College sports have been growing rapidly in popularity over the years. With the final four and the college football playoffs, ratings have been up drastically. Colleges and Universities have been making millions of dollars off of colligate athletes. These colligate athletes come from all different types of backgrounds with one thing in common and that is the sport they participate in. Colleges have become way more than just a means of education for these athletes but also a stepping stone into the pros for them. A very small percent of colligate athletes actually make it into the pros so the educational part is just as important. With college sports, comes tradition, pageantry, and school pride which makes college sports so exhilarating but also brings in millions of dollars. Colligate athletes never see any of this money for themselves which seems unfair because student athletes are the ones that put in hours of work and dedication to give it their all on the field and court. So the real question becomes, should the major money making sports in college athletics, which are football and men's basketball pay their athletes to participate in the sport?    

Over the years, many universities have found themselves in deep trouble regarding the NCAA with players taking improper benefits from agents and boosters. When players take more than just an "athletic scholarship -- that is limited to tuition, room, board, books, and fees," it usually does not end well for the players or the school (Sanderson).  Syracuse just a few years back got hit hard with sanctions. Players received money, gifts, and a lot of other unauthorized materials along with other illegal activity such as voiding drug test and academic integrity. This lead to suspensions, loss of scholarships and over a hundred and sixty wins being vacated from legendary coach Jim Boeheim. Another widely known incident regarding players taking improper benefits, happened at the Ohio State University. Five players, including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, were suspended for the first five games of the season for allegedly receiving free tattoos from a tattoo parlor. Also another incident, Georgia's standout wide receiver, AJ Green, sold his game worn jersey and the NCAA suspended him for the first half of the season. All of these incidents could be easily avoided if the NCAA could find some sort of way to reward or pay colligate athletes for their performance. To reward colligate athletes in the two major money making sports, football and men's basketball, athletes should able to have free market over themselves and to be allowed "to profit off of their image and likeness" just as "virtually any other adult in America is free to do" (Schwartz).

Student athletes come from all different types of backgrounds, some from upper class families but also a lot come from low income families that barely make enough money to put food on the table. Many of these athletes grew up on the streets and their only mean of making it out is through sports. A lot of these athletes know nothing more than just sports and how to play them. Being able to play college athletics will give them a chance to do something with their life and make a name for themselves. Whether it is they go pro out of college or graduate and find a well-paying job. A problem with college athletics now a days, is everything is money related and everything needs money. Many athletes forgo their senior year or some basketball players play one year and go into the draft with never graduating nor receiving a degree. The money is just too good for the players to pass up. With sports, they are many surprises and freak accidents. A player could have a career ending injury and no college degree to back him up. Also, while the athletes are in school, they still need money to live off of. A lot of families cannot afford to just give their child money while they are in school. The athletes get scholarships but that only gets them so far. Some only get partial scholarships and a lot of the time the full scholarships do not cover all of the necessities needed to live. Also, it is very rare for an athlete to be on scholarship for all four years, some get them taken away, and some decide to transfer. And when an athlete needs some extra spending money on the weekend to go hang out with friends, it is going to be really hard to come by. With participating in a major colligate sport, the sport is way too time demanding to allow the athlete to have a job or make any type of money for themselves. So then it is up to the athlete to fend for themselves which a lot of time leads to them getting in trouble. Student athletes need to be able to have a way to make money in college to be able support themselves and get them through college.      

Colleges, universities and the NCAA are making millions of dollars off of these athletes and their performances. With marketing deals and television contracts it is unbelievable how much money is being made. The NCAA just reached a "$10.8 billion to be exact -- between the NCAA and CBS/Turner Sports for March Madness between 2011 and 2024," all for a three week tournament (Wilborn). On top of that the NCAA reached an agreement with ESPN for $500 million dollars over the BCS College football playoffs.  Gate revenue, concessions, and tailgating add even more money to the total revenue. Teams like Alabama can afford to pay Coach Nick Saban $8 million a year and Duke can pay Coach Mike Krzyzewski $9.7 million a year. Even more revenue goes into athletic facilities, treatment rooms, rehabilitation areas, weight rooms and other beneficial complexes. The two main money making sports, football and men's basketball have become a "multi-million dollar business that is marketed, packaged and sold in the same manner as other commercial products" (Acain).  So with schools making all of this money, student athletes should at least share some of the revenue. Then comes the question should colleges and universities pay their athletes to perform? It seems like such a great idea, these are the hardest workers on campus. They put in hours of work, put their body in the way of harm just to perform their best on game days and so they can give us spectators' enjoyment. Musicians and artist get to go to school on scholarship "and [they] still make money off their talent," college athletes should be able to do the same (Reed). Seems like a great idea but totally unreasonable. 

As much money as it seems that colleges and universities are making off their athletes, they could not realistically pay their athletes themselves. It would be impossible, only a few teams would be able to afford it, even if they could afford it, they would barely break even in revenue. This would cause schools to go into millions of dollars in debt and would even cause some schools to go bankrupt. Teams would have to drop from division one, some would even have to get rid of their sports programs. Not to mention how unfair it would be to the other nonrevenue making college sports and woman sports. After title IX, women and men sports have to be treated equally in the college settings. Not only can schools not afford it but it would be nearly impossible to figure out how to fairly pay all the student athletes. The whole idea "paying athletes salaries as universities is impractical" (Reed). The universities themselves cannot afford it better yet it would be impossible to find a plausible way to pay all the athletes equally and fairly. 

Some people disagree with paying student athletes to participate in colligate athletics. Student athletes are student's first, athletes second. Their primary purpose in school is to receive an education and to receive a degree. There are millions of people out there that would love to go to school for free in exchange for playing a college sport. Money should not be an incentive for the athlete, an education should be a big enough incentive itself. Also, college sports are pre-amateur, they are not professionals yet so therefore they should not get paid. If they want to get paid they should skip college and go to a development league until they are able to make it into the professionals so they do not waste a scholarship on somebody who does not want to benefit from it. Also, if universities paid student athletes, college sports would not be the same. Athletes would not pick a school based off of its tradition, pageantry or academics but rather what school offered to pay the most money. It would keep the power houses in sports power houses because no other school could afford to complete with them. 

