Essay Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

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College football itself ranks as the nation's second most popular sport when attendance and viewership are combined, larger than baseball and basketball. The National Collegiate Athletic Association Generated record income of $1.16 billion for the 2021 season. There are over 100 different traditions that cities, marching bands and even entire states take pace in during this exciting season. College sports have become a major part of American culture generating billions of dollars in revenue every year and most of the athletes who are the reason that this money is being made don't receive any part of it. College athletes should be paid for their participation because of the amount of revenue, long hours put into their sport and the ability …show more content…

The money comes from T.V. contracts, merch sales, season pass ticket sales, and sponsorships, however college students don't get anything from that. College athletes put a lot of hard work and time into their sports and bring in money to the school in the ESPN article on if college athletes should be paid, Deion Sanders said “College athletes are workers” (Page 1.) This is important because it shows that these sports are like jobs to these students and they are making money for a company just to not get a penny of it. In addition, this is unfair to athletes who are instrumental in generating revenue, and they should be entitled to a portion of it. According to a 2018 report by Forbes, “The University Of Alabama football team alone generated $111 million dollars in revenue for the University; however the athletes who helped generate their revenue did not receive any compensation beyond their scholarship.” This is unfair because the NCAA itself acknowledges college sports are big business. Teh NCAA knows that these teams and athletes bring in money and still don't pay them. Even though people know these athletes bring in tons of money they feel like they dont deserve any …show more content…

However these benefits do not outweigh the amount of revenue generated by college sports. According to a report by the National College Players Association, “the average scholarship for a football, basketball, and softball player is $3,285 per year”This means that even with scholarships many college athletes still struggle to pay for basic necessities like food and housing. Additionally, while College athletes do receive Healthcare this is often limited to injuries That occur while playing the sport they are not covered for the other medical issues that may arise in the future. While for education, its certainly a valuable benefit it does not compensate College athletes for the time and effort they put into their Sports.These so-called benefits that these college athletes get does not help them in the long run nor with things that will actually help them during their time playing their Sport and