Photo: Lance King (Getty Images)
What might surprise a lot of people who are not heavily involved in the matter, but are aware of it, is that college athletes are not getting paid at all. They lead very similar lives to professional athletes, they entertain millions, they make millions sad or happy due to their actions on the court, they are admired and criticized the almost the same, they train really hard, but unlike millionaire pro athletes, college players don’t earn a dime. Therefore, the question should college athletes be paid is a burning topic in our sports and even the social sphere.
Trying to contribute to the discussion about the topic of paying college athletes, here is our reasoning on the topic.
Should College Athletes Be Paid
The most important argument for why should college athletes be paid is that the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) earns around 1 trillion dollars annually! So an average top-tier football or basketball player earns his school around $200,000 per season. In return, he gets around $14,000 in education, food, and housing.
The amount of money going around college sports is only equaled in its impressiveness by a number of people who are involved in it. The NCAA 2017 basketball final in Phoenix had the attendance of 76,168 people! A basketball game. The average number of viewers of the game was 22,998,000! And 176 countries broadcasted the games!
All this illustrates how far-reaching, relevant, and well-known are these college players that don’t get any financial gains for their efforts. You get all the pressure and the stress, but no monetary satisfaction, and since scholarships are not guaranteed, the existing benefits are holding onto shaky legs of avoiding injuries.
On the other hand, more than 100 football and basketball coaches earn more than 1$ million per year, according to a WalletHub research. In a sense, college players are in a unique position in the United States, as they are the only workforce who are not reimbursed for the value they create to others. There are even video-games made about college sports, with college athletes being on covers of them, but not getting a cent from it.
Why College Athletes Should Be Paid
Besides the above-stated reasons, there are additional points on whether college athletes should be paid. As they don’t have an income, they can’t provide themselves with proper nutrition a professional athlete needs. In order to be explosive as Shawn Kemp or other sporting legends, you need to eat the right foods, not just those massively produced foods in the cafeteria.
This would not only better the players, but the league as well, and it would also ease the transition period to the big leagues. Money brings confidence in all areas of life, and while most athletic specimens already have it, some are surely stricken by anxiety for being a source of expenditure to their family without being able to contribute with any earnings.
Any. As college athletes are not even allowed to make sponsorship deals with clothing or nutrition companies.
Paying college athletes would encourage athletes to stay in college longer and not pursue the professional career right away. Personal earnings could also enable the college players to afford more personal training or personal development since if their sports careers don’t pan out, they are left with little options on what to do.
Yes, they do get an education at their respective universities, but almost all of the college athletes get a lot of slack cut by their college professors, precisely because of the reason that they are bringing the universities a lot of money. Also, because when you’re training for national-level competition, you don’t have that much time to study.
The question should college athletes be paid should be asked constantly by authorities and especially by former college players who are now big stars, as they know what it’s like. There’s no denying that they are being exploited in a gruesome manner. They do have some special perks, but everyone needs money.
Not by any chance are we lobbying for college athletes to have nearly as insanely high incomes as the professional athletes, or even to have discrepancies between athletes. Between different sports perhaps, but not between individuals on the same team. But an equal, basic income should be rewarded to all who are pursuing athletic excellence, make their classmates proud, and earn the universities as much money as they do.
So yes, college athletes should be paid. But what do you think?
