though they stand as some of the most famous athletes in the United States. The NCAA has almost total control over the market for young athletes. Money is one of the biggest reasons college sports happen. The NCAA and the universities bring in billions of dollars annually. While the players never get paid, there are employees …show more content…
The NCAA is big on the image of their players. Things like video games and jerseys that have the numbers and characteristics of the players, but belong to the school, cause problems. The Ed’Obannon court case with video games is currently in court due to a former NCAA player seeing himself on a video game and not getting any consent for it. This case is huge and is still being fought between Ed’Obannon and the NCAA. The temptations on player’s case rise when they get fame and can put the fame to use. Athletes want money for their work and self-image and can take illegal money. According to Brian Porto in Should College Athletes be Paid, “College athletes are exploited by the universities they represent on the playing field. The Athletes can see that everyone else around them is making money but they are not allowed to have any. This gives them incentives to accept illegal payments from boosters and agents or to order into deals.” This type of statement shows that college athletes feel that they get left out. They know they are the ones bringing in the money but never get anything in return. This type of problem is what causes players like Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and Georgia’s Todd Gurley to get investigated for taking illegal payments. Paying athletes could help get rid of this