College Athletes Should Be Paid

College Athletes Necessity of Money College sports are central to development as they provide significant economic assistance as well as a source of entertainment that keeps students safe. Our society demands the need for creativity and entertainment, thus making it necessary for colleges to provide an outlet to do so, as they are building the future leaders of the nation. Although the NCAA inherits billions of dollars from hard-working college athletes, the college athletes do not even receive a small percentage of the profit. If we do not pay college athletes for their hard work, then they will feel unappreciated and be less willing to play college sports, until the NCAA virtually vanishes. To prevent this exploitation, athletes should be

One of the multiple reasons that they should be paid is due to the fact that many of them dedicate all of their time on sports. For example, the average American employee spends 40 hours a week working -- the same amount of time college athletes spend practicing every week to benefit their team. Both student athletes and employees contribute to the proper functioning and overall success of their teams and corporations, respectively. Yet employees are paid wages and given benefits while student athletes reap no such tangible gains. Because student athletes work the equivalent hours of the average American job while contributing to a university’s athletic success, they deserve payment for their efforts. Currently, the only real compensation colleges reward their athletes is food, as long as the college kitchens are open. For example, Shabazz Napier, a star player in college basketball, said, ‘I don't feel student-athletes should get hundreds of thousands of dollars, but like I said, there are hungry nights that I go to bed and I'm

The NCAA clearly states that only 1.6 percent of college athletes who play football are drafted in the NFL. This leaves a whopping 98.4 percent of the participants unaccounted for in the future, and this is only for football players, a fraction of the total amount of college athletes. Therefore, the vast majority of college athletes receive no future compensation for their performance in and dedication to their universities. Another enormous misconception is that universities cannot afford to pay athletes. “While scholarship revenues for schools average 12,374,598 dollars, the athletic department has a revenue of 144,833,640 dollars” (US News). Universities have over 132 million dollars -- more than enough cash -- to pay their hard-working athletes. They can give their athletes minimum wage at the very least so these students have enough to buy themselves an adequate meal. Another fallacy is that college athletes should not be paid simply because high school athletes are not paid. To begin, high school athletes spend a mere ten hours per week on average practicing sports while student athletes spend 40 hours per week working on their game. While high school athletes are given an off season, college athletes practice year-round, dedicating their entire college