In most cases a Senior in High School will go to the college that provides the most assistance or has the cheapest tuition. For athletes who are talented enough to play at the college level, they have the same thought process as their fellow classmates. It all comes down to money, but money creates problems. Colleges have to follow Title IX or else they lose federal funding. The question is should college athletes get paid to play their sport? I believe there can be some good in this concept of “pay for play’, but I think the good does not outweigh the bad. A college team has to have two things in order to be successful, a good coach and enough players. There simply can’t be one without the other. A coach that coaches a Division I team can get paid, depending on the sport and the college, close to half a million dollars. These coaches are coaching in sold out venues holding 50,000 to 100,000 fans. But the fans aren’t there to watch these coaches, they are there to watch the players. Yet these players are not benefiting from any of the revenue that flow into the colleges as a result of the games, or donations from happy Alumni as a result of winning NCAA Championships. The people who do profit from these games are the store owners, vendors, college conferences, Colleges, and coaches. Not one of these entities or employees are risking their bodies playing the game. I don’t see how that is fair. The problem is that the bigger conferences like The Atlantic Coast Conference, (ACC), or The Big East, make more money than small conferences. So if these bigger conferences are allowed to pay players, smaller conferences will be unable to compete. This would directly impact television revenues, a major source of profits.
Also the Title IX Act demands that whatever a college provides mens teams the woman get the same. If college athletes get paid I think that makes this an even bigger problem. As woman college athletes wouldn’t generate the same revenue as the men. Different sports bring in more fans than other’s. For example, 100,000 fans show up to watch Michigan State play
