Imagine working forty or more hours a week and not receiving any money or compensation for the hard work you put in. For college athletes, this happens every week of their careers as student-athletes. They work just as hard as professionals but do not receive any sort of payment for the time and energy they put towards their sports. Whether they are in the classroom, on the field, or in the film room, they work around the clock. In today’s competitive sports world, sports come before academics though. Academics are treated as insignificant to sports and athletes are told that their sport is supposed to be their top priority. College athletes have never been paid because the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and universities view them as amateurs. Also, college sports are big business and corporations like the NCAA and universities make millions of dollars from college sports without the athletes ever seeing a penny of it. Without college athletes, universities and big corporations would struggle to come up with the large sums of money brought in by college sports. Most of the sports world does not realize this and they only see what college athletes do on the field or the court in front of thousands of fans. Everyone respects the level that college athletes compete at but most people do not understand the amount of work put in by the young men and women behind the scenes. The debate over paying college athletes to play has been going on since the beginning of college sports and has been a stubborn one. It is long overdue and college sports today are far more competitive than they were decades ago. In today’s demanding sports world, college athletes deserve compensation because they put in incredible amounts of time toward their sports, are treated like professionals, and are athletes before students. 

College athletes are some of the hardest working and busiest people in today’s world. An average day for them is entirely different than most students in college and even people in the workforce. They wake up earlier than most people do and stay up later than most people do. The work ethic required to be a college athlete is rare and extremely special. More specifically, college football and basketball players at the division one level work harder than most people can even imagine. An article from a University of Florida news affiliate explains the average day in the life of one of their football in players. The article writes, “6:00-7:00 a.m. - Wake up; 7:00-7:45 a.m. - Eat breakfast; 8:00-11:30 a.m. - Class; 12:00-12:30 p.m. - Eat lunch; 12:30-1:30 p.m. - Lift; 1:30-2:30 p.m. - Fuel and recover; 2:30-3:30 p.m. - Meetings; 3:30-5:30 p.m. - Practice; 6:00-6:30 p.m. - Fuel and recover; 6:30-7:00 p.m. - Eat; 7:30-9:00 p.m. -  Study” (Hutchins, 1). This schedule comes out to be roughly 15 hour days for University of Florida’s football players. The article then jokes, “Savor those 30-minute breaks between the end of class and lunch and the end of dinner and study hall, kids: They're all you're going to get.” Although the writer is attempting to make a joke about the schedule, he is being honest and showing that the 30 minute breaks are all the football players get during their long day. 

These quotes show that being a college athlete, especially a football player, is not to be taken lightly. Athletic programs have kids running on five or six hours of sleep a night and repeating the same, 15-hour day every day of the week. The daily football schedule at the University of Florida is what you will find throughout the SEC (Southeastern Conference) and the rest of the nation at most levels and in most sports. The athletes start their day extremely early, have class in the morning, practice and sport-related activities in the afternoon, and then they study at night with whatever energy they have left from their long day. This system places an overall emphasis on sports because homework and studies are left for after sports. Class is before practice to get it out of the way so the athletes can focus on sports instead of their studies. College athletes exert most their energy for the day towards practice, lifting, and meetings with coaches. Athletes spend five or six hours of their day directed towards their sport which comes out to about forty hours a week. Forty hour weeks are equivalent to a full-time work week in America. On top of the forty hours a week for sports, class, and studies, student-athletes must take care of themselves and try to be a college kid. 

Another example of the amount of work college athletes put in is from a recent court case from Northwestern University involving the football student-athletes against the university. The football team attempted to win compensation for the time and effort they put in towards the football program. The final decision sided with the football team and ruled,

“The regional NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) director concluded that the time Northwestern players spend on football — 40 to 50 hours a week during the season, even more during training camp — and other special demands placed on them mean they are not primarily students who play sports, but laborers working for the university” (Karaim, 2). 

