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The Case for Paying College Athletes
The Case for Paying College Athletes: Addressing Exploitation and Fair Compensation
Introduction
College sports are not mere sideshow but a massive business that makes millions of dollars selling tickets, merchandise, as well as TV contracts. Each season, millions of fans who watch their favorite teams on TV fill stadiums. This leads to earning of massive profits by colleges, coaches, and sponsors. However, beneath all the glamour and excitement lies a less glamorous reality: student-athletes, whose abilities and diligence enable all of this, seldom receive substantial financial compensation. Scholarships are given to the majority of student-athletes, but they frequently fall short of covering the actual cost of living and the sacrifices that athletes must make for their sport. Since a long time, the NCAA has maintained strict rules against directly paying athletes. They assert that college sports will go ‘amateur’ once players do start getting paid. In fact, it is the schools, networks, and sponsors that benefit and not the players themselves (Haile, 2023). To add to this, many college athletes put in about 30-40 hours a week into training, travelling and competing. Due to this heavy schedule of events and competitions, many athletes cannot take outside jobs anymore and are struggling financially (Haile, 2023). Because of their time commitment, the unfair system, and the fact that they are the ones driving the money, student-athletes deserve to be paid fairly.
References
Haile, A. J. (2023). Equity implications of paying college athletes: A title IX analysis.
BCL Rev.,
64, 1449.
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