The Reasons College Athletes Deserve to Be Paid

The popularity of college sports has increased exponentially over the past few decades. Because of this, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has largely increased its revenues. This increase of money has lead to lots of debate over the people that make college sports happen - student-athletes, and if they should be paid. Student-athletes should be paid because of the considerable amount of money the NCAA makes off of them, and so that these student athletes can have money to help themselves or their families.

Student-athletes are the base of college sports, without them, the NCAA would cease to exist. Even though the NCAA is very successful with all of their games and tournaments, student-athletes do not receive any form of monetary compensation. This seems very rash as “the NCAA currently produces nearly 11 Billion Dollars in annual revenue from college sports” (Forbes). This shows how student-athletes are truly getting taken advantage of. College sports may not be the same as professional, but many fans still follow college sports religiously. Buying lots of merchandise such as tickets, jerseys, food and fan paraphernalia. And the people that drive all of that (the student athletes) don’t get a dime. This causes many athletes to feel discouraged and mistreated because they are the catalysts that run the whole operation yet they do not receive anything in return. People may ask “If student-athletes are paid, what will this money be used on?” which is a fair question. Students may use the money to buy better meals for themselves because they lack time to work a job., others may use the money to support their families.

Many athletes come from low class, urban families, and being able to provide their family money could be a game changer. Many students will leave college early so they can be drafted into professional sports leagues so they can start making money so they can support their families. If student-athletes were paid in college, they would be able to finish their education and still be able to support their families. This would really be the best case scenario because there are no guarantees in professional sports so it would make things even worse if a student-athlete decided to leave college early to get drafted, but then got cut by their team and ended up with no job and no degree.People argue that student-athletes should not be paid because then college sports would no longer be considered amateur however, how is that going to affect college sports in any sort of way? The Olympics also once stood by a strict code of amateurism, but in 1988 the Olympics allowed professional athletes to compete in the Olympics and it looks like the Olympics are still in good shape.

The whole industry of college sports revolves around these student-athletes, and without them it would be non-existent The NCAA profits highly off of the works of student-athletes yet are too stubborn to pay them. It seems like a fairly easy system, if you help make money you should be paid. College athletes deserve to be paid because of their large contributions to the NCAA.