Northwestern is another division one program that has their athletes working at football forty to fifty hours a week just like the University of Florida’s players. Although Northwestern is not known for football as much as Florida is, they still work just as hard and have similar schedules. This is a common theme throughout the country as mentioned before. Athletes of all sports work more at their sport than they work on their studies. Northwestern proved that the student-athletes are technically employees of the university rather than students due to the time commitments of football. Northwestern is a private school and the school can start paying their athletes following the court decision. Sadly, public universities cannot follow the Northwestern court decision since they are governed by the NCAA. The NCAA’s rule on paying college athletes is any form of payment directly to college athletes is illegal. The amount of work college athletes put towards sports, especially football players, is enough to be a full-time job and sometimes even more.

College athletes are essentially professional athletes without the huge contracts and the fame. As mentioned before, they work at their sport for forty or more hours a week. On top of their academics, college athletes put in enough time to complete more than a full work week. These kids are doing something with their sport seven days a week most of the time and hardly have time for anything else. Especially in today’s competitive collegiate sports world, athletes are pushed beyond their limits to be the best they can be. The level of play expected from division one athletes is similar to the level of play at the professional level in all college sports. In college football and basketball specifically, kids turn professional after one or two years of college. This impressive trend shows college athletes can play with professional athletes even at a young age. 

Along with college athletes being treated as professionals, they exist in an entirely professional environment. Division one coaches and administrations are paid competitively and highly. An excerpt from an article in the LA Times explains the environment of college sports well, 

“But the problem is that top-tier college athletics is a professional pursuit in all but name. The coaches and administrative staffs are paid competitive (and in the case of top coaches, obscene) wages. If the NCAA is going to limit the amount of benefits that go to the players – the people who do the real work – then shouldn’t it also limit the amount of money the coaches receive?” (Martelle, 1). 

This quote accurately explains the unfair world college athletes live in. Everything surrounding college sports is strictly professional and coaches and administration mean business. Coaches are paid as much as professional coaches and are coaching for only one reason: to win. Obviously, college athletes desire to win and succeed is extremely high but, the only real difference between coaches and players in this situation is the coach’s jobs are on the line constantly. The players are the ones doing the actual work in college sports while coaches physically cannot do anything about the outcome of games. Therefore, it would make sense to pay coaches a lot less than they are paid and at least compensate the players for doing the actual work it takes to win. 

Coaches and administration being paid obscene amounts of money leads into the fact that college sports are a gigantic business. The revenue the NCAA, athletic conferences, and universities make is astounding and athletes never see a penny of the money earned. Although it may seem extreme, the big business of college athletics is frequently compared to slavery. An article from Gale briefly explains the connection, 

“It is comparable to a plantation back when slaves were around. The athletes work day in and day out to become better at their sport and perform for their college without any compensation. They are surrounded with coaches and university officials who make millions off athletes’ abilities and hard work. The athletes watch the people above them earn large sums of money for the time, effort, and work they put in. Athletes should at least be able to earn endorsements or money from people outside of their colleges just for an example” (Compensation, 3). 

This comparison of slavery to college sports is sometimes seen as exaggerated but its main idea is accurate. Athletes work at their sport all day, every day and are pushed to perform at the highest level possible at all times. They put it in so much work to produce wins for their school but receive no compensation from anyone. This is exactly like slaves working all day to produce money for their master. Like slaves, athletes see their coaches and people above them earn huge salaries because of the work they put in. College sports is a huge business and all the NCAA and universities want is revenue from the work college athletes put in. Unfortunately for the athletes, they have no say in a system which makes billions off of kids who do all the work for people above them. Since college sports is such a big business and athletes are treated as professionals, they end up devoting the majority of their time and effort towards sports instead of school. 

College athletes are supposed to be students before they are athletes hence the term: student-athlete. In today’s collegiate athletics system though, the largest problem is student-athletes end up becoming mainly athletes. This occurs because athletes choose the school they attend based on their athletic program and facilities. Most of the time athletes are not concerned with academics at the school they attend and this is instilled at the beginning of the recruiting process. Athletes are recruited to play their sport, not to excel in the classroom. Academics are treated as secondary to sports and this leads to a variety of problems. This problem ties back to college athletes being treated as professionals. These kid’s schedules are shaped around practice, studying film, and improving overall at their sport. The University of Florida sample football schedule for an athlete mentioned before is a perfect example of this. The athletes wake up early, go to class for a few hours, and the rest of their day is focused around football. After football is finally over, the athletes have to keep up with their studies at night. Eventually, athletes cannot keep up with the busy schedule and their grades usually end up falling. Recently, a scandal arose at the University of North Carolina, 

“In 2015, former student athletes sued the University of North Carolina (UNC), declaring that they were deprived of a meaningful education because the school arranged for the athletes to take fake “courses” that never met in person. Across Division I, graduation rates of student athletes in men’s football and basketball trail other students’ by up to 30 percentage points. And although these athletes may dream of playing professionally, where a college degree is not needed, less than 2 percent achieve this goal” (Iaconangelo, 2). 

This quote explains the environment that college athletes are surrounded with. UNC is a competitive division one school where athletics obviously trump academics. Although most schools do not go to the extent of creating fake classes, athletes are always given the easiest classes to take and whatever help they want on their school work. This system creates a counterproductive environment because the point of college is to learn and college athletes hardly learn anything during their careers. The quote mentions that only 2 percent of college athletes achieve the goal of playing professionally while the other 98 percent suffer with finding a job. This is extremely problematic because the kids who do not play professionally end up learning very little in college and therefore struggle finding a job to make a living. Also, graduation rates for college athletes are 30 percent lower than the average student which leads to more trouble for athletes trying to make a living after school. Graduation rates are lower for athletes because their focus is on sports instead of earning their degree to be successful after their sports career. 

The rarer reason college athletes do not graduate is deciding to play professionally before they can earn their degree. Dominique Wilkins, a former basketball player for the University of Georgia and successful NBA player, explains, “A lot of times kids come out too early because of the money. The money is very enticing. As young players, we are willing to give up a degree for the money and to help out our families” (CNN, “YouTube”). This quote from Dominque Wilkins explains one of the primary motives behind athletes leaving school early for the professional leagues. Kids who are good enough to play professionally are chasing money instead of caring about a degree. The problem with this though is college is important in today’s world even if you are a professional athlete. Most athletes who leave college without a degree end up regretting their decision and wish they would have finished school. At the end of the day, the system is geared towards college athletes strictly worrying about their sport while school takes a secondary position. The long-term effects this has on athletes is a problem for society because sports do not last a lifetime, but an education does. Since academics takes a backseat to athletics, it is important athletes are compensated for their time and effort put into their programs.

The debate over paying college athletes has been going on for decades and will continue until a final settlement is reached. The central argument against compensating college athletes for playing is most athletes receive a free or discounted higher education and people believe that is enough compensation in itself. An opinion piece from CNN explained the argument well, “They go to college on full scholarships, and when they graduate, most graduate debt-free” (College, 1). Although a higher education is extremely valuable today, most athletes hardly have time for their studies and cannot focus on anything besides their sport. Even if college athletes wanted to get a full academic experience they could not because of their sport and the time commitments that comes along with it. Also, college athletes are treated as professionals most of the time and they are expected to perform year-round at one of the highest levels of their sports. They put in around 40 to 50 hours per week for their sport which is comparable to a full-time job. Some universities are realizing that these kids are working more than average workers on top of their studies and personal lives. If anyone is working full time hours in anything, they deserve to be compensated for the time and work they are putting into it.

Compensating college athletes is the right thing to do in the sports world we live in today because student-athletes are beginning to become just athletes. The amount of work college athletes put into their sports and programs deserves to be compensated for because without it, they are just being used to produce money for people above them. They are treated as professionals and surrounded by an environment that is strictly business. College athletes struggle to excel in the classroom since the majority of their time is spent playing their sport. The best way to fix this issue is implement a policy where student-athletes can be endorsed by outside businesses and corporations. An article from the Huffington Post simply explained the way to fix the problem, “There’s a better and easier way: let athletes benefit from their fame and likeness like every other student at our colleges and universities. Let them take endorsement money like the coaches that lead them” (Reed, 2). Athletes will benefit from this and they will receive their hard-earned money while the NCAA and universities do not have to be in the middle of it. This would end most complications with whether or not to compensate college athletes while keeping both sides happy. College athletes are hard-working men and women and deserve compensation for the amount of work they put in and the thrilling entertainment they provide millions of people. 
