Slave labor in the United States of America has been illegal since 1865, however some would argue that it still occurs today. There has been a moral question about paying college athletes for years now and it will most likely continue for a while longer. Universities across the country profit millions of dollars off of their student athletes and in return will give them scholarships which do not amount anywhere near what they do for their respective university proportionally. In summation, student athletes in large revenue producing sports should be compensated for their commitments to their sport, because of the amount of hours that they will put in and classes they miss with obligations to their sport. 

The main reason that college athletes deserve to be paid is the deficit of money they do not earn from their scholarships because a scholarship amounts to far less than minimum wage with all things considered. This was computed through the average hours worked for a student athlete on his/her sport (45 hours/week) and multiplying it by 50 weeks a year that they are working on their sport. The average full scholarship is estimated at a little over $22,000 which would make the student athletes receive less than $10 an hour for their work which would also mean that it is below minimum wage (Chudacoff). There are multiple sources that argue that student athletes are treated worse than unpaid interns. Unpaid labor is looked at as morally unjust in our society, but it is often times overlooked in this scenario and boosters for universities and people will continue to support large schools and what they do with their athletes. The average amount of time spent during a week when out of season on a sport is roughly 20-40 hours per week. However, during in-season periods, student athletes average about 30-50 hours per week which does not include travel time and other intangibles. There are so many paths that all lead to the same conclusion that student athletes should be compensated for their efforts in sports. 

The main counterpoint of paying college athletes is the issue of where the money would come from and how universities would afford this new proposition. There are multiple ways that this proposed idea would function and they are all valid ideas. If college athletes were allowed to sign marketing deals and could advertise and use their name to make money, then the teams and the NCAA would not even be out of pocket a dime. This would be a simple way for the top tier athletes to make some money off of their trade, although it would require approval from the university before the marketing deal is agreed upon and both the university and player's name is used for a product. If these athletes could also have a revenue sharing fund where they received a proportion of the multi-billion dollar TV deals and other massive deals, where the players could divide evenly a small percentage of the money so the university still takes in what they need to net positive revenue. For example, the College Football Playoff (CFP) signed a multi-year deal to hold the television rights to the playoff with ESPN and it was worth well over $1 billion. When television stations are willing to offer millions of dollars and sometimes billions for the rights to show games and broadcast various other things, and the student athletes never see a penny of their hard work, I find that hard to find morally acceptable. The athlete can then walk away with sufficient funds to allow them to do what they please. Student athletes are committing an NCAA violation if they attempt to sell any memorabilia they are given no matter what their intent is with the money they receive. 

Another unjust portion of the NCAA included the fact that student athletes often times would have to give up so much in order to play their sport. Shabazz Napier of the University of Connecticut who graduated in 2014 was quoted after winning the 2014 NCAA Basketball Championship saying that "We as students athletes get utilized for what we do so well, and we're definitely best to get a scholarship to our universities. But at the end of the day, that doesn't cover everything. We do have hungry nights that we don't have enough money to get food in. Sometimes money is needed. I don't think you should stretch it out to hundreds of thousands of dollars for playing, because a lot of times guys don't know how to handle themselves with money. I feel like a student athlete. Sometimes, there's hungry nights where I'm not able to eat, but I still gotta play up to my capabilities. I don't see myself as so much of an employee, but when you see your jersey getting sold, it may not have your last name on it, but when you see your jersey getting sold, to some credit, you feel like you want something in return." (Dauster 1) He went on to elaborate extensively on how he believes student athletes are not given enough to compensate them for food as he says that he and his teammates went some nights without food. The University of Connecticut only offers their student athletes food services between 7 am and 7 pm. They are not given any special food with higher nutrition at the University of Connecticut, as the athletes must eat at the same locations that are offered to the regular students. This policy varies from the University of South Carolina because we have an athlete specific dining hall which has better quality food and higher nutritional food which allows the athletes to perform better on and off the field. Although our dining hall is open from 7 am to 7:30 pm, our Carolina cards are "unlocked" which means that after these hours we are permitted to use our meal plan to eat at any dining place on campus that is currently open. This shows how The University of South Carolina has seen what has happened in the news with the University of Connecticut and adjusted accordingly which is quite admirable. The universities should strive to best treat their athletes with nutrient rich food and sleeping accommodations so that they can perform to the very best of their abilities.

Another issue with our current system of the NCAA occurs when a student athlete in any sport wishes to make any money off of any trade or sport on the side. An example of this dilemma is seen when a Colorado University football player was a professional skier and he was almost coerced into quitting skiing by the NCAA because he was accepting prize money from his sponsorships and winning multiple events. The NCAA gave him a one year ban from playing in the NCAA because of these violations. He consequently quit his professional Olympic skiing career to pursue his football goals in Colorado and he was forced to quit receiving any benefits whatever from his previous profession. I find this crazy because they are allowing him to not benefit from an outside trade that is not related to his sport and he consequently now has no income. This should be immoral for an entity to tell another human what he can and cannot receive income from, when it has no relation to what he is doing for their company whatsoever. This furthers the idea that student athletes should be paid because they are incapable of holding outside jobs, whether it is due to the NCAA denying them, such as in this case, or pertaining to the simple fact that these athletes simply lack the time it takes to hold a normal job effectively and an employer would most likely not be willing to be flexible with an athletes schedule.

