Should college athletes get paid?

SOURCE: www.mdst485class.files.wordpress.com

When watching college sports, you see the talents that the players show. But should they get paid for what they do? In articles by Joe Nocera of The New York Times, Max Labaton of the Duke Chronicle, and Michelle Singletary of The Washington Post, the controversial issue of college athletes getting paid is further explained and some solutions are given. I believe that college athletes should be paid since they colleges make money off the players and they may not have enough money to feed themselves.

At the big universities that consistently make it to NCAA tournaments, the schools and coaches are gaining profit while players are devoting much of their time and get nothing. As stated by Max Labaton,“The time investment that athletes put into their sport resembles that of a professional. Practicing for many hours a day, watching film, and travelling represent a major time commitment. If students spent that much time perfecting their musical or acting skills or developing the next Facebook or Microsoft, they’d be able to profit. College athletes should have that same right.” My opinion on this is that if they spend most of their time on this, they should be receiving some type of pay or accommodation. Joe Nocera also made a valid suggestion which was,”...the so-called Olympic model, in which players would generate income from endorsements, autographs, jobs, or control of their image and likeness.” This is a great idea since college athletes would be making their own money from things that are related to them, which wouldn’t affect the colleges badly.

 

Another major issue is that some athletes are unable to support themselves. This evident in The Washington Post article where current NBA player Shabazz Napier gave his insight on his experiences while he played at UConn.”Napier told reporters: ‘We as students athletes get utilized for what we do so well, and we’re definitely blessed to get a scholarship to our universities. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t cover everything. We do have hungry nights that we don’t have enough money to get food in. Sometimes money is needed.’” That being said by a college athlete, I think that it is time for colleges to do something to fix this. Joe Nocera of The New York Times, gives a suggestion for salaries of the athletes.”Second, I would impose a minimum salary: $25,000 per player in each sport. This would obviously not make the athletes rich, but it would give them enough to live like typical college students.” Giving the players a minimum salary that is is enough for them to support themselves like any other college student is a fantastic solution.