College sports entice and intrigue millions of Americans year after year, season after season. From football to swimming, there will always be a large amount of interested fans packing arenas and crowding the living room to watch their alma maters and favorite teams play. Being an athlete, I had a first-hand look into what it would be like to play a college sport. The compensation these athletes receive is incredible, a free education, books, food, clothing; the list goes on and on. Still, there is the dilemma: why is the college athlete not paid a salary? When trying to pick a side for this argument I struggled mightily. On one hand, if I had gone to school as a college basketball player, I would have been happy to receive a salary. However, since I did not pursue that path, I had to put all biases aside and look into the facts.  I believe that I have created a solid argument for why college athletes should be paid for their talent and hard work. A lot of athletes, especially in high Division 1 programs and in major sports such as baseball, football and basketball, leave college early for a chance to be drafted into the pros, the main reason for this is strictly financial. College athletes should be paid for their labor because it could help them better their futures outside of the sports world. 

According to a Business Insider article, the average American works 1,700 hours per year, that means that he average work week for Americans is right around 40 hours (Business Insider).  This 40 hours is used to get food on the table for their families, pay bill, etc. That 40 hours is the majority of their work week, along with an hour or two of work a week that gets done at home. College athletes are essentially employees of the organization that controls all of this, the NCAA. "Division 1 college athletes spend about 50-60 hours a week at practice, mandatory study hours and the weight room" (Eric 23). Additionally, the players then have to go home and do the hours of homework that any normal college student would have to do. So, the difference between the working man putting these hours in is the fact that they get a pay check, concrete satisfaction for the work and effort that they put in. These college athletes get nothing, they put their bodies on the line every single day so that they can possibly hold up that championship trophy at the end of the season or so that they may get drafted into the professional leagues. A common misconception is that these athletes can just go get a job and make money just like every other college student does. This is incorrect because they simply do not have the time to do so. The NCAA restricts these players claiming that college athletes are "amateurs." This definition of amateurism is as follows, "those rules that restrict the compensation or things of value that student athletes may receive or the ways by which they may earn compensation" (Roberts 256). This is basically a very clever way for the NCAA to restrict the payment of players, by classifying them as "student-athletes." This is a loophole that many people are familiar with, nonpaid internships is a parallel that also supports this concept of amateurism, doing the same work as the people getting paid for free or very little compensation. This argument really comes down to one, very simple thing: money.

Everyone wants to make money. Even at a young age receiving money is great. This does not change as time goes on. In fact, the need and drive for money grows increasingly larger and larger. Money factors heavily in this argument when arguing whether the college athlete should be paid or not. The NCAA is a business, a big one. It has monopolized college sports and pulls in large sums of money every year, but who works for that money? The NCAA executives do not, not in sweat labor as the players do and they don't get to touch any of it. The question that always comes up when the payment of players is under consideration is, can we really trust 18 year olds with this large amount of money? This is a fair question as 18 year olds are certainly not as responsible as a 25 year old graduate student, however it does not justify restricting and forbidding these players from receiving any of the money that they have rightfully earned.  I believe that there are alternatives to paying these players in cold hard cash. Each player could receive a type of saving account while they are in school, this is a less liquid type of payment which would help these college athletes save the money they have earned for their futures and takes out the element of them possibly squandering the cash which still in school. 

Because money is such a determining factor in everything we all do, the other parties involved with these organizations need to be investigated, this is specifically the coaches of the teams and the NCAA officials. For the sake of argument, let's focus on college basketball, one of the most popular sports in the nation. March Madness is a month long tournament with the best college programs facing off for the national championship. For some it is has been a life-long dream, the cherry on top and the reward for the years they have dedicated to the game and school they love. One team gets this honor, possibly 20 college basketball players. Meanwhile there are 64 teams and every single game is watched by millions of fans, with each arena sold out months in advance. Factor in concessions and merchandise, which adds up to millions of dollars every game. Additionally, the NCAA makes deals with television broadcast stations. "In 2014 the NCAA signed a 10.8 billion dollar contract with the TV station CBS" (Hartnett). On top of this large lucrative deal the NCAA also makes money off of the commercials that are run during the games. According to a Forbes article written by Chris Smith the NCAA makes over six billion dollars per year. This money is due in large part to "a $700,000 ad rate for a 30-second spot during the Final Four" (Smith). Once again, on top of all that the, athletic conferences each make a certain bonus as their teams move deeper and deeper into the tournament. That's the overall picture, how much these schools make on a personal level is truly eye opening. An article from the NCAA research Journal implement a table that includes all the major Division 1 universities and how much money they bring in during any given athletic season. The University of Alabama makes the most money, generating over 30 million dollars a year, all accumulated from their athletic departments, mainly football and basketball (Forbes).  It also shows a pie graph depicting the various categories that the school receives money from, "Television and Marketing rights Fees" (Forbes) is number one with 84% of their income. 

The next point that is important to investigate while discussing financials is how much coaches and executives get paid each year. They can't make that much, right? Wrong. NCAA executives make over one million dollars per year and that's on the low end of the ladder. Of course the coaches do deserve some money for coaching and bringing in revenue for the school. Coach Nick Saban the head football coach at the University of Alabama brings in over 7 million dollars a year not including championship and playoff bonuses that normally follow such a prestigious program (Johnson 6). If the coaches and NCAA officials deserve to get paid, then the players, who are actually the ones we pay to watch, whose jerseys we pay to wear, deserve to get paid as well. The Sports Center magazine released an article that depicted the value of players on these teams. The average scholarship for the University of Louisville basketball team is around $17,000 (Jost). The article continued to go on and state that the "Market Value" of these players is closer to 1.6 million dollars. The same magazine article added quotes to its pages and Shabazz Napier, a UCONN basketball player made a comment that shocked readers, he said, " ... there are hungry nights that I go to bed and I'm starving." This is a game changer for college athletes. After Napier's comments were released the NCAA made it a rule that these athletes get a meal plan with unlimited food and snacks on campus, a fair compensation but it still does not fully compensate the effort that these young men and women are giving for the financial benefit of their universities and the entertainment of millions of college sports fans. 

There are always opposing facts to try and derail an argument. There are plenty to discuss when considering the payment of college athletes. As we all know college athletes are not currently getting paid for playing. We do know, however, that most of these athletes receive athletic scholarships that include some pretty nice perks. They may get a free education, free meal plans that include higher quality, and more quantity, than the average meal plans, they do not have to pay for books, backpacks or any other equipment they may need  and, of course, they have the opportunity to play professional sports and make millions of dollars. This is money that most of us can only dream about and these 18 year old kids have a chance to make it in their twenties. So really the counterargument is that they already get so much, why should they be ungrateful and greedy. The facts are that the average Division 1 scholarship is 25,000 dollars per year, so, if the athlete stays all four years they are receiving an education valued at $100,000 dollars (Green). The counterargument is very simple, these kids receive so much; why they deserve more. Another point that is always brought up is, do both men and women get paid, and do the players get paid based off of talent and merit.

The rebuttal to the counterargument is also simple because the counterargument is somewhat weak. The NCAA does not have a valid reason for the restriction of payment to the players. In addition to all of the work these payers have to put in, on and off the field or court, the money in the scholarship does not help them much in terms of a social life. They still do not have money to spend. Why not get a job? There is simply no time; playing college sports is more than a full-time job for the student athlete. The money on the meal plan equates to seven dollars per meal (Hartnett). Seven dollars a meal for a well above average sized man is certainly not enough to keep him going. "The United States of America is a free market economy, with no discrimination on the workforce" (USA Today). You could even go as far as to argue that the non-payment of college athletes violates a statute set by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This states that no person may be discriminated on in the workforce based of on age. 

The theory that playing sports is basically an unpaid internship brings me into my final and main point for why college athletes should be paid a salary. The Title IX rule prevents the segregation of players based on race, however it does not state anything about money (Nocera). The other question of the payment of player based off of merit is a good one but there is a simple solution. To remain completely fair when paying players the compensation should be completely uniform across the entire roster. While it would be easier to give the star more money than a walk on, both players are helping the team so they should both get paid the same base. However, it would probably not become uncommon for a merit and accomplishment system to be implemented, giving bonuses out based off of achievement. 

When I think about the payment of players, I think of one story that I was told while in high school. One of my friends had a friend who went to this university and had a class with football star Alshon Jeffery. It was Jeffery's freshman year and he never went to class because he "didn't have to because he was going to the league." He was basically saying that there was no need for him to do any work while in college because he isn't going to finish and won't need to because he will be making so much money in the NFL. My main argument is that the fact that these players have no reason or incentive to stay.  What good does this do them if they sustain an injury or when they retire? They have absolutely no fallback because they don't have a college degree or any sort of understanding about the real world outside of sports. You hear the stories all the time about the once great sports stars who are now filing for bankruptcy because they weren't in college long enough to learn even the simplest money management skills. Unfortunately most athletes don't even make it to the pros after entering the draft, only 10 percent of college athletes get drafted by a professional team (Bleacher Report). Paying these players will keep them in college and better their lives after they have retired from sports. Recent rules have prevented people from going to the pros straight from high school and the newest one states that you must be 21 or older to enter the draft but this simply isn't enough. 

This is a subject that has been around for some time. The payment of professional athletes is becoming outrageous, tens of millions of dollars each year is very enticing to a young college student who believes that he could be the next big thing. Who wouldn't want to leave the world of essays, exams and homework and trade it in for a life of incredible riches and fame? When it comes down to it, however, that life must come to an end. College teaches young adults skills that are essential to becoming an adult such as money management and business skills, two of the most important, and a college degree is now required if you want to get a well-paying job. College athletes receive many perks that I would love to have, but I am receiving something that they are not and that may become much more valuable than a professional career that lasts five years. These athletes will eventually become part of the normal world and money does not last forever, especially when you are inexperienced in saving and have people constantly asking for money. I believe that paying players a modest rate and putting that money into a savings account so that they can have that money to fall back on is a great way to keep these player in school for all four years and earn a degree from one of the many prestigious schools they attend. This will help them become active parts of society after their sports careers have come to an end, which it always does. 

