Unpaid Labor: Paying College Athletes College athletics is profitable. millions of dollars of revenue are generated by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), a non-profit organization that control’s college athletics. Where does this money go? Certainly not the workers. “The irony is that, while sports events generate millions for each school, the workers are not paid” (Eitzen). Athletes give forty hours a week just to the sport they play. As a result, graduation rates have gone down to an all time low, and some athletes don’t even go to college for an education. Former Iowa State head football coach Jim Walden said, "Not more than 20% of the football players go to college for an education" (qtd. in Eitzen). The NCAA defends the right to its …show more content…
One argument against the payment of college athletes are the scholarships they receive. “The notion that a full scholarship is not a fair exchange for athletic services provided to a university—regardless of how much money an athletic department generates from those services—is ridiculous” (Whitlock). College is very expensive to attend, and with so many students going into thousands of dollars of debt, it is a privilege that some athletes are lucky to receive. Whitlock also argues that the money the athletes will receive from the schools will go towards the purchase of drugs and alcohol, and other unnecessary things. After researching this topic, my opinion is that college athletes should be paid. The NCAA makes millions of dollars every year, while some athletes can’t put food on the table. Athletes need to be paid for their services like they are working a job, and should be paid by the hour. If the NCAA paid every one of its athletes 200 dollars a week, it would still be a fraction of its revenue. A union must be formed by the athletes for equal pay across the sports, and unfair restrictions set upon athletes and not other students should be