Should Student-Athletes be Compensated?

College student-athletes may be some of the hardest working people around. Besides

the strict rules they have to abide by, they sacrifice and push their bodies to the limit almost

every day. They also have long hours of intense practice and workouts, little vacation time, and

they are always being “watched.” Student-athletes should be paid for all of their hard work and

dedication. If they were paid it would lift burdens off of any people and could be a positive

effect. Many families would be in better shape, athletes could have some money while they are

at school, and they just overall deserve it. The benefits and reasons why student-athletes

deserve to get paid outweighs the reasons why they should not. Some of the players may come

from homes that are struggling every day to get by and they may need to find a way to help out

with some of the expenses around the house. They may feel like they need to take

responsibility of the household to help out with the bills, other expenses, or overall just taking

care of their family. I have a personal experience about why I believe student-athletes should

be paid. I have a couple friends that play Division 1 basketball at big schools. Two of them

come from homes where going to college was exceptional. One of them chose to go to school

and trust that his family would be able to continue to just make it by until he had the chance to

play somewhere professional or received a good paying job offer that would move his family

from where they currently live. However, I have another friend that chose to stay home for a

year and get a job to help his family out around the house. After that year his mother told him

to go to school and she would take care of things back at home. It was a tough decision for him

but he did what his mother told him too. He is now currently competing in the NCAA March

Madness Tournament. College student-athletes deserve to be compensated. They bring in the

millions of dollars to their universities every year, the fans come to watch them play, and it is

their hard work that allows schools to be sponsored by big businesses. Without these student-

athletes these schools would not be as big as they are.

Being a student athlete requires more than just a nice jump shot or the most sacks of

your high school’s history. The NCAA requires student athletes to meet minimum requirements

academically before they are even considered to play for the college or university. Prior to

being able to play for the college league, a student must have earned their high school diploma

and have finished 14 core classes to play Division 1 and 16 core classes to play Division 2. Once

a student is deemed eligible, they must continue to meet academia requirements to remain

eligible. The NCAA expects all of their student athletes to stay on track to earning their

diplomas. Student athletes have the burden of waking up before the break of dawn to work

out and then continue their classes for the rest of the day. Their schedules are usually jam-

packed with practices, games, scrimmages, film, and more importantly, homework so they can

keep their GPA up. Being a student athlete is time consuming and a demanding position to be

in, but they go through the sacrifice because of their love for the game. They meet these

demands through blood, sweat, and tears, and hard work. Though many students are thought

to be at advantage, they really are not. Students who earn between a 2.0 and 2.3 GPA are

eligible for practice but are not allowed to compete. This strict requirement alone creates more

of a burden for those who are student athletes.

Though the NCAA makes it a priority to supply student athletes with programs to

support their educational need, is a free education enough to risk your life? The NCAA makes it

a priority of theirs to do it’s best to supply athletes with programs to support their educational

and financial needs. According to the NCAA, the benefit of being a student athlete includes

multiple scholarships and grants. Division 1 schools have the perks of access to a fund that can

be used to supply student athletes with educational equipment and service. Provided college

completion, Division 1 student athletes are also given multiple completion grants. The NCAA

has these programs and educational services to support their student athletes, but many

people believe that simply giving student athletes access to these programs is not enough.

Given their contribution to supplying the NCAA with revenue, and no guarantee for anything in

return, student athletes and their supporters believe that they are still not given what they are

worth for playing the sport. Some colleges even produce more revenue the professional teams,

University of Alabama for instance brought in 143.3 million dollars in revenue more than all 30

NHL teams and 25 of 30 NBA teams. More importantly, not only do student athletes have a

major contribution to the revenue generated by the NCAA and colleges, the most important

thing in the world is at risk every time they step onto the field or court: their lives.

College Division athletes push their bodies to the absolute limit almost every day. They

are working so hard to get through college or hopes to being a player in the NBA. A typical day

for a college student athlete consists of waking up around 6 a.m. and continuing their day with

morning workouts, classes, film sessions, practices, games, and mandatory study halls. On the

other hand, a typical day for a NBA player, who is in season, consists of waking up close to the

afternoon, working out, and then relaxing until the game. Right there shows the difference

between how much a college athlete has to juggle opposed to an NBA player. They get the

same 24 hours, but a college player has so much more to do with their time. Obviously a

college student athlete works just as hard, if not harder than an NBA player. I’m not

downplaying the fact that an NBA player works very hard at their craft, but the amount of time

a college athlete puts into their craft, including school work, day in and day out, they deserve

some type of compensation.

A Division 1 college football player devotes nearly 44 hours a week to their sport and

has a football game every Saturday. That means in 24 hours the spend almost nine hours doing

football related activities whether its practicing, working out, film session, or even team

community service. In a week that’s four more hours than the average American work in a 40

hour work week and these athletes don’t deserve compensation? They put their bodies on the

line each week on national television bringing in incredible ratings to CBS and Time Warner

Cable simply for the imaginary gold at the end road. In college basketball athletes don’t spend

as much time per day working on their craft however they spend more time on the road but

there are exceptions. Mainly because compact schedules traveling miles and miles away to

games every other day cause conflicts in academic schedules. How are they suppose to

maintain a certain G.P.A. if they are always “excused” from class? These athletes should be

treated like regular employees. Essentially that’s what they are by definition an employee is

someone who works for another person or group in exchange for compensation.

