Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay

Sports are a major part of American culture. Everyone gathers around to watch rival teams battle it out, watch the championship game come down to the last second, see the underdog team shock everyone with an upset, and watch everything in between. Division 1 football and basketball teams hold the country at their fingertips. Every high school athlete dreams of becoming the next division 1 star athlete. The NCAA is one of the biggest companies in the sports industry and is ever-growing in popularity. When it comes down to it, the NCAA’s money-makers are their college athletes. The real question is should the NCAA’s student-athletes be paid for their time as “employees of the school” or continue to only be referred to as only a student. College

In the article, “The Billion Dollar Industry that Has Never Paid its Money-Makers: The NCAA’s Attempt at Compensation Through Names, Images and Likeness” by law school graduate from Pennsylvania State University and Touro College, Christopher Palmieri, touches on the resemblance of student-athletes to professional athletes. He states, “Apparel deals, ticket sales, and school reputations have made it so that some college games have over one billion dollars at play when student-athletes gear up. Despite this, the NCAA still prevented all college athletes from making a single cent from their own popularity without facing serious repercussions. … The plaintiffs argue that it is unjust for the universities, apparel companies, and many others to profit from the hard work of these athletes without allowing them to earn money for themselves” (Palmieri 1607). These athletes give up so much of their time and work so hard, both physically and mentally, to only be rewarded with cheers and praises. The student-athletes playing these games have a right to obtain some of the money that they bring into the NCAA and all other companies involved in covering their play and benefiting from

Some think of it as an alternative to going along with scholarships rather than fully committing to paying the student-athletes. The NCAA has kept very steady in its choices of not paying college athletes, but in October 2019, on the radio, it was heard that the NCAA was changing. Colin Dwyer covers breaking news for NPR covering everything from politics to sports to scientific research and was the reporter on this news. “NCAA Plans To Allow College Athletes To Get Paid For Use Of Their Names, Images.” This audio broadcast from National Public Radio starts out by addressing the fact that the NCAA has always been opposed to and did not allow college athletes to be paid. However, after an NCAA board meeting, the decision was made that players will be allowed to make money off the use of their NILs. NIL stands for the player’s Name, Image, and Likeness. This is meaning that the players will get paid as the NCAA uses them to promote things such as games and merchandise. This decision can be traced back to California and many other states following suit, allowing college athletes to sign agents and get endorsement deals, thus forcing the NCAA into this position and the decision. This audio broadcast showed that the NCAA was starting to see the issues of their choices to not pay their student-athletes, but that they are not ready to recognize them as