Hadden 1

Eli Hadden

English Composition 2

Professor Hellmers

Should College athletes get paid to play? Where does the hard-earned cash

college athletes make for their school go? Within the world of college sports it's going to

Nfl or come home with a degree and no extra money because you were not able to get

a job. Opponents of paying school athletes proclaim that a scholarship is a better

learning establishment and is supposed to be comfortable compensation. But I feel that

college athletes need to obtain more compensation and there are several reasons why I

think this. College athletics could be a billion greenback trade and has been for a

protracted time. Because of the increasing ratings of school athletics, this figure can still

rise. It's simple: larger, faster, stronger athletes can generate more cash. school

Universities generate such a lot of revenue throughout the year that it is solely honest to

the players that they get a cut. school athletes ought to get paid to support the

university’s revenue, attire sales, and lack of paying cash. Because of the finish of high

school approaches some student-athletes have the choice to play a sport in school.

One question they will raise themselves would be, “Is it worthwhile to play a sport in

college?”, considering all the time placed into the game while also having to take care of

smart grades. you want to be a really hard-working person to be a university contestant

because it is essentially a regular job jumping between the room, field/court, weight

area, and looking at the film. Imagine you are a college athlete; your daily routine would

carry with it rousing early most days to follow. When the morning follows, you attend

categories towards earning your school degree Then, since you often miss categories
 Hadden 2

and are troubled to stay your grades up, you 've got a tutoring session. Lastly, to

complete your time off, you've got additional followers who can seemingly finish late

Athletes need to follow this routine the total academic year. This routine doesn't embody

any extra-curricular or social activities. With all the athletes’ time going towards their

sports and studies, they lack time to figure employment to own additional cash. There

are many reasons supporting why school athletes ought to be paid. One is that the

athletes don't have enough time to carry a gentle job as a result of they are perpetually

active or enjoying the game they are concerned in. College athletes should be paid

because they make millions and millions for their school and only get their college paid

a small amount as a scholarship , they spend more time on the field than classrooms,

and lastly, coaches earn millions a year, and players are no reward nearly as much.

Education is pricey, and plenty of sportsmen aren't given scholarships to assist pay

money for tuition, room, and board, or books. This may result in an increasing quantity

of debt as a result of having to borrow cash to pay money for education. many of us

believe athletes ought to get their exertions, whereas others believe that it might ruin the

integrity of school sports if athletes were paid. Once the National Collegiate Athletic

Association (NCAA) was made by President Roosevelt in 1906, there was a

commitment that a regular payment wouldn't be provided to the student-athletes United

Nations agency took half in its athletic organization. This supported the concept that

school sportsmen ought to be thought of amateurs, not professionals. In distinction,

today’s remunerative tv contracts became the driving revenue force behind AN

institution's ability to thrive in school athletics Recently, parenthetically, varied

universities have modified their athletic conference affiliation as a result of exaggerated

monetary incentives.

According to Businessinsider.com, college athletes spend over 30 hours on

average a week just in practice while some reported they spent over 40 hours (1). But

college athletes are not required to simply play sports 40 hours a week. Along with

playing 40 hours a week athletes are required to pass all of their college classes as well

as making some extra money on the side. For example, “if a student has 10 hours of

class each week and puts in the recommended four hours of study for each hour of

class, then athletes spend 50 hours each week studying and attending mandatory

classes and study halls. This means that college athletes have to work 90 hours per

week just to remain in school on their scholarship. This is the equivalent to working two

full-time jobs with a side job on the weekends just to pay their bills” (Anderson 1).

Most people think a scholarship is way more than enough for athletes because they can

be up to 30 thousand dollars. Also students receive many perks of being college

athletes getting free hotels many times free food, being seen on national television . It

is hard to say how much all of that is worth but if you really look at the facts of it all it

might change your mind.Only about ⅓ of students get scholarships. Also most of the

scholarships don't even pay for all of the expenses. With all the time they put into

sports: “college athletes should be considered employees rather than students because

their first duty is to play sports for the university, ahead of obtaining an education”

(Zepel and Staudohaur 1).The Ncaa says that athletes are just students but makes
 Hadden 4

them not attend class for games that bring the athletes nothing and the Ncaa big

revenue .

A college coaches’ job is to recruit players who they think have the talent to make them

win. Many times they offer scholarships to persuade the players to come. The whole

idea behind a scholarship is to make the student come to their school. Scholarships to

pay for rooms,tuitions ,and books but these athletes don't have money to pay for other

necessities.When providing a service everyone else gets paid for doing their service so

why shouldn't college athletes. College athletes bring in millions of fans to watch them

play. They bring in billions of dollars from these fans so there is room to pay the

athletes.

College athletes bring in a great amount of money for their schools. In 2015 a

study was performed of the two hundred thirty-one NCAA Division 1 schools. There was

a grand total of 9 billion in sales during the 2015 year. There are over 24 schools who

make over 100 billion in sales, but most of them make a great deal less than that. Of the

231 D1 schools in the United States, 76% of them make around fifty million in income

from their sports alone. I feel that players should be receiving some of this money,

because it will help keep them motivated to play their hardest for the school. The

college athletes are the ones who are helping bring in these great amounts of income,

so I feel they should be receiving some of the benefits of it.

A great deal of college athletes come from extremely poor backgrounds. In 2013 a

study was conducted that showed that around 86% of college athletes in the USA live

below the poverty line. If the schools would consider paying the athletes, it benefits

everyone. This would make future athletes want to go to college, which in return would
 Hadden 5

bring in money and revenue for the schools. Most college athletes struggle to find time

to try and balance school, practice, and some even try to get a job. This could lead them

into accepting illegal gifts such as money, cars, clothes, etc.

Another side of the argument is that college athletes shouldn't be paid. College is

extremely expensive. To even get a few thousand dollars paid for is helpful. To get ALL

of your college paid for is incredibly helpful and will help you in the future when you

have to pay for a house and your family. Most people do not get scholarships and have

to pay for all of their college on their own. Many people say that since basketball and

other sports bring in a lot of money for the university, they should be paid back some

money. I do not think this is a valid statement because universities are already paying

back these students by paying for all of their schooling. I don’t think college athletes

understand how much this is helping them and how much of an advantage they have

over many others. They don’t see how much getting their college paid for his helping

them because they do not see the money upfront. Later on, in the future they will be

INCREDIBLY grateful. Getting all of your college paid for includes room and board,

education, books, and food. Athletes are also taken on incredible trips for free. Athletes

are worried they won’t have money for food and other things, but they get it all paid for.

A college “athlete” is considered someone who plays basketball or football or

baseball or swimming. Athletes are also considered to be members of the band,

cheerleaders, and dance team members (along with many more sports). The only

difference between these athlete groups is, members of the band, cheerleading team

and dance team are rarely given out scholarships. Every single college athlete. If you

pay one and not the other, there will be even more complaints and it will be a bigger
 Hadden 6

problem. If we paid every single athlete, colleges would go bankrupt. Coaches already

do not get paid much, but if we pay athletes even more money, they will not be paid at

all. The university will not have money to give out scholarships to other students who

just attend for an education. This will steer away students and will cause them to go to a

school that offers them any type of scholarship. While steering other students away,

they will not get money from non college athletes and the university will for sure go

bankrupt. Also, taxes can play a huge role in this. “Depending on the athlete, taxes

could be high enough to the point where they don’t earn anything and they cannot pay

tuition” (Rivera). So I think the best decision is to not pay them additionally at all to avoid

this problem. Obviously with what I stated there are very solid arguments for both sides.

But athletes should just be given a small percentage of what they make for their school.

For example Ohio state football makes 68 million for their athletic program and all of the

rest of the sports there add up to about 60 million, so the football players obviously

should make a little more than the rest of the sports.

The NCAA makes around 1 billion dollars a year from broadcasting the sports. Schools

also make millions and millions from selling star players jerseys even though the name

isn't on the back it still has the number. Pro athletes get paid for their jerseys being sold.

So why don’t college athletes? For example, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence

has a national championship to his name. He could have a million dollars or more as a

result of his college career .That could have been the sophomore's reality if college

athletes were able to sell their image on the open marketplace, experts in the

economics of sports suggest.That’s not allowed now under NCAA rules that restrict
 Hadden 7

what athletes can earn. But America is drawing closer to an era in which college

athletes will be able to turn themselves into commercial ventures, and big stars like

Lawrence stand to benefit the most perhaps with endorsement deals that would pay

them more than a million dollars.

Unlike the NBA which pays half of the money to the players colleges don't pay

their athletes so there are billions of dollars that the coaches get paid from .While

million-dollar-plus salaries are commonplace in professional sports, they are highly

unusual in the world of higher education, where full time professors earn between

$20,000 to $126,000. The average college president makes $475,000. Coaches are

the highest-paid public employees in several states, including Kentucky and Kansas.

Also colleges can’t get star players by offering them big paychecks, the only things they

can do is show them their big stadiums and other things to help get star players there.

Also get a coach who has a great track record in getting lots of wins and producing NBA

players. I am saying all of this information because athletes could make money because

there are obviously billions and billions that go to The NCAA and coaches for having

star players when the players only get exposure in the end.
 Hadden 8

In conclusion, college athletes should be paid. College athletes should be paid

because they make millions and millions for their school and only get their college paid

a small amount as a scholarship , they spend more time on the field than classrooms,

and lastly, coaches earn millions a year, and players earn no reward. A very very small

percentage of college athletes go on to play professionally and earn money so all of the

athletes that don’t play need to make money after. Most students have jobs throughout

college that allow them to come out of college with at least some money. Athletes don’t

get this. After college they will be coming out broke and most likely having to redo some

classes because of poor grades because of spending so much time in their sport and

not a lot studying. So if we pay these athletes at least a little bit of money , so when they
 Hadden 9

get out of college they won’t be broke looking for jobs and most likely having to move

back in with their parents. So overall we should pay college athletes so they can have

money after school and so they have more of an incentive to play better and perhaps

prepare them for professional or even the real world.If schools feel that student-athletes

shouldn’t be paid while they’re in school, the funds could be held until after college

maybe even paying a bonus for those who graduate. That’s a nice incentive for the

athletes taking on the risk. They should be compensated for it.

Works cited
 Hadden 10

Garda, Justin D. “Paying College Athletes.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2019.

Hartnett, Tyson. “Why College Athletes Should Be Paid.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 23 Jan.
2014, www.huffpost.com/entry/college-athletes-should-be-paid_b_4133847.
Jacobs, Peter. “Here's The Insane Amount Of Time Student-Athletes Spend On
Practice.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 27 Jan. 2015,
www.businessinsider.com/college-student-athletes-spend-40-hours-a-week-practicing-
2015-1.

Paul Staudohar & B. Zepel, 2004. "Corruption in Big Time College Sports and its Impact
on Higher Education," IASE Conference Papers 0415, International Association of
Sports Economists.

“The Time Has Arrived for College Athletes to Be Paid.” UWIRE Text, 2019.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=edsgin&AN=edsgcl.605563667&site=eds-live