The case for paying College athletes

There has been an ongoing debate as to whether the college athletes should get paid. To my take, I am for these young athletes to get at least some pay. There are many and varied reasons as to why I assert these athletes should get paid. First and foremost, these athletes are not given an opportunity to work and make their own income. If for instance a college athlete comes from a humble family, they will not be getting any money to fund their basic expenses. This can lead to the young students indulging into illegal activities and also giving in to illegal money, clothing and other merchandise. These students bring in to the institution million dollars in form of prizes and merchandise through games. Also, they athletes should be given the morale to practice especially if one plans to get professional when he/she leaves the college or while in college. By getting some material benefit from the institution, the athletes’ morale is boosted and they are able to do their best in nursing their talents especially to the ones who are talented in various games.

Owing to the fact that the college athletes are not allowed to work, even though they have some extra time to do the same, they undergo a lot of sacrifices including meals, new cloths and other basic items so as they can save more for their future. In most cases these students are forced to give in illegal offers so that they can make their ends meet. Many of the athletes have the dreams of making athletics their professional work. Hence they need to get some experience in their schools before they move out. From the experience gained in school, they can struggle to take it to higher levels once they leave the university. To the ones who don’t plan to go professional, the athletic experience that can have been gained in school through morale boosting for instance payments, they can have an added advantage over the ones who did not attend the college.

Most of the institutions make millions of dollars in the name of their college athletes. For instance the University of Miami was rewarded an approximate of eight million dollars for the Miami hurricanes who were playing in the Nokia Sugar bowl. In addition, there are a lot of money that is brought in by the apparels through their sales of items like Jerseys, hats along with other items that help the public to be identified with the team. The Orange Bowl has for longer times held more than 600,000 people of which they sell tickets to them one at 20 dollars. The team players should at least be rewarded with something because it is because of them that the institution is able to make such amount of money. They should be given the extra morale to work harder so that they can maintain their legacy the ones who are against the payments of these college athletes put it that the student are still getting their scholarships and hence this should act as their reward. These opponents fail to understand that many of the college athletes or students live in near poverty because the aid that they receive is not enough for them to pay for their basic and miscellaneous expenses and other necessities. Most of the athletes do not stay in the school for the whole of the four years that the scholarship is valid. Some stay in a certain school for some time and then transfer to other schools where they see that the situation is at least cool.

Also there are times in the game when injuries come. The institutions may cover the major expenses for treatment but there are other minor expenses that the students need to cater for him/her. So it is better to keep the athletes prepared for these situations by giving them some payments. There are also times where an athlete is called into the office and he is told that his/her services are not required any more in the team. These students also need to have some startup because that will not be the end of his life or career. They need to have saved something so that they can be able to recollect themselves. The few college students that graduate from the university and they could be turning professional before their senior year, only stay because their parents are sending them some cash. If the university/college students are paid, there will be many more student athletes graduating. When college athletes are paid, this could benefit all the parties ranging from their institutions of study, the public and also the students themselves. This would give the athletes an opportunity of going to college for both education and sports.

In conclusion, if the institutions that the athletes are in do not pay the athletes, the professional leagues should be doing it. Most of the professional leagues like the MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL use the college athletes in their minor leagues. These players come from various universities across USA. Since these professional leagues utilize the talents of the college universities, they must pay them or they must enter into terms which are the same as the ones they enter with the players in the minor leagues. If for any reason the college student don’t get any kind of remuneration from the institutions where they are working, they must be given time to work which will boost their working experience and help them fix themselves in the real world society.

References

We the public place the best athletes on pedestals (Mollar) Pg 545-552

The case for paying College athletes (Edelman) Handout