College Athletes Should Be Paid

College athletics is a multibillion dollar a year industry. From the NCAA basketball tournament to the college football playoffs, to the lucrative multi-year television contracts, there are endless revenue streams available. These profits have led to high contracts for coaches, large salaries for school and conference presidents, and state of the art athletic facilities. The only group that has not seen a piece of the proverbial pie is the athletes. Today's college athletes are bound by the rules of amateurism; meaning that these athletes can't receive any compensation other than scholarships, for their play. In my opinion, these athletes should be paid. Student athletes have to balance a full course load on top of their team requirements. They also have no guarantees in case of injuries, both during their playing careers and after. And finally, because scholarships do not equate to fair compensation. The basis for the NCAA’s

To the NCAA, amateurism means that their athletes cannot accept salaries, contracts, benefits from agents, and prize money above any necessary expenses. The reason, according to the NCAA’s website it has adopted amateurism rules, is “to ensure the students’ priority remains on obtaining a quality educational experience and that all of student-athletes are competing equitably” (NCAA). Meaning that their governing bodies believe that paying these athletes would somehow take away from their ability to gain a meaningful educational experience from college. They also believe a payment system would detract from the fairness that college athletics is based upon. In my opinion however, the NCAA uses the term ‘amateurs’, to hide in reality what these athletes are. College Athletes are employees, who are repressed, under paid, and devalued. College athletes are working for the NCAA, earning