In the United States, the idea of playing sports is ingrained from a young age. With the combination of the education system’s gym curriculum and media coverage of many different types of sports, many children will decide at a young age that they want to become a professional athlete. Although many universities offer athletic scholarships for those pursuing a professional sports career, it’s often not enough to cover the full costs of a college education. The simple solution would be to pay student athletes, however, the system makes the financial compensation of college athletes illegal. Despite the outdated Victorian amateurism and collegiate discrimination that they face, college athletes have the right to be paid because of the large amount of
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“They wanted to keep sports to themselves, so long as they made it so poor people couldn’t afford to take time to play without reward, only the rich could practice and compete” (Deford 673). Deford defines this as the start of the idea of amateurism. The upper-class wanted to keep members of the lower-class out of their sports tournaments. By making sports compensation free, the upper-class was able to keep their sports to themselves. Later, when the NCAA was founded, they implemented the idea of amateur athletes competing for no pay. The idea of a no-pay, amateur sports league came from a different time. In the 19th century, athletes didn’t have to worry about paying medical bills or the scandalous cost of class books and daily meals. Although present day athletic scholarships can cover some of the costs, many college athletes are left to pay many bills out-of-pocket because their scholarship cannot cover them. College athletes need to be paid because many of them are often forced to choose between paying for college or paying for themselves due to the outdated idea of amateurism that’s been implemented into NCAA
“They wanted to keep sports to themselves, so long as they made it so poor people couldn’t afford to take time to play without reward, only the rich could practice and compete” (Deford 673). Deford defines this as the start of the idea of amateurism. The upper-class wanted to keep members of the lower-class out of their sports tournaments. By making sports compensation free, the upper-class was able to keep their sports to themselves. Later, when the NCAA was founded, they implemented the idea of amateur athletes competing for no pay. The idea of a no-pay, amateur sports league came from a different time. In the 19th century, athletes didn’t have to worry about paying medical bills or the scandalous cost of class books and daily meals. Although present day athletic scholarships can cover some of the costs, many college athletes are left to pay many bills out-of-pocket because their scholarship cannot cover them. College athletes need to be paid because many of them are often forced to choose between paying for college or paying for themselves due to the outdated idea of amateurism that’s been implemented into NCAA