There has been a lot of controversy over whether college athletes should be paid or not. Some people believe they should get paid because they feel that colleges are using young athletes for money and not giving them anything in return. On the other hand, there might not be enough funds to pay every student athlete equally. They might also have to discontinue some of the sports teams that don’t make as much money as popular sports. For example, football and basketball. Something colleges could consider is paying athletes for special events such as March Madness. Back in 2016 on May 1st, the Aspen Institute Sports and Society Program held a discussion titled “Future of College Sports: Remaining Athlete Pay”. NCAA president Mark Emmert spoke at the Aspen Institute about his concern that University of Texas swimmer, Joseph Schooling had received a $740,000 bonus from Singapore for winning a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. In 2015 the NCAA allowed international athletes to receive pay.
College sports are competitive but if you put money on the line they are more likely to work harder and perform better. Student athletes also bring in more money for colleges. When students, parents, or alumni come to watch sports, their main attraction is the athletes. Since sports need lots of time and commitment, these athletes don’t have time to get a job. It’s almost like a full time job. If they are on scholarship, they might not be able to pay for things like housing and food. With the money that colleges would pay them, they can buy necessities for college. With all the hours, athletes also don’t have a lot of time to study for classes. For all the time they put into ensuring the success of their team, students deserve to be paid for the hard work and effort. Being a part of a sport in college can bring many physical and mental challenges to these athletes, yet they get no word into how the big earnings should be distributed.
On the other hand, there are many reasons why college athletes should not be paid. For example, colleges most likely will not be able to pay all the athletes the same amount of money. The smaller schools will not be able to keep up the pay with the other schools so they have no chance of competing with them. The girl sports that don’t bring as much money would also not nearly make as much money as the men. If they pay for sports programs, there won’t be enough money for all the programs and will have to get rid of some of them. College is very expensive, with the possibility of paying the athletes may increase the price even more. Students may have a harder time paying for their education. With money being on the line, these athletes will only be playing for the money and not for fun. They will view the sport as a job instead of an activity they have always loved to do. I believe that college athletes should not be paid. Colleges will not have enough money to pay everyone equally. Jealousy and fighting could happen between the players. This could also lead to a worse performance and a loss of trust between the players. Even though I believe that college athletes should not be paid, there are some fair points brought up on why they should be paid. I definitely could see why others would want them to be paid. What do you think about college athletes being paid or not?