What is the difference between college athletes and pro athletes? Pro athletes are paid and college athletes are not paid. But pro athletes are professionals and college athletes are students and athletes. The question is whether college athletes should be paid or not. Paying college athletes has been controversial for many years. Many believe paying college athletes is the right thing to do while some have different feelings. College athletes should be paid to play a sport because they are employees, they bring in revenue, very talented, and many people believe they already get paid by receiving scholarships which is not the case.
Students on athletic scholarships are employees of the college they play. Two law professors at Michigan State University, Robert and Amy McCormick, believes athletes should be paid because they are “employees” under federal labor laws and entitled to form unions and negotiate wages, hours and working conditions. (Cooper 1). College student athletes may spend more than 40 to 60 hours each week for practice, travel, and games, making it hard to keep up with academics.
These young men are laboring under very strict conditions, so they really are laborers in terms of the physical demands on them while they are also trying to go to school and being required to go to school (Cooper 1). College athletes do not have enough time to get a part time job because they are a full time student and athlete. Imagine how hard it is to balance out academics and practice; now imagine adding in a part time job. There is no possible way for a student to be healthy while doing all of this. Scholarships do not cover all living expenses and many student-athletes do not have the opportunity to learn income to cover those xpenses or to afford social outings with friends. (Mitchell 4).
Playing a college sport should be considered working a full time job. These student athletes need to be paid so they can make a way of living. Most colleges are bringing in tremendous amounts of revenue but athletes do not get a cent from it. It is unfair for the players who bring in so much money and fame for their schools to not get a single penny. Even their coaches get paid, sometimes millions of dollars (Scholastic News 2). Colleges generates profit from sports, but why do the players who work so hard make nothing out of it?
The college sports industry generates $11 billion in annual revenues (Mitchell 4). These revenues come from numerous source, including ticket sales, sponsorship rights and the sale of broadcast rights (Mitchell 4). These college sports revenues are passed along to NCAA executives, athletic directors and coaches in the form of salaries (Mitchell 4). The highest paid employee in 40 of the 50 U. S. states is the state university’s head football or basketball coach. Is it fair to the players who work their heart out for a sport to make nothing while the coaches make millions.
They can pay these athletes because they deserve it. There is no doubt that it takes a tremendous amount of talent to play at the college level. Not just anybody can be a college athletic. It takes a lot of time, focus, dedication, and hard work. “In our judgement, young men playing major football and basketball are not there primarily for an education. They are primarily there to win football games and basketball games and perform well,” Robert McCormick says (Copper 1). Student athletes typically balances the roles of being a full time student and a full time athlete.
What is a college athlete? Well, college athletes are student athletes that often receive athletic scholarships from a college. An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college awarded to an individual based on his or her ability to play in a sport (Time for Kids 3). College athletes are not your average high school kids. They are usually the best potential athlete chosen from a college. It takes a huge amount of talent to play in college. College athletes should be paid for their hard work. Many people believe college athletes should not be paid because of many reasons.
Some people believe they should not be paid because the already receive scholarships to a university which everything is suppose to be payed for. Top colleges athletes already get plenty of benefits, such as scholarships and free tutoring. (Scholastic News 2). However, this is not necessarily always true. Although some universities offer athletic scholarships, they do not pay for all expenses (Time for Kids 3). They are not necessarily getting paid, yes they are getting tuition money for school, rooms, and books, but they are not receiving money to help them if they have an injury, buy clothes, or food.
Other people believe college is a place for learning, not earning. If college athletes get paid, they may not be motivated to focus on their schoolwork (Time for Kids 3). Again, this is not necessarily true. Yes, college is a place for learning. But college athletes are focusing and learning for their career they chosen, sports. If they are paid, they will be highly motivated because if they fail their schoolwork, they cannot compete in their sport. Many of the reasons to not pay college athletes are invalid. To summarize, being a college athlete should be considered a full time job and they should be paid to play their sport.
They are basically employees because of the countless hours and working conditions. They generate huge sums of revenues to the colleges even though they are not getting a cent out of it. It takes a tremendous amount of talent to play in college and they should be paid for the hard work. Many people believe that scholarships are already paying for everything for the student which is not the case. It does not pay for all the expenses. Why do people still ignore the paying of college athletes? Instead of ignoring, we should be focusing on adding additional resources to college athletes.