Being a student athlete can be a full time job, bouncing between the weight room, the court/field, classes, and film sessions. So why aren’t student athletes paid?
College athletics are considered extra curricular activities, but the schedules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments require a lot of time. In this time students must miss school, in a school like Belhaven University, these are not excused absences. “It’s hard to balance school and tennis, especially when you get no days off because nothing is excused,” said Macey Lea of Belhaven University tennis team.
Student athletes who bring in revenue for their school or team argue that they should be paid some portion of the revenue considering they are the reason for the money, “It’s honestly not that fair considering we bring in thousands of fans, and get a scholarship in return, don’t get me wrong a scholarship is good, but it would be nice to have a portion of what we actually bring in”, said Benjamin Nola, senior on Louisiana State University’s football team.
If NCAA athletes were to be paid, would they be paid differently considering the sport? Joan Soler, senior on Belhaven University tennis team said, “oh yeah, for sure, also considering where you are, tennis isn’t that big of a sport here so a tennis player would be paid different than a football player because it’s the south”. This isn’t considered fair pay, but those who support paying college athletes say that team popularity and players generally would determine the pay.
“Most profits from college athletics do not go towards academics, instead they go to the coaches, athletic directors, and some administrators”, according to Edelman of CollegeExpress.com. Of course, college athletes shouldn’t get paid like the coaches, but they could still receive a reasonable amount considering how much the program’s revenue is. Where would the money come from? Thomas Blake, senior on Belhaven University soccer team said, “It would make most sense that the money would come from the profit that the school is making off of the games, but at a school like Belhaven who doesn’t charge to get in games it would be hard to pay athletes here. It’s also a Christian private university so it would be extremely hard to pass a rule that student athletes should get paid here”.
According to a 2013 survey done by John Dennis, 69% of the public is opposed to paying student athletes, why? John R. Thelin said in his article, “Here’s Why We Shouldn’t Pay College Athletes”, “If salaries were given, then these college student-athletes would have to pay taxes. Depending on the student-athlete’s income, those taxes could be high enough to reduce what they earn until they can barely cover tuition”. Most people that are opposed to the idea of paying student athletes say that scholarships are the best option; those same people also say that it would change the nature of college athletics. It is very difficult to become a college athlete, only 7% of high school athletes go on to be college athletes.
The debate on whether student athletes should get paid or not goes on and on, especially on the internet. There are facts and statistics on each side of the argument. Do you think college athletes should be paid?
my kicker for readers to comment would be the question at the end. This would give me feedback on other people thoughts.
OTHER BLOG SITES THAT MAY INTEREST YOU:
https://lendedu.com/blog/student-athletes-get-paid-classmates-dont-think/
https://athletesusa.org/blog/should-college-athletes-be-paid/
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/history-behind-debate-paying-ncaa-athletes/
https://wallethub.com/blog/should-college-athletes-be-paid/22681/
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/opinionnw/2014/10/30/should-college-athletes-be-paid-for-performance/
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