College Athletes and Money Many people are currently debating over the topic on whether college athletes should receive compensation by the NCAA and their universities for participating in athletic activities. This question has sparked much controversy as many people feel it is right for these hard- working athletes to receive compensation. However, there are also many people who feel the schools provide enough for the athletes, and should not pay them. It is a topic heavily discussed between people involved in college athletics. In my opinion, college athletes should receive compensation by the NCAA and their universities for playing sports because the athletes would want to stay all four years in college instead of departing to play sports …show more content…
While this argument has been going on for many decades now, it has become intensified in recent years. The argument started gaining popularity when video games started using the names and likenesses of these players. The NCAA was making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of these video games, yet the athletes in the games received no money at all, despite their names and likenesses being used inside of the video games. As the years went on, the talks of the athletes receiving money solely off of advertisements and video games changed to the thought of the athletes simply receiving money through payment by the NCAA. Many college athletes from different schools have even threatened to unionize and demand money from their schools for their athletic participation. According to a Web page posted by the NCAA, “for 2011-12, the most recent year for which audited numbers are available. NCAA revenue was $871.6 million, most of which came from the rights agreement with Turner/CBS Sports. About 96 percent is distributed directly to the Division I membership or to support championships or programs that benefit student-athletes (NCAA). While 96 percent of this money goes to the universities of these athletes, they do not go directly to the athletes