I. Background and Thesis
There has been major discussion recently concerning the topic if college athletes should or shouldn’t be paid while they are attending school. The first thing the opposition wants to say is, “They’re already getting a scholarship! Isn’t that’s more than anybody else? Don’t be greedy!” Contrary to what the opposition states, being a college athlete is a full-time job. A typical day for a college athlete is a player must wake up before classes begin to lift or condition around five a.m. Go to their classes until three to four in the afternoon. For the most part, the athlete must attend a mandatory study hall where the athlete can get extra help with their homework or study for an upcoming test.
The scholarships that athlete receives only covers the cost of credit hours, living facility, and food which gets old really quick. According to Steve Wulf, “many college athletes come from disadvantage backgrounds,” and scholarship money only covers the bare minimum. While athletes work their rear ends off, the university makes millions and the coach’s gets a six-figure yearly salary. Although people argue college athletes already have a scholarship, these athletes have no choice but to go the extra mile by maintaining high grades and performing at a high level in their sports; so they should be compensated for it. II. Opposition
“The main problem with paying students athletes is that it is not the college’s primary function. The primary function of a academic institution is to educate,” says Krikor Meshefejian. It would not make sense for an academic intuition to run a multi-million dollar entertainment business, which is what college football and basketball have become. The college experience is payment enough for these athletes. While the majority of students athletes are getting scholarship money which is money they don’t have to pay back. Majority of students are taking loans that have to paid back with small interest involved.
If students athlete get paid they will not take their education serious enough to get good grades. College athlete have so many advantages already, by them getting paid would be surplus. College already provides students with an invaluable benefit already; by obtaining a college degree, the network the athlete can create, and higher paying job opportunities. Student athletes should look at their education as plan A, and their professional career in sports plan be. The reason why is there is a very small percentage that makes it professionally and if a career is cut short because of injury, the athlete can depend on the education they received. III. Refutation
Collegiate athletes cannot live comfortably with the time they have to dedicate for school and the time they have to dedicate to the sport they are committed to. Very few college athletes receive a full ride scholarship; which covers tuition, fees, room, board and textbooks. Some athletes receive scholarships that cover only a portion of these expenses, but many still receive exceedingly more aid than the average student. Which is fair since that are contributing more than an average student. College athletes and the talents they have, provide a huge source of the universities’ income. The university basically takes in money from ticket sales, television contracts, and sport-related merchandise. The athletes, on the other hand, receive their scholarship and little more. So the fact is the collegiate athlete, willingly or unwillingly, helps their university bring in millions of dollars while the athlete struggles for their basic needs. I read in “Sports and Athletes” page 96.
“According to an article in the Harvard Journal on Legislation, “in the past twelve years, the amount of money generated by basketball and football programs has increased nearly 300%, such as they fund almost all other sports.” Think of the amount of money a player like Johnny Menziel made his university Texas A&M. Adrian Peterson an elite running back in the NFL stated his first daughter was born while he was in college, adding responsibilities to his plate outside of “playing football and going to class.” He states: “Nobody wants to live in the dorms for four years. You see the guys who are older, and they have responsibilities. I feel like, as much money as universities make, some of that should come down to the players, as well.” We all know how fun it was watching Peterson his college years. Now imagine how much money Peterson not only brought his university but also the NCAA itself. When Theodore Roosevelt helped create the NCAA in 1906 he had no idea how much the NCAA would grow and what it would grow into.
At that time it was a way to watch athletes play sports while making sure the rules were being followed, and watch the top athletes display their talents to the nation before becoming professionals. But now in the 21st century, the NCAA is a billion dollar company. So, my question is during this great surplus of money, why hasn’t anything changed? I’m not proposing college athletes should be getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars extra cash a semester, not even ten thousand dollars a semester. If each athlete got paid $2,000 minimum semester and top athletes five thousand maximum extra cash a semester sounds fair. Those numbers is not even minimum wage if they got paid hourly for their sweat blood and tears the put in. Most athletic programs obviously can’t afford this but a billion dollar company like the NCAA definitely can. IV. Conclusion
It is evident that what these athlete’s provide to their school is far greater then just a scholarship. Statistic shows Universities with the top football programs are most well known around the country. Schools should be more welling to share the wealth they are not even working hard for. This is not a foreign country where workers work for less then minimum wage to make a corporation millions to billions of dollars. This system is very flawed and is very much taking advantage to innocent young adult.
Sources
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10757376/adrian-peterson-minnesota-vikings-says-college-athletes-paid
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985351,00.html