Many people have been up in arms whether college athletes should be paid for the "services" they give their respective schools. The argument is these players make too much money for these schools to not get something in return. I will be telling you my opinion on the matter and I encourage you to disagree if that's what you believe. SportsFansSpeak is about the fans and their opinions, if you disagree BeHeard by commenting on this article, if you agree with what I say then comment as well. Don't let your voice go unheard.
Let me just start with what I think is the right thing to do. Players should not get paid. Let me throw out a few numbers of how much a full ride athletic scholarship includes. Tuition for major universities is getting more and more expensive every year. The average price of tuition at a couple major universities was $29,671 annually. These athletes are getting $29,671 of annual tuition for playing 12 football games. The scholarships also pay for room and board, this includes housing and meal plans, the average price for room and board comes out to be $9,067 a year. One of the most dreaded parts of college is buying the books for classes. Athletic scholarships, of course, cover the costs of books. The average price for books a year came out to be $1,009. Schools usually give athletes personal money for transportation, hygiene, etc. The average for major universities comes out to $1,939 a year. The total value of an athletic scholarship cannot be completely understood as most universities offer their athletes free tutoring, buildings designed only for athletes to study and get help with their school work, counselors, etc. The total amount of money they receive a year comes out to $41,686. Seems to me like that is plenty of "pay" for an 18 year old kid. I can't think of any 18 year olds that are earning $41,686 a year.
A lot of these athletes come from underprivileged families and they want to help their families to flourish and be successful. I respect that and I believe these young men should be commended for their efforts in helping their families, but should they be paid for that? They are already getting money for their families or they at least have the option to. The NCAA Student Assistance Fund gave out $54 million worth of aid to students and their families. Do you still feel like athletes "need" this money?
For all of those athletes that care more about making lots of money rather than bettering themselves with a free college education should have an option as well. If they want to make millions of dollars major sports organizations should open their doors to any age joining their leagues. There are also many other options with developmental leagues, overseas teams, local leagues, the possibilities are endless for these athletes. Maybe they will learn to appreciate the privilege it is to play for a prestigious college team.
I am heavily opposed of college athletes getting paid, but they are not the only ones to blame for this debacle. Many of these schools are making more than $100 million off of their athletic programs, this money needs to go somewhere other than the pockets of the University Presidents. Give some of that money back to the schools, make tuition cheaper for all students, after all they are the fans, they are the ones buyings game tickets, jerseys, concessions, and becoming boosters, once they have paid off their grievous student loans. Don't the students deserve to go to the school they love at a cheaper price? Wouldn't that cause them to spend more money on the teams they love? To me that makes business sense, (haven't we heard so often that college sports are a business?), with lower tuition, more students will have money to spend on athletic events, merchandise, and eventually give back to the schools.
Great article but I have to say that I disagree in that I think athletes should be getting a cut of what athletic programs make. Universities make millions of dollars each year and last year alone the University of Texas football team brought in $109 Million dollars in revenue alone. That is just crazy! As much as I feel that they shouldn't be getting paid.. They should get a small percentage of that money. I know it seems unfair but last time I checked people weren't buying tickets to see me do taxes. I'm going into accounting and I have student loans like 90% of college students. A lot of athletes at these big schools and every where come from humble circumstances where the parents cannot afford to see them play. I say part of this money they should receive go to traveling expenses for family. If the universities or whoever can monitor and regulate this I think it could work. Although I'm not 100% in agreement that they should get paid, I have to realize that I'm paying for services like if I went to a play or concert. Some might say "well then they are amateurs don't give them education" but I say it's more like a job while going to school. Yes they get free tuition, room and board, food stipends, etc but who's keeping the universities accountable? They are making millions off of the players and all they are saying is that they want a cut of that revenue. If we can hopefully regulate this and not go overboard then I'm for it. But history would tell us that if you give them an inch.. They go a mile so we will have to see how good the administrators are of this new change.
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