Paying student athletes could have a negative effect on the competition across the board in the NCAA because it would increase the gap between the bigger schools and the smaller private schools and multiply it drastically because the schools with adequate budgets would have the capability to offer potential players much more money than a smaller school and it would in turn make the smaller schools worse at sports and the bigger schools would become more powerhouse like. It is crucial that this be addressed if paying athletes were to become legal because this would be the first main issue to happen with the ideas in the first place. The NCAA would have to create a maximum or make a level playing field by slight regulations on how much you can pay a student athlete for their services. It would be of great detriment to all sports in the NCAA if this were to go unregulated because then all of the schools with colossal budgets could pay whoever they want whatever they want and have no repercussions. Like previously stated, if there were to be a maximum that an athlete could be paid, then the smaller schools could still remain in contention with the other larger schools and once again keep it a level playing field, although the small schools would still be at a hefty disadvantage. 

The NCAA strategically calls their workers "student athletes" because of the placement of the words in the phrase. They are referred to as such because of the fact that the student is placed before the athlete which in my experiences has never been the case. Being a student athlete at a large University has various perks, however it is true that there are numerous sacrifices that every student athlete gives up. On weekends, when your friends are out partying and teammates meet up and go out to dinner or stay in for the night and catch up and study or we happen to be on a trip for a track meet. We give up all of our weekends in order to do what we love best. Holding the title of a student athlete seems as though you are here to get your education first and then compete for the University second, although this is entirely false unless you dip below a 2.0 GPA and then you will get significant help from tutors and academic advisors because otherwise you would be deemed academically ineligible. It is evident in multiple scenarios that athletes are almost solely athletes that are taking classes on the side. Students are required to attend mandatory team meetings, as well as all practices and competitions and often times even study sessions. There are multiple breaks and days off of school that student athletes are forced to forgo in order to attend practice or games. There is also the possibility to miss multiple classes each semester if you travel frequently with your team. It is clearly the case that these athletes are prioritized for their athleticism and the focus is not on the education which it should be. For example, when these athletes are allowed to miss class for a competition or practice, yet if an athlete were to try to attend class instead of competing when instructed, then there would be consequences. There is a double standard that shows how the NCAA and Universities across the board treat their athletes. They should be called "athlete students" or "athletic students" because it more clearly depicts their role at the University because it has them as athletes first and students second which is blatantly the case in the college sports world today.

On the contrary, some of these student athletes would not be able to maturely handle the amount of money that would be given to them if student athletes were paid for their actions. Johnny Manziel who played football at Texas A&M a few years ago in college was notorious for partying and he would often times get himself into trouble, but imagine if he had an extra amount of money to go gamble away and party with, then it would only be intensifying this issue. The NCAA fears that players would misuse the allotted money to engage in NCAA violations, such as gambling and drinking and doing various drugs. This is a valid fear, but it should be disproven, because these players are still required to attend practice, so therefore they would not just go off the deep end with illegal substances that would be harmful for both their brains and bodies. They are also drug tested which would disprove the idea that these athletes would partake in illicit drug consumption. Practice and competition would keep these players in check, as they would still have to rest up before these events and prepare as though they were not paid in order to be capable of performing at the best of their ability. These players cannot partake in the actions of the regular student body, and this is just one the minor reasons that they deserve to be compensated for their sacrifice and their efforts that benefit the University entirely and yet today the athlete receives 0% of the reward he/she created. 

Astonishingly, in 2013, The University of Texas had an astounding $165.7 million in revenue which has risen an average over $10 million per year since 2005 according to Business Insider. If this rate of increase continues to occur, how can student athletes remain unpaid with all that they give to their respective universities. If student athletes were to be paid even a small sum that could allow them to pay for gas and meals when the dining halls are closed and minor sums for other various basic necessities, then they would be better off and it would be more acceptable for the NCAA to take in billions per year from their currently unpaid workers. This relates back to the previous point about the University of Connecticut where the players had no way of getting food after 7 pm or before 7 am because the dining halls were closed, and this is also the case across the country for a good amount of schools. If these athletes received just a small weekly or monthly income, then they would not have to go out of their own pockets to buy food when the dining halls are not open. The fact that this specific issue has not been previously addressed by somebody in the NCAA or a player is absolutely incredible of how little people are willing to stand up against something bigger than their own self, either for someone else or themselves.

Furthermore, a study that was conducted by the National College Players Association revealed that a revenue sharing plan of 50% of a schools revenue going to the players which yielded each football player $114,000 per year and each basketball player $226,000 per year. Obviously this is way more money than they would need to give the student athletes, but this is just one proposal and possibility in which to pay the student athletes at universities. There are various efficient ideas in order to compensate student athletes in order to make this moral issue disappear. There are revenue sharing proposals and stipend ideas as well as weekly payment plans for the student athletes at larger universities. There is a never ending list of reasons why these college athletes should be paid for their efforts. 

A proposed solution would be to possibly compensate these student athletes through small stipends across the course of the year and season. These stipends could come from revenue that the school receives from massive multi-billion dollar revenue deals from the conference TV stations and other local stations. In 2015, each school who holds membership in the SEC received $31.2 million from just the SEC Network which is a branch off of ESPN. If the University of South Carolina divided this sum evenly throughout our 500 student athletes, then every student athlete would walk away with an astounding $62,400 from this equation. Although this is flawed because it is just taking from the revenue and not profits, it is an extreme example that shows that student athletes can easily be paid and that the NCAA is currently denying them their right to equal pay by stamping them on the forehead with the "amateurism" label. 

In conclusion, student athletes across the board should be compensated in some way other than just a minimal scholarship, which is how it currently stands. Student athletes have been known to not have enough money to cover basic resources that scholarships do not cover and this should change immediately. There are intangible items that student athletes should receive at least a very small sum of money to be able to cover those basic costs, because not all athletes are well off financially. There should be some legislation passed that states that student athletes should be paid to compensate them for their basic needs and eliminate slavery once and for all in our great country.

