An Opinion Why Ncaa College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

Money has become such an important part of our everyday lives that everyone wants a piece of it. In this case we are talking about NCAA college athletes. Being an athlete myself, if I can play a sport that I’m good at and get payed at the same time my life would be set. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to get paid to do something they like. But once you sit down and think this through you realize that you’re just playing a collegiate sport, not in a professional league. Unless you’re playing a sport in a professional league, then I believe that players should not get payed. In this case, NCAA players.

Everybody wants these athletes to get payed, “but where is that money going to come from” (source 1)? People tend to skip this question just to get what they want. But they need to realize that money isn’t just floating around in trees, it must have a source. There are around 1,200 schools with athletic programs within them, and only 14 of them are making profits without the need of institutional help. What I mean by this is that some schools make so much money off the sports that they end up helping the college in general, not the other way around. But this isn’t the same case for all the schools. Some schools like Western Kentucky and Virginia owe half of the money that the college gives them for grant-in-aid. Now, if paying collegiate athletes becomes a new law, then schools like these will be on edge.

Everyone knows that some colleges are just bigger than others. I’m not talking about size, I’m talking about when it comes to popularity. It’s just a known fact. “Think about it like this, if you play for Duke university you are likely to receive more endorsements than playing for a small town college like Maryville” (source 1). This is something you can argue with, but you won’t win. Another reason why student athletes shouldn’t get payed is because the amount of money won’t be the same for every athlete. This is because of the sport or the school the students attend.

Now, here is the flip side to things. There are so many endorsements that come with being an athlete in college. Some may include a video game, trading cards, jerseys, bobbleheads etc. A player should get what he sells. For example, ED O’Bannon was a former UCLA basketball star “(source 2). He was good at the time too, and fans loved him. He realized that companies were releasing video games with college teams on them, including the UCLA Bruins ’95. At the time, the game went viral and a plethora amount of people went out of their way to buy it. Although there was a player on that roster in the game that looked and played just like him, it didn’t have his name on the back. The only fault was that he wasn’t getting payed. If a player has endorsements like his jersey, and a lot of people buy them, then I think he should be getting payed for it. Yes, I know there are a lot of players jerseys that people don’t buy. But that’s their fault, whether it’s because they aren’t good enough, or maybe it’s because they don’t receive minutes. The amount of work you put in should be the amount of money you receive.

In conclusion, I believe that players in collegiate teams should not be payed. This is due to the fact that most schools may not have as much money as others, and because some teams are more favored than others. But if players do end up being payed, I think that it should all be the same within the schools. Meaning that they would have to compromise on an amount that they can all afford. But I also believe that the amount of profit a player makes from his endorsements is the same amount he should receive in return.

Cite this page