Name
Instructor
Subject
Date
College athletes should be paid for their services
Today, university and college athletics is a multi-million dollar industry (Sanderson et al. 125). According to the College Athletes Player Association (CAPA), college athletes generate a lot of revenue; hence they should be paid. Through the sale of sports kits, colleges and universities create a lot of income every year; therefore, there is a need for the athletes to be paid. College athletics should be treated as a profession; hence athletes should be paid for participating in sports. Also, the revenues generated by college athletes contribute to the growth of the economy. Besides getting scholarships to pursue higher education, college athletes should be paid to enable them to cater to other financial requirements while in college. College athletes should not be treated as amateurs, but professionals who are entitled to pay due to the number of revenues they generate through sports. According to Mills et al. (220), college athletes provide services that generate revenues when students participate in sports. Consequently, they should be paid for the services rendered, just like their coaches. Additionally, college athletics has a considerable fan base, which provides a ready market for branded sporting merchandise. The sale of this merchandise is the primary source of revenue for colleges and