The NCAA is a power house with tons of money with no competition. There are no

other organizations competing against it for the top spot. No other business in college sports is

anywhere close to the amount of money that college division 1 basketball and football brings

in. It is basically a monopoly and doesn’t seem fair at all. Athletes are almost forced to perform

on the collegiate stage if they want to play professional basketball one day. As of 2005 the NBA

outlawed that in order for a player to play in the “league” they must attend at least one year of

college or play abroad then enter. It was stopped due to Commissioner David Stern saying he

wants NBA scouts out of high school gyms and financial security was a concern. That was a

beneficial move for the NCAA because these high school standouts had to attend college,

bringing that much more attention to the college of their choice. For a second, just imagine

how much nation attention and the amount of media attention Ohio State would have gotten if

Lebron James would have followed through with his commitment. They would have made

millions off one student and he would have not been able to get a single dime from it. When

you put certain things into a different perspective some things just may not seem right.

In one article I read it was an interview with President Obama. They ask if he agrees

with the idea of college athletes being compensated; President Obama disagrees. Although he

does disagree with the fact that the NCAA is making millions of dollars, “while an athlete is

banished for getting a tattoo or free use of a car.” He believes compensating the athletes will

“ruin the sense of college sports.” He also talks about how he thinks college sports would

become a “bidding war” and focus on how much one player is making compared to someone

else, someone maybe in the NBA. College athletes would become so focused on the money

that they may forget the real reason they are playing, for the love of the game. President

Obama is right about college sports becoming a “bidding war,” always focused about how much

the next person is making instead of just playing the game for the love of their craft. However

an article I read agrees with student athletes being paid and it was about Northwestern

University football players. The players started a petition saying they should get paid. Under

National Relation Labor Board in Chicago they qualify as employees, but some do not have the

same mindset. It is acknowledged of the long hours the players put in and limited vacations

they have, but it is still seen as “privilege.” This article uses three valid points on why student-

athletes should not get paid. Those points are education and scholarships, money allocation,

and just plain living the dream.

I held a short interview with my assistant coach, Coach John Brennan. The main

question was obviously, “Coach, do you think college division 1 student athletes should be

paid?” His response was, “There are different levels to that question. If you’re at a Kentucky or

Duke and generate the amount of revenue they do for the school, they should receive a stipend

in my opinion.” That was the jest of the interview. Another question I found significant was,

“Would the walk-ons get paid the same amount as the “Karl Towns’” of the world?” His reply

was, “They would have to in order to make things easier.” It all has to be uniform.”

Those who oppose my stand point mention how student athletes get many perks, one

including a “free scholarship,” always saying how that should be enough. Well known

columnist for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and a strong supporter of not

paying student athletes pointed out that “Tuition, room and board, books and free food are

enough compensation for athletes.” However, many athletes that come from urban

neighborhoods use college as an outlet and place to just get away from the violence, drugs, the

bad message you receive growing up these places. There isn’t money just laying around back

home that their guardians can send to them. When they are in college they basically have to

fend for themselves. Yes, they attend school for free and receive free food and books but keep

in mind what they have to go home to for winter break or spring break, knowing they are away

and can’t really provide for families because they are not allowed to be compensated. Knowing

that their families are back home barely making ends meet while they are at school. Then when

they get back on campus they see their coach pull up to practice in a brand new car and he

didn’t even have to shoot a jump shot or throw a football. Most people never really understand

that side of things. They only see the players and what the players do and receive.

College student-athletes should be compensated for the extreme sacrifice that they put

their bodies through almost every day. Without these athletes performing on the field there

would be no way that much money would be generated through athletics alone. Paying these

athletes a reasonable amount of money while they are on athletic scholarship is only beneficial

for them; besides where are the millions of dollars going anyway? Without time for a job and

strict NCAA rules there is no way for these players to have money in their pocket unless it is

coming from other sources. However, many athletes do not come from households where

there is extra money just lying around. They deserve to be paid to help themselves and their

families. Many people will argue that these student-athletes are getting paid with a free

education and that is enough. I argue that it is only right for them to be paid because although

having an education is priceless, that education isn’t putting food in their stomach. Although it

may not seem fair for their peers it really is right. Their peers don’t go through the same

practices as them, or the long travels. Their peers may be able to get jobs or come from

backgrounds where money is second nature. Student-athletes deserve to be compensated.

Besides, where is all the money going?

Works Cited

"Compensation For College Athletes? Obama Says No." CBS Baltimore. CBS Local, 21 Mar. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.

Hartnett, Tyson. "Why College Athletes Should Be Paid." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.

Hinnen, Jerry. "Alabama Athletic Revenues More than Any NHL Team's."CBSSports.com. CBS Sports, 7 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Mirtle, James. "Report: NHL Revenues to Hit Record $3.7-billion." The Globe and Mail. Globe Sports, 09 June 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Patterson, Tiffany. "Should College Athletes Be Paid?" Should College Athletes Be Paid? Smartasset, 11 Mar. 2015. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.

Pool, Colton. "College Athletes Should Not Get Paid For Play." The Spectrum. N.p., 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

"Revenue." NCAA.org. N.p., 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

"Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?" US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.

"Student-Athletes." NCAA.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.

"The Business Of Basketball." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Zillgitt, Jeff. "NBA Sees Draft Age Limit Good for Business." USATODAY.COM. USA Today, 29 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.