Paying College Athletes College athletes work year round preparing to participate in contests that entertain viewers and earn the NCAA and many universities money. Some believe that universities make financial gains at the expense of the athletes; however, many of these athletes at large universities playing the more popular sports like football and basketball are on full scholarship and receive countless free benefits. This has led to the question: Should college athletes be paid? For years, there have been many differing ideas and opinions on this controversial subject. The nature of the problem is that universities bring in millions of dollars in revenue related to athletics, yet the athletes who put in countless hours practicing their …show more content…
Essentially, there is virtually no sport in college that has an offseason. Many sports, such as football, have multiple practices in one day also known as “two a days” in the summer. This leaves little or no time for athletes to maintain a job between practices, classes, sleep, and meals, so it is almost impossible for them to be able to make money. Division I athletes basically maintain two full-time jobs: student and athlete, committing nearly 60 hours per week to school and sports which leaves little time for anything else, including a paying job that will support the cost of living (Study:).Since participation in athletics prevents them from gainful employment, perhaps the athletes should receive additional compensation from the university athletic program. After all, coaching salaries continue to skyrocket. The twenty highest paid college football and basketball coaches each make over three million dollars per year. Duke University’s basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, rakes in over seven million dollars a year, not counting endorsements. Tom McMillen, a retired congressman and former NBA player understands the players’ frustrations. “These coach salaries are aggravating the issue because players are saying, ‘How could these coaches make all this money and we get nothing?’ “ McMillan said