D’Andre Hayes

4-16-19

Should College Athletes Get Paid

Imagine growing up as a little kid going outside to play basketball or football with your

dad having the dream of making it big in whatever sport and going to college

dominating for your school. You’re the number 1 recruit in the state/country and even

being compared to the great's to once play the game so you go to one of the best colleges

in the country selling out arenas everyone knows who you are and your even on ESPN

the top sports network but yet you don’t get paid for any of that. You get nothing while

the tv networks, sport networks and the school make millions and millions of dollars off

you doesn’t sound fair does it yea I didn’t think so. “Should College Athletes Get Paid

“has been a trending topic for a while now in the sports industry and many people

believe that they should be paid however many other people also think they shouldn’t be

paid. It’s a very interesting topic to talk about because it could go both sides. Theirs

many good reasons why college athletes should be paid but on the con side you can

throw a lot of reasons why they shouldn’t and that’s why nobody has came together to

make a clear decision yet.

I picked this topic because I am a student athlete myself and it's very interesting to see

other people's viewpoints on this topic. As a little kid I loved sports loved playing them

and loved seeing commentators talk about them.I started running track in 7th grade

when i didn't make the football team and i fell in love with the sport ever since. Luckily i

had my middle school coach come with me all the way up to high school and she

coached me and introduced me to hurdles.so since freshman year i've ran hurdles and
had a talent that separated from everyone i love hurdles there so unique,different and

hard to run and i like having a challenge i need to complete and i'm still trying to

complete that challenge by going to the next level in college.If the NCAA committee

decided to grant the rule and have athletes paid track might not be one of the first sports

like football and basketball that's on the list but if the rule was changed that means

track and field athletes will have a fighting chance and they can keep fighting for that

chance to be paid like they should be., So I’ve seen this topic come up numerous times.

Here are some interesting theories on whether not its good or bad for the athletes to get

paid. Pros the student athlete will get paid like they deserve they go out there and risk

there bodies everyday on the field, track and court. I know what it feels like to have your

body aching and hurting and battling through injuries and I haven’t suffered a season

ending injury. Student athletes suffer tremendous injuries such as ACL.MCL tears ,

broken legs, tears in there shoulders and brain damage they risk their bodies playing the

port they love for the school the love and they don’t get any money for it instead the

school gets the money and spends it on what they feel is write. Another pro is that they

bring in so much revenue for the school sports have so much of an impact on students

athletes and the school itself.

Cons one downfall with college athletes getting paid is that if you were to pay them some

athletes would just go to the college and accept that offer only because they would be

getting more money from other schools instead of playing for the love of the game.

Another con is that the NCAA is so big and in college theres 3 divisions div 1 div 2 and

div 3 in all of those divisions there's colleges in each 300+ schools that means if college

athletes should get paid would you have to pay all those schools in each division and

then on top of that if there's a star player on the team should he or she get paid more
money than there teammates its many things you have to think about when talking

about this topic. Now this article written by Madisen Martinez called “Should College

Athletes Get Paid” is my favorite article out of the five it gives three reasons why they

should get paid and three reasons why they shouldn’t get paid. It explained the popular

topic welland gave solid valid points for both sides .

Me myself im stuck 50/50 on the topic because I know how being a college athlete is and

the struggles and I also agree with the reasons why we shouldn’t get paid it's a lot of

detail that goes into it .Now a very good article and a good statement i found that you

could be thinking what if many people say no they shouldn't they need to focus on the

education that's why they are there in the first place right to get a education and find

jobs. An article written by Paul from FloTrack says that he believes they shouldn't get

paid and that they should focus on school that the education is what they are there for.

This is true however they are risking their bodies everyday for that education and the

sport. If they were to get paid yes they would keep their education they would just be

paid athlete going to class you still need that education when you step out in the work

field. Now when i say athletes i mean all athletes doesn't matter what gender they

should get paid also they do the same hard things as the men do the hard part isn't that

its just how would you pay all of those athletes because its so many schools and details

in the argument. You have starters and bench players would the starters get more

money?, would the star player get more money? other schools could give more money to

their athletes than other schools could, than you have divisions should D3 divisions pay

their athletes it's just a lot to think about than just saying yes they should you have to

look at each detail.

Finally In conclusion let me say this with my topic I still am still 50/50 I have learned a

lot about the NCAA in fact if the rule was set i feel like college track athletes would get

paid they wouldn't be the first ones but they would. The sport track and field at D1 schools

are very big and the meets are too a lot of people go to meets and everyone's ran track

before whether it was in middle school or high school many football stars have also so

they know what it takes and how hard track.I know how many famous former athletes feel

about the situation and I believe both sides have points and I feel that at the end of the

day the time will come when the NCAA will have to make a decision and they need to

really think hard about this because the time is coming athletes are getting better and

there sport and the better they get the more money schools and networks can make off of

them and that means the athlete is getting that money they deserve.

Works Cited

“Should Athletes Get Paid?” Tra

www.flotrack.org/articles/5021193-should-athletes-get-paid.

“Paying College Athletes.” CQ Researcher by CQ Press,

library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2014071100&type=hitlist&n
Martinez, Madisen. “Should College Student-Athletes Be Paid? Both Sides of the

Debate.” CollegeXpress, www.collegexpress.com/articles-and-

advice/athletics/blog/should-college-student-athletes-be-paid-both-sides-debate/.

Picciotto, Elad De. “Should College Athletes Get Paid?” Theperspective.com/, 12 Mar.

2019,

www.theperspective.com/debates/sports/college-athletes-get-paid/.