Essay On Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

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College students are notorious for being at a financial disadvantage throughout their years pursuing higher education. In many cases, this leads them to pick up part-time or even full-time work to help pay for their expenses. But what about those who are not blessed with the time to have a job due to their hectic schedule? College athletes are who I am referring to. They are practically the property of the school who trade their time and health in exchange for an opportunity to make it to the professional leagues. As someone who was once a high school athlete, contemplating the decision to compete at the colligate level, I sympathize with those who feel taken advantage of. While many may think it is unfair, college athletes deserve to be paid …show more content…

As a result, their skills and attributes will improve, leading to better success and performance. This allows them to participate in things such as tournaments, where programs get displayed on some of the biggest stages. From this, institutions can expect to see an increase in interest which draws in revenue as a result. Things such as merchandise and ticket sales are some of the main areas that are influenced by this surge. PBS NewsHour reports that “Division I athletics generated $15.8 billion in revenues in 2019, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)...” (Zimbalist). Despite that large sum of earnings, those athletes who participate don’t receive compensation of any sort. Of course, a sizeable portion of that money is used to keep the facilities updated and hire new athletic staff, all of which benefits the players. Regardless, schools are aware of the fact that they can dismiss debates regarding salaries since they can hide behind the claim that NIL deals are more than …show more content…

In fact, only seven percent of high school athletes continue their athletic careers into college. There are many reasons for this like choosing a different career path, not wanting to risk injury, or simply because there is no guarantee. If there were a system in place that allowed those same athletes to get paid for their contributions, then many more would continue. The pay doesn’t necessarily need to be groundbreaking or on the same level as professional athletes by any means, just something reasonable to cover everyday expenses. This would also increase the level of competition currently being played by being able to include incentives based on performance. The pool of available athletes would grow considerably thus increasing the overall interest in colligate