Why college athletes should be paid

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Why College-Athletes should be paid
College athletes are considered among the hardest working people. They are not only living averagely as students, but they are also subjected to a strenuous sports schedule (Branch 91). Their compensation is one of the most controversial topics today. However, it is important to note that the students work hard to play and read at the same time. Thus, this paper supports the argument that student-athletes should be paid.
First, College football is a multi-billion dollar franchise generating over $11 billion yearly (Leung and Joseph 713). The students that make the sport possible do not benefit. It is only reasonable that the student-athletes who work hard to play the sport share the money generated through it- the franchise would not exist without them (McKenzie and Sullivan 373).
Second, through the money earned by the sport, the only people who benefit are the coaches and institutions (Cronk 135). For instance, the current coach of Oklahoma Football team, Lincoln Riley, earns more than $5.06 million every year (Tsitsos and Nixon 74). It is justifiable to say that the NCAA is exploiting the student-athletes based on the number of revenues they generate yearly hence the need to compensate them.
Third, college athletes are an important part of America’s economy and culture (McKenzie and Sullivan 373). Sports editors, like Marc Edleman, argue that “paying the student-athletes would tarnish the ideal of amateurism considering the deteriorating nature of the professional sport” (Edleman 61).

However, it is more important to be fair than to hold ideals.
Fourth, there is an argument that the students are paid through scholarships (Goplerud III 1081). However, scholarships are recruitment tactics used to lure the most talented individuals into universities (Southall 31). In short, it is given on the basis of what the student can do for the institution. Thus, the institution should be obligated to compensate the students for their hard work.
Nonetheless, according to NCAA, the term amateur represents positive values as compared to professional in sports (Branch 91). If the athletes are paid, their eligibility will be lost completely (Corgan 371). Thus values that the college athletics stand for should be protected to maintain its image.
Lastly, some argue the student-athletes are considered amateurs because they are given a platform to proceed into the professional leagues (Fram and Frampton 1003). They are taught the basic rules of the sport to get them ready for professional leagues (Edleman 63). Therefore, paying them will make the platform lose its meaning.
Conclusively, college athletics has grown into a money-making franchise. The values it stood for decades ago have been washed away and the NCAA should go back to the drawing board and reconsider the stance on paying the student-athletes.
Works Cited
Branch, Taylor. “The shame of college sports.” The Atlantic308.3 2011. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/Corgan, Michael A. “Permitting Student-Athletes to Accept Endorsement Deals: A Solution to the Financial Corruption of College Athletics Created by Unethical Sports Agents and the NCAA’s Revenue-Generating Scheme.” Vill. Sports & Ent. LJ19 (2012): 371.
Cronk, Erin. “Unlawful Encroachment: Why the NCAA Must Compensate Student-Athletes for the Use of Their Names, Images, and Likenesses.” U. La Verne L. Rev. 34, 2012: 135. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jjuvl34&div=11&id=&page=
Edleman, Marc. “A short treatise on amateurism and antitrust law: Why the NCAA’s no-pay rules violate section 1 of the Sherman Act.” Case W. Res. L. Rev. 64 (2013): 61.
Fram, Nicholas, and T. Ward Frampton. “A union of amateurs: A legal blueprint to reshape big-time college athletics.” Buff. L. Rev. 60 (2012): 1003.
Goplerud III, C. Peter. “Pay for play for college athletes: now, more than ever.” S. Tex. L. Rev. 38 (1997): 1081. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/stexlr38&div=46&id=&page=
Leung, Carson K., and Kyle W. Joseph. “Sports data mining: predicting results for the college football games.” Procedia Computer Science 35 (2014): 710-719.
McKenzie, Richard B., and E. Thomas Sullivan. “Does the ncaa exploit college athletes-an economics and legal reinterpretation.” Antitrust Bull. 32 (1987): 373. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/antibull32&div=15&id=&page=
Southall, Richard M. “Taking the measure of graduation rates in big-time college sports.” Phi Kappa Phi Forum. Vol. 92. No. 3. National Forum: Phi Kappa Phi Journal, 2012.
Tsitsos, William, and Howard L. Nixon. “The star wars arms race in college athletics: Coaches’ pay and athletic program status.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 36.1 (2012): 68-88.