Should college athletes be paid?
College sports generate great income each year at the core college level. These programs bring $ 30 and sometimes $ 40 million per year to universities and colleges and players get nothing. These are the same players who are breaking their backs for college day after day and they can’t get a piece of that money and, to me, that doesn’t seem fair to me. I know what you may be thinking: these student athletes are either getting a free education or have been awarded a scholarship to play ball at that college. To me, that’s the least they could be doing.
When I watch college football on Saturdays and see stadiums full of cheering fans who pay a lot of money for a ticket, I say, what business could run a company and not pay its workers? You would think that I am talking about some Third World country! Pay the players now, please!
Think about this: Most college coaches receive six-figure salaries: large college programs and small programs. Some of these college trainers land shoe contracts, some get radio and television contracts, and many other benefits along the way. Also, if you are a good coach and win games, you will be offered another coaching job elsewhere with more money and higher benefits! Student athletes get nothing and, for me, something needs to be done about it. Pay Players Now!
They will continue to tell you that athletes are receiving free education, free books, free room and board, and the opportunity for a good college education that will last a lifetime. And that! Pay the players! I see all this college as slave labor! Coaches make a lot of money at the expense of these players. You hear stories about college athletes taking money or charging under the table. You hear these stories of players getting cars and lots of cash, you hear stories of players getting all of this and more aside. You hear that the players’ families got cars and houses to attend that college program. This happens all the time in secret!
Why do players take this money and cars and houses for their families and so much more? Well, one reason is hiring; some college programs feel like they have to offer these things to get a major college recruit. Some college programs (not all) have to give something to get these kids. Some of these players come from poor backgrounds, so these kids making some money is a big deal, especially if the players and their families don’t have any money anyway.
Being a college athlete is very difficult. First of all, the amount of hours these players put in is a lot, every day of every week. They are in class all day, then there is practice after practice, they go to dinner if they can and then they go to study. Now all of this may sound simple to you, but the amount of time these student athletes put in is enormous. So the coaches want more. There could be a movie to study and there could be times when the physical trainer watches them. As a student athlete, you must focus on your studies and your athletic performance or they will try to get rid of you.
College athletics is tough. Sometimes at the end of the day you are exhausted and don’t feel like studying or if they have some kind of study table for the players, you may not be able to fully focus and often your attention is elsewhere. Think of the millions of people who go to work every day. They work long hours and may have long commutes to and from home. I’m sure the last thing working people want to do is put in more hours at work. Most people who work want to relax, maybe have a beer and watch TV and then finish the day. The big difference is that they get paid for service and time and college players don’t.
Most college student athletes do not earn their college degrees, and one of the reasons is the workouts and games they play. There is so much pressure to get it right that something will fall off and that something is your education. College coaches have been known to look the other way when it comes to student athletes and their academics, as long as that player can help win games.
For most college athletes, when their eligibility runs out, college programs no longer need their services. Why would they do it? For 4 years, these college programs have worked to death with these young men and women every day. College programs have gotten everything they could get from these players and a little more. At the college level or at any level, it’s just about winning games and making a lot of money.
Take a look at baseball; If a high school baseball player is really good, he may be offered a contract to sign with a major league baseball team. Sometimes the offer is $ 200,000 and, from what I’ve heard, up to $ 2 million. Now if that high school baseball player takes that money, he will lose his eligibility for college. Some high school baseball players spend the money to attend college, where they can improve, hone their baseball skills, and be drafted back into a major league team. Many high school baseball players take the money and risk trying to make it into the major leagues. Many players never make it to the majors. Some play in the minor leagues for years until they realize their dream of playing in the majors is not going to be fulfilled and they move on to something else.
Once you take that money, you can’t go back and try to play college baseball. The same is true of all other sports. You will have high school basketball players trying to make it to the NBA; you have youngsters trying out for the NFL. Many of these athletes never gave education a chance, and many of those in college never got their degrees.
College athletes struggle with their academics. Many don’t graduate and some just drop out entirely. College athletics is not for everyone and many student athletes can’t do it, so pay the players! Pay them something for all their time and efforts!
When these college programs are played in bowling games and they make millions at the expense of the players and the players get nothing, it’s wrong. When it’s “March Madness” time for college basketball and millions are glued to the television every day for hours and the players are giving it their all, they still get nothing!
Why would paying the players be a problem? Schools are making millions of dollars anyway. This is not Mexico or China where workers are paid $ 1.00 per hour to make billions for some corporation, you know slave labor!
Why do you think players take money from many external sources? Why are players suspended from the team for breaking team rules? Why are college programs put on probation? It is all due to money. You have a lot of players who come from underprivileged backgrounds where there is no money in their families. If these disadvantaged young student athletes had to pay for college out of their own pockets, most would not be in college at all.
Some student athletes come from backgrounds where the education system is not that good. Its school districts are poorly funded and poorly managed. For many student athletes, their outlet is an education with full athletic scholarships. Playing a sport is your future. Many student athletes only focus on athletics thinking that one day they will be good enough to play in the pros. So when money hangs in the faces of some student athletes, the temptation has to be overwhelming!
For many years we have heard stories of players and coaches who have gotten into trouble because of money. We have heard of situations where the NCAA kills entire college programs because players are given money. Why do they do it? Why is money a problem? One reason is that it is easy to get certain types of players from certain backgrounds. Major college programs can only survive with major college players to get paid. We all know that paying college athletes is wrong (established by the NCAA guidelines). But this rule must change now.
If college athletes get scholarships, they can be paid. If players get paid, then I think there would be more college athletes graduating from college because there would be a stronger incentive to work hard in the classroom. Larger colleges pay college coaches more based on their performance, and players should be paid as well.
If the players are paid, this corruption would stop. No more players paying a booster, no more college players selling their shoes, no more college players taking big-money jobs just for working a few hours. It is difficult for a student athlete! Did you know that a non-student athlete can get a job to earn extra money and can work according to their hours, but a student athlete cannot have a job until the end of the school year and there are restrictions on the type of work ? can have.
In the game of college athletics, the rules are not fair for college student athletes! The playing field is not the same. Pay the players!