College football and basketball players can make up to three million dollars for their respective universities and not see a dime in return (Harnett). The idea of the “workers” making this much money for an organization, without anything in return is almost sickening, but somehow the NCAA continues to get away with it year after year. Although, many football and basketball fans believe that college athletes should not be paid, in reality, the college athletes deserve a salary due to the income they provide for their university, as well as the complete education they would receive by maintaining enrollment. Many lifelong college sports fans do not think that athletes should be paid because they do not want to lose the “college atmosphere” when …show more content…
Another problem that universities would run into if they were to pay the athletes, is the special treatment that they would receive on campus on a daily basis. The athletes that play smaller sports such as baseball, hockey, and track would not be thrilled with other athletes being paid, while they are not receiving any money. This problem is inevitable because football and basketball are the only two collegiate sports that consistently make a profit for their schools, so schools could not afford to pay all of the athletes in all the different sports at the university. Even though there are valid reasons to continue not to pay the athletes, the positives of paying the players heavily outweighs the negatives. Many Analysts and writers believe that paying the athletes is the only way to make the NCAA financially fair. According to to Tyson Harnett, the football and basketball players at the Division one level can make up to three million dollars in profit for their programs. The revenue is created off the jersey sales, which uses player likeness (Wilbon). Using player likeness to create profit without the player receiving any money from it, is