Summary: College Athletes Should Be Paid

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Imagine doing hard labor every day without getting paid. Imagine not being able to recover fully from a traumatic injury and being overcome with medical bills. This happened to many athletes, but one that stands out is Inky Johnson. Inky Johnson was a star football player for Tennessee. He was guaranteed to be in the top thirty of the NFL draft pick in 2006. He only had ten football games left, until his dreams came true. But, Inky’s whole life changed in a different way when playing against the Air Force. Inky tackled a player and tore all the nerves in his brachial plexus, causing surgeries and his right arm to be paralyzed. He could never play football again and instead had to live a more challenging life. This is just one example of how players put their lives at risk for the games they love so much. College athletes deserve to be paid for their dedication to sports. There has been huge controversy over this and it is considered to be one of the most debatable topics in sports. Inequality in sports has been shown in many ways. This includes women inequity, racial inequality, and coaches being paid more depending on what sport they coach. College athletes should be compensated for their work and be given rights. …show more content…

The average scholarship for a college athlete is less than 11,000 dollars a year. Scholarships for athletes not playing football or men’s basketball average less than 9,000 dollars per year. These scholarships do not cover the full cost of college whatsoever. Full rides are only given out by four sports, women’s and men’s basketball, football, and women’s volleyball. Because of their dedication and busy schedules, students can not get part time jobs to have any type of income. Meanwhile, the NCAA makes $11 billion from a contract with CBS. The benefits that these players are collecting “have led to a black market for compensating athletes” (Birkenes and