Should College Football Athletes Be Paid Essay

906 Words4 Pages

The debate over whether college football athletes should get paid has been an ongoing issue for some time now. This issue has only magnified over the past decade with the NCAA striking lucrative deals with the top broadcasting stations. Currently as it sits now the college universities prohibits the “student athlete” to receive any payment for the athletic abilities other than the scholarship they provide for their education. So with college, universities making millions of dollars off these athletes this begs the question. Why not pay college football athletes for performing like a professional? In order to end any further exploitation of college football players, universities need to pay these athletes for their contributions which generate …show more content…

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act a full-time employee is cconsider as an individual who works forty hours a week. In most cases the average college football player put in forty plus hours a week to include: practices, film study, strength training programs, and games. Not to mention the many hours they travel to and from games. In doing so it limits them and provides no opportunity to work a part-time job to earn money on the side to cover the personal needs. Under the current rules and system in place now the NCAA views on college athletes as “student athletes” rather than an employee, makes them exempt from following universal labor laws. In doing so, this allows university and coaches to dictate and exploit these athletes by overworking them; this however doesn’t include the athlete’s obligation to fulfill their academic responsibilities as a full-time student. In addition to this, football players also face the risk of getting an injury that could jeopardize their career and never get compensated for it because of their amateur