The ultimate decision of paying the college athletes lies in the court of the NCAA, National Collegiate Athletic Association, which happens to be a billion dollar sports industry running in the country. Operating as a non-profit in the nation, it is not difficult for the Association to scrape funds and provide them to deserving athletes who play at an amateur level but many of them reach this destination after strenuous hard work and dedication. It must be realized that it is not easy for all students because to many of them, sports does not come
naturally (Thelin, 2016). They have to train twice as much, practice hard and a lot of college athletes need to keep up solid grades in order to make it through college. Balancing a good academic success rate and a positive outcome on the sports field is never easy (Entman, 2016). In fact, college athletes have twice as much as work on their plate as compared to non-athletic students.
Much more importantly, all colleges realize that the success and victory of their college basketball team or football team are considered a more important affair than winning a math quiz, although the both of them cannot be compared. But it is also true that all sports events are able to gather four times the amount of individual who come to attend the sports event as compared to a math quiz. The importance of sports for the college cannot be denied. This importance exists only because of the effort put in individually by every athlete on the team, not just the captain or the star player. Some colleges even carry a legacy of winning every tournament because its athletes are just so good at their game. Bringing in a large crowd, boosting the importance of the college and providing it with a good image are all characteristic of the efforts of the athletes, who deserve every ounce of appreciation, especially monetarily. The top most schools of the country have huge funding, many of which can be saved and is saved, and it must be paid to the athletes, whose efforts help to bring in a crowd in the first place. It is not impossible for the NCAA to allot a certain amount to the athletes, irrespective of their winning or losing in the game because active appreciation is more importance than verbal recognition. These college athletes sacrifice a lot on other terms such as missing out playing with friends or enjoying their academics even because they have to practice for the match and need to be focused on winning. The trend of not paying college athletes can actually prohibit many students from playing and participating in sports because they feel their heavy tuition must be utilized wisely and focusing on studies is the better option.
Managing money is also a major issue for many college athletes. As mentioned above, they need to tackle studies, sports, a social life and other matter all at the same time. This can lead to many college athletes living their lives without a job, which would have helped them with daily expenses or savings. It is up to the NCAA to decide whether paying them would be morally and ethically fair or not because these athletes are the only reason the Association is able to run on profits higher than the NBA and the NHL (Carter et al., 2015). If these students are not paid at all, they will be deprived of the opportunity of learning how to manage their money. Moreover, they might have to live under tight circumstances, as compared to their friends who might be doing better financially. Even if the payment method is not considered as a salary for their post as a college athlete, the NCAA could allot the money as a stipend for these students so they can get some encouragement for their work and get benefitted with some relief financially. The NCAA has specific rules about a number of hours needed for practice, are about 20 a week. But a survey conducted in 2011 showed that players actually practice beyond these. It was found that Division I football players had practice up to 43 hours, basketball players practiced for about 42 hours and baseball players practiced for 39 hours a week (Walch, 2016). While those institutions and colleges that complain about funding, it should be considered in all fairness that the NCAA coaches are paid a much higher salary for their work as compared to the coaches and students working twice as hard in colleges to put up with the standards of the Association. A proper, filtered and methodical manner of allocating funds for all the colleges and students participating in sports will eventually scrape out the stipend that should be paid to the athletes
who culminate the hard work expected of them. Instead of making it an issue of the integrity of sports and the destroyed notion of college athletics, there is a multitude of factors which the NCAA must consider regarding the allotment of funds to these athletes.
Lastly, one of the reasons why college athletes should be paid is because of the fact that paying them will result in making sports more competitive and it will raise the bar for the upcoming sportsmen. The NCAA believes that the payment provided to the young athletes is going to have a destructive impact on the sports and it will drop the competition and the level of the game (Thelin, 2016). But, on the contrary, it is going to have a very positive impact on the upcoming players, and it will raise the bar for making it on the team. The tryouts will be tougher, the practice will be tougher, and the dedication toward the game will have to be multiplied. This effort will result in ultimate success for the college and the money spent on these college athletes will be anything but wasted. This is similar to the case of professional players being paid in heavy amounts only so they are motivated to perform to their fullest, keep the audience and fan following intact and generate more revenue in return (Carter et al., 2015). Such an offer will bring more positive results than negative ones.
Hence, conclusively, it is stated that college athletes should be paid to play sports. This is due to the fact that there is an abundance of funds which can be provided by the NCAA and they need to allocate the funds more productively. Also, college athletes put in twice the amount of effort as compared to non-athletes and they have a tougher schedule and timeline to follow and their success in both domains determines how far they can get in their college life. Allowing stipends to these athletes will help them recover some financial losses they might be suffering because they do not have the time to get a job since they have to practice. A stipend will also give them a better sense of money management. Moreover, the NCAA can use these athletes for publicity and advertisement, and paying these athletes will improve the competition for selection and winning. Since they deserve it, college athletes should get paid.
References
Carter, S. L., Lake, E., O’Brien, T. L., McArdle, M., Crook, C., Nocera, J., Board, E. (2015,
April 1). Stephen L Carter. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-04-01/college-athletes-need-pay-not-perks
Entman, L. (2015, February 5). Elite college athletes should be paid: Economists. Retrieved
February 3, 2017, from https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2015/02/05/elite-college-athletes-should-be-paid-economists/
Thelin, John, R. Here’s why we Shouldn’t pay college athletes. Time. Retrieved February 4,
2017, from http://time.com/money/4241077/why-we-shouldnt-pay-college-athletes/
Walch, J. (2016, October 20). Should athletes be paid to play? Retrieved from
http://college.usatoday.com/2016/10/20/should-athletes-be-paid-to-play/
