College Athletes: The Pay Debate
It is a well-known fact that College athletes work hard but don’t receive adequate monetary compensation for their efforts. They are risking their health and spending an enormous amount of their college careers dedicating themselves to athletics. The two most profitable college sports are basketball and football. Universities with division-1 ranks in those two sports can make millions of dollars annually. The majority of the profits come directly from ticket sales, sports apparel, and sponsors. Colleges use a percentage of those profits to pay coaches millions of dollars, but they refuse to do the same for the players. It seems only fair to balance the scales and pay the student players a livable wage for their hard work.
College athletes should be paid because they are bringing in large amounts of revenue to the schools, revenue that is not always directly funneled back into the school’s athletic programs. A small amount of this money could go towards paying college athletes. I’m not suggesting that we give them millions of dollars a year, but rather a stipend. College athletes don’t have the time to hold a full-time job. A lot of their time is spent on the practice field, and when they’re not practicing, they’re studying. The NCAA requires college athletes to keep a grade point average of 2.0 or higher. Athletes who don’t abide by these requirements risk the chance of suspension and termination from the team. This puts student athletes in a tough spot; they have a lot of pressure and not enough time to make a decent living.
College athletes are risking their health and sometimes even their lives to play college sports. Last year, a college athlete by the name of Eric LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down after he tried to make a tackle. He underwent emergency spinal cord surgery in order to stabilize his neck. Today, he is still in a wheelchair continuing rehabilitation so he can get back on his feet and walk again. His dreams of going professional and making tons of money are long gone. Even though LeGrand is paralyzed, I find him lucky compared to another college athlete who lost his life earlier this year. Derek Sheely died due to a helmet-to-helmet hit during practice that caused major brain trauma. Not only is major trauma like this a concern for college athletes, but also smaller, more common injuries. Without insurance, the bills pile up and the players end up in debt.
The governing body of college athletics is the NCAA. The NCAA believes that scholarships plus room and board is enough incentive for college athletes. The NCAA believes that college athletes should only get paid once they go professional. Of course, as we all know, professional athletes can make millions
