For hundreds of years, college football has been a beloved sport across the nation.  Fans, coaches and players have poured their hearts into this sport.  Not only have they gave their hearts to the game, but also millions of dollars.  These dollars however do not end up in the makers of this great sport.  The paying of athletes has been a topic of discussion for the past decade and still rages on.  Athletes put many hours of sweat, effort, and mental stress every week into a sport they have dedicated their life to.  On average, a college athlete dedicates 43.3 hours every week to their sport, which is 3.3 hours more than a regular work week (National College Players Association).  Many people feel as if these athletes should be compensated monthly for this effort as well as treated better by the NCAA (National College Athletics Association).  However, other people feel is if college athletes should not be paid and that an educational scholarship is plenty enough.  They argue that if athletes are paid then the athletes are no longer amateurs and would be considered professional athletes.  Also, that this would cause several problems within the NCAA and it is better and safer to keep the non-paying of college athletes.  College athletes should be paid and treated more fair because of the hours and effort devoted to the sport at hand. 

Paying student athletes would change college sports forever.  This change would be for the better.  Yes, college athletes get a lot of hype for being really good at their sport and many people treat these athletes like gods in a sense.  These are the same athletes that struggle to find money to spend on things like food, gas etc.  This is a problem.  College sports bring in millions of dollars to their respected universities every year through ticket sales, advertisement sales, donations etc.  To be more specific, college athletes bring in those millions of dollars.  Without the athletes, the fans would not be coming to spend their money.  

Athletes may look to be some sort of superstar on the internet and/or on television but some of these athletes are living a money-pressured life.  If some of these athletes were not receiving scholarships they would most likely not be going to college and getting an education.  According to National College Players Association, 68% of student athletes’ families at the division one level live below the poverty line.  Therefore, these athletes who are playing sports in college don’t have money being given to them because their families do not have money to give.  The average spending of a college athlete on full scholarship is $3,233 according to the National College Players Association.  Athletes families have to come out of pocket over $3,000 a year to make sure their son/daughter is comfortable with spending money.  If the families cannot afford to send their child money to spend then the athlete is stuck without any money for basic day-to-day needs. 

Furthermore, athletes bring in millions of dollars to their specific university, the NCAA as well as television providers.  Fans pay money to watch these games on television, buy tickets to see the games in person which in turn allow the companies to profit.  The NCAA alone brings in 747 million dollars every year alone thanks to the broadcasting of college athletes (Stanley).  To be more specific, from 1998 to 2006 the major conferences in college football held a package worth $930,000,000 with ABC to televise the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) at the conclusion of the regular football season (Stanley).  To top that off, the teams then after they play, split somewhere around $116,000,000 in payments (Stanley) which equals up to around $1,870,967 for playing a single televised football game.  These are not the only income the universities make.  These schools also have sponsors from difference companies of their choice.  Most schools have a total of fifty different company sponsors with the biggest ones giving around $300,000 to the athletic facilities as well as player development.  Every football season there are, on average, nine football coaches who are paid $1,000,000 in overall reimbursement (Stanley).  Some people question where all this money goes to.  This money goes towards uniforms, travel expenses, and the coaches’ pockets.  Between sponsors, and television packages it is very clear that these football programs bring in well over a substantial amount of money and yet the athletes, who are the reason for this, still receive not a penny.

Although the lack of compensation for college athletes is a huge issue, all throughout the nation athletes are treated unfairly in many other ways.  For example, if an athlete were to be injured competing in an athletic event the school does not necessarily have to pay for the surgery.  Basically, the school expects the athlete to perform to the fullest without any benefits but if they get hurt doing what the coaches ask of them they have to pay for that.  This is a lose-lose for the athlete.  Furthermore, many teams in recent years have been punished harshly for different rule-breakings.  These rule-breakings, however, had nothing to do with the athletes themselves.  Many times, coaches perform illegal actions that lead to teams getting suspended by the NCAA.  These suspensions include a handful of games and/or revoking of that specific team’s post-season privileges.  This not only affects the coach who performed the illegal task, but also the players who have worked their butts off the whole season to get to that point.  All in all, the punishment would have a terrible effect on the athletes who are only at the university for a short period of time (Branch).  For many years the NCAA has held multiple rules over the heads of the student athletes. According to Taylor Branch “amateurism requirements do not allow: contracts with professional teams, salary for participating in athletics, prize money above actual and necessary expenses, play with professionals, tryouts, practice or competition with a professional team, benefits from an agent or prospective agent or anyone outside of your team/family, agreement to be represented by an agent, delayed initial full-time collegiate enrollment to participate in organized sports competition.”  These rules are just too much.  If a fan of the football team sees his/her favorite player out somewhere eating they cannot even buy the players meal for them which is absolutely absurd.  This would be considered illegal by the NCAA and the player would lose his/her eligibility to play their specific sport.  

If college athletes were to be compensated and treated fairly by the NCAA things would change in a positive way.  Athletes would have extra money to spend and do extra things without having to stress about where their next meal is coming from.  Families of these athletes would not have to stress about sending their child money.  Also, if the NCAA were to start treating these athletes with more fair regulations things would be a lot less complicated as far as eligibility goes.  Athletes, who are twenty-year-old students, would not have to watch over their every move just to make sure they were eligible to play their sport.  Furthermore, athletes would become more comfortable about working with the NCAA and around their rules and regulations and there would be less suspensions.  

On the other side of this argument, people also believe paying athletes along with giving them more leverage is not the right way to handle things.  Most people say that paying these college athletes would then turn them into professional athletes and college sports would soon come to an end and the student athletes would no longer be playing for the love of the game.  Also, people who are in favor of not paying student athletes are usually affiliated with college sports and/or the NCAA somehow.  Therefore, if the athletes are paid then themselves or their company is losing money.  People also claim that with the student athletes receiving an income, then would have to pay a tax as well (Whitlock).  Based on the state of the college, the athlete would have to pay a certain tax just like the rest of the citizens of that state.  Then, the little amount of money that the athletes are getting would be even smaller.  “Athletes who receive full scholarships to cover the cost of school is enough” say most of the people against the paying of these players.  People believe that depending on the school (Duke, 60,000) an educational scholarship is worth more than any amount of money and that if we begin to pay athletes on top of that then we will only be over-benefitting them even more.  

College sports are a huge, money-making franchise that draws viewers from all around the nation.  College sports bring in millions of dollars to their respective schools every year and continue to help them out financially.  Although this is a very successful franchise, the base of this franchise (the athletes) are still under unfair rules and regulations.  Every year athletes are mistreated as far as the NCAA goes and robbed of money they are making for other people.  I believe athletes should be treated as regular people, not as amateurs and be payed a small monthly amount of money to support themselves.  
