Discussion of Whether College Athletes Should Be Paid

Nowadays in the world of sports a major discussion is wether college athletes should be getting paid for their respective sports or not. A lot of people argue that they are getting a full ride to prestigious 4-year universities and that they have a big name for themselves which can more likely lead to bigger opportunities then other students. Some of these kids come from absolutely nothing and most of the time they don’t have time for jobs due to practices, workouts, and studying.

The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) does not allow any athlete to be able to make a profit off his or her own name while the NCAA is making millions of dollars off these kids names, but they don’t see a single penny from the money made off of THEIR names. While it is understandable that they can’t pay all 460,000 Division 1 athletes it should be illegal for them to not make a profit off their own names.

Although there are many good reasonings for athletes getting paid. There are also many understandable reasons why they don’t get to be paid.

People view the NCAA as a money-making monopoly and that the schools don’t really care about the student’s wellbeing they just care about the money. Years and years have gone by since the beginning of the march madness tournament and over the years the NCAA has made over billions of billions of dollars, but not one athlete was able to see the money that they have made off their names. College coaches are out here making 10 of millions of dollars to coach and get all types of bonus when they win, and the athletes don’t get anything from it.

While the NCAA has over 460,000 student athletes, they still generate enough money to pay athletes money. In the month of march alone the NCAA holds a tournament called march madness for basketball playoffs and in that month alone the their revenue sky rockets and they make $933 million from me media fees, ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, and a proliferation of television ads anchored around a three-week basketball tournament. The NCAA only keeps about 4% of that money to use for the organizations own operating expenditures

Even if they pass the law its something that could take year to perfect, its going to have many trial and tribulations just like every new experiment and the schools, coaches, players, and NCAA would have to get used.

On the other side of things many people think that the rule should stay the same. Many people are ok with the fact that these kids are not getting paid and there are multiple great reasons to why they shouldn’t, but the main topic is that they are getting a free education. These people view it as if they are already getting “paid” with a scholarship instead of money. Education is something very important, but now a days there are so many ways of succeeding without a diploma such as sports, social media, and even entrepreneurship. While having a degree as an athlete is a great plan b to fall back on if you get hurt and your career gets cut shorter than expected.

While studies show that with an education 73 percent of young adults with bachelor’s degrees worked full time jobs, year-round in 2014 compared to 65 percent of young adult high school graduates (Smale, 2017). Its shows that there is a better advantage of getting your college degree because you have a better chance of becoming successful. Many people say “they are getting paid with an education” which is very valuable in life statistically. With that college degree you can build something great with your life beyond sports and better yourself as a person and that’s something a lot of people don’t have.

These athletes are already getting a free ride to a better future and is something people should consider thinking about when they debate this topic.

NCAA athletes are not allowed to accept even the littlest amount of money from a coach, former coach, or a NCAA official. For example not even as much as 50 cents to buy a candy bar from a local gas station can be given to athletes or maybe your on the bus with your team and you stop at a McDonalds some where and its your first time eating all day and you have ZERO DOLLARS in your bank account, your coach still isn’t aloud to give you any money for a meal.

For example, on March 21, 2012, A Kansas State Senior by the name of Jamar Samuels was suspended indefinitely because he had reached out to his old AAU coach Curtis Malone and asked him for $200 for some grocery money. Samuels didn’t come from money he came from nothing just like most college athletes. He reached out to his coach in desperation to be able to eat and his coach was the only person he could rely on to help him out financially. 

Such things in the NCAA are what people are trying to fight against. Something as small as a candy bar can mess up a player who life. Them accepting gifts as small as that can get a whole scholarship stripped away from them, taking away exposure to scouts and getting an education. The rules don’t have to completely go straight into paying the athletes but one step at a time like accepting gifts could be considered allowed.

Some say that giving salaries to players can cause dilemmas between players in the locker room and on court. For example, let’s say you look back at the star-studded team Duke had last year with Zion Williamson, RJ Barret, Cam Reddish, and Tre Jones. All four of them were considered 5-star recruits in high school (rankings are between 1-5) and when they all came to college, they had their own individual hype respectfully but out of the 4 Zion and RJ had the most hype. Now lets say you offer Zion and RJ the same amount of money of $10,000 for the year based around there hype and offer Tre and Cam half of that, Tre and Cam could look at that and say “wow I was a five star recruit like them, I deserve the same amount of money as them.” Eventually that could rip apart a team because they could want to show out for how much they are worth.

As Brandon L. Wilson stated in an article that ‘’This will lead to missed blocks, missed opportunities, and less chemistry between the overall team. It can also lead to players leaving the team”. Something like this wouldn’t be good for the team’s revenue or most importantly the team’s success. That is a big factor on why the NCAA is afraid to pass the law because of the money they would lose from views, merchandise and more. Without the money they make from all of that they won’t have enough money to pay to players.

Sports like basketball and football are team sports, in basketball you can’t just expect to win from one soul player you have to rely on your whole team. In football you can’t have a quarterback who has a bad relationship with his offensive line because that will lead to trust issues and could result in losses. With loosing games comes with loosing money and without the money teams generate they won’t be able to pay players.

Many athletes, celebrities, and even politicians have agreed and said to the public that these kids should be getting paid for all the work they do. They wake up every day putting a maximum effort into their craft and books that they don’t have time to go and get money another way. So many people stand up for these athletes every day and are fighting for the NCAA to make a change in there lives so they don’t have to struggle or worry. The only people who don’t stand up for them are themselves because a lot of them are afraid that they might get suspended or kicked off the team by the league.

Athletes like Lebron James have said “That No. 23 jersey would have gotten sold all over the place without my name on the back, but everybody would have known the likeness,” James told reporters at Lakers practice Monday as he imagined a pit stop in Columbus. “My body would have been on the 2004 NCAA basketball video game. And the Schottenstein Center would have been sold out every single night if I was there. Me and my mom, we didn’t have anything. We wouldn’t have been able to benefit at all from it. The university would have been able to capitalize on everything.” 

When writing a paper like this I would advise someone to look at both sides of the argument. Both sides are interesting, and you must respect both sides. The one thing I wish I could have found were more quotes to my research. The most challenging part about writing this was viewing it from both sides. As someone who agrees that college athletes should be getting paid, reading all the articles that I have given me a better understanding of both sides of the topic.

As I finish this essay I look forward to continuing this topic on my next paper and being able to defend my topic.

Words Cited 

• Washington Post. (2019). LeBron James continues fight against NCAA, announcing support of Fair Pay to Play Act. [online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/09/30/lebron-james-joins-fight-against-ncaa-announcing-support-fair-pay-play-act/ [Accessed 7 Mar. 2020].
• Smale, T. (2017). Does That College Diploma Really Matter for Success?. [online] Entrepreneur. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293676 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2020].
• Investopedia. (2020). What Does the NCAA Really Net from March Madness?. [online] Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/031516/how-much-does-ncaa-make-march-madness.asp [Accessed 7 Mar. 2020].
• Wilson, B. (2016). 5 Reasons College Athletes Should Not be Paid. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@brandonlwilson/5-reasons-college-athletes-should-not-be-paid-46c6d1399892 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2020].
• NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA. (2020). 2020 NCAA Convention. [online] Available at: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/events/2020-ncaa-convention [Accessed 7 Mar. 2020].
• ESPN.com. (2020). Keown: The absurdity in Jamar Samuels suspension. [online] Available at: https://www.espn.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/keown-120320/jamar-samuels-suspension-kansas-state-tournament-game-more-ncaa-hypocrisy [Accessed 7 Mar. 2020].