Over the past few decades, college athletics has grown extremely popular among Americans. With this increase in popularity, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has experienced a surplus of revenues because of the billions of dollars they generate through TV contracts, ticket sales, and merchandise sales (Majerol 14). This surplus of sales has fuelled the debate of whether or not college athletes should be compensated for their time spent playing. One may assume that because college athletes are a large contributing factor to the increased revenue the NCAA is bringing in, that they should receive a portion of the profit. However, paying college athletes would only distract the athletes from getting an education, which is vitally
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Student athletes, are just that: students, not employees, and they should be treated as such while in college. As said best by Dr. John Acquaviva, a renowned sports journalist, “colleges and universities provide an invaluable and vital service to our communities: education” (3). Student athletes are attending college firstly to receive an education that is essentially priceless. Paying student athletes would only deviate their focus from where it needs to be: getting an education that prepares them with skills necessary for the future. Additionally, “less than 2 percent of college athletes go on to compete at the professional level” (Williams), and for the other 98% of student athletes that do not continue their athletic career past college, the degree they earn in college is vitally important; therefore, keeping the athletes focus on academics …show more content…
The athletes that are requesting compensation seem to have forgotten that playing sports is a privilege, not a right. Millions of college students find themselves going into hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt everyday, and these students would do just about anything to receive a scholarship, especially a full-ride scholarship. Meanwhile, the students already receiving full-ride, athletic scholarships, and still requesting compensation, are being egotistic. A study by economists from the University of Chicago states that “…only one out of every six of the Football Bowl Subdivision universities earned a profit in 2013…and only a portion of those profits were transferred to the academic side of their universities” (Huang 2). With the surplus of revenue the NCAA has been receiving, we should be thinking about ways we can fully utilize the extra funds. The extra money could go toward more scholarships for our everyday, non-athletic students struggling to pay for their education, or we could put that money back into the schools themselves to result in safer campuses and overall better
Student athletes, are just that: students, not employees, and they should be treated as such while in college. As said best by Dr. John Acquaviva, a renowned sports journalist, “colleges and universities provide an invaluable and vital service to our communities: education” (3). Student athletes are attending college firstly to receive an education that is essentially priceless. Paying student athletes would only deviate their focus from where it needs to be: getting an education that prepares them with skills necessary for the future. Additionally, “less than 2 percent of college athletes go on to compete at the professional level” (Williams), and for the other 98% of student athletes that do not continue their athletic career past college, the degree they earn in college is vitally important; therefore, keeping the athletes focus on academics …show more content…
The athletes that are requesting compensation seem to have forgotten that playing sports is a privilege, not a right. Millions of college students find themselves going into hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt everyday, and these students would do just about anything to receive a scholarship, especially a full-ride scholarship. Meanwhile, the students already receiving full-ride, athletic scholarships, and still requesting compensation, are being egotistic. A study by economists from the University of Chicago states that “…only one out of every six of the Football Bowl Subdivision universities earned a profit in 2013…and only a portion of those profits were transferred to the academic side of their universities” (Huang 2). With the surplus of revenue the NCAA has been receiving, we should be thinking about ways we can fully utilize the extra funds. The extra money could go toward more scholarships for our everyday, non-athletic students struggling to pay for their education, or we could put that money back into the schools themselves to result in safer campuses and overall better