College students should get paid because of all the income they bring in for their school while playing. For example, in the article “Why College Athletes Should Be Paid” by Tyson Harnett he says “Many coaches earn at least $100,000 per year to coach one of the major basketball, baseball, football at a school. “They will receive bonuses for going to the playoffs, winning championships etc.” “You know what the athletes receive as a gift? Nothing.”(Harnett). Despite the significant help, college players have been for their schools and the revenue they bring in they get nothing in return.
Just recently, a question crossed my mind after I had watched my brothers do this routine for so long now. Why don’t these football players get paid? I wear jerseys with their names on the back, I buy tickets to their games, I watch them play on television all the time, and my brothers are constantly playing video games with the players image in it. But somehow, the only compensation they get is there scholarship. The football players don’t get any of the extra money that they are bringing in for the National Collegiate Athletic Association or for their schools.
The only difference is that players in the NFL are being compensated for their efforts. Also, they claim that the many hours spent in training or games is deserving of some form of payment. However, the NCAA is claiming that these athletes are at universities for the education not the athletics. Furthermore, when referring to the NCAA website, the 20 hour rule is in place to keep the focus on school. In short, this rule puts a limit, of twenty hours, on the amount of time athletes can allocate towards their sport.
I mean sure they work hard for what they do, but at the end of the day we are all students. Athletes not only get their tuition paid for, they also receive free books, special tutoring classes, and housing at no cost. Student athletes should not have the privilege to receive all these advantages because not only is it not fair to the regular students in the university, but also because a few games and a couple of practices does not make them all-stars. A survey was given to ten students at Florida International University, viewing their opinion on the issue. The survey conducted, argued both sides of the topic.
The first time this question was asked was by Howard Savage, a staff member of the Carnegie Foundation. In 1930 he asked if such a big corporation such as colleges and universities can concentrate its attention on securing their teams to win while not paying the players who came to their schools for education in the first place. The answer is simple. College athletes should get paid for playing sports during their college career. One of the main reasons is that college sports are very popular and the attendance, especially at the football and basketball is growing every year and breaking attendance records.
These student athletes definitely surpass that. These sports become less extracurricular and more of a lifestyle once they reach the collegiate level. They aren’t doing it just for “fun” anymore. They are doing it to hopefully pursue a career out of it as well as to assist them in paying for their education. In the past, college sports have been more amateur which is why they didn’t get paid.
But should companies like Nike have to give student athletes a piece of their jersey sales? Absolutely. The NCAA throws the word amateurism around far too often. There is a fine line between remaining an amateur and becoming a professional in the eyes of the NCAA. Turning pro does not guarantee endorsements and royalties; it simply means that an athlete will be paid to play for his organization.
It all starts with recruiting. In college, recruiting agents have a lot less tools to work with. They cannot offer money or any other incentives to the player. However, in professional ball, the agents can offer large monetary sign-on bonuses as well as other perks. There are also a lot of differences in the actual "game-play" rules.
These recent changes have sparked a debate about whether or not these rules go too far. First of all, NFL players must be protected. Just like any other job, safety measures must be implemented to protect players from any hazards associated with their job. Football players are "hired" and paid a salary to perform a set of duties. Given the fact that, for them, the game of football is a job, they should have every expectation that their employer will protect them.
In the college sports its win or go home, and the winners get to celebrate their hard work. Opponents to paying college athletes proclaim that a scholarship to a higher learning institution should be sufficient compensation, however I believe that college athletes should receive a small amount of money for their hard work and time put into their institution. Hard work should pay off. The university should literally pay off their student athletes because it isn’t easy balancing classes and 2 or 3 a day practices. College athletes in all divisions put in hard work and dedication to both the education side and to the athletics side of their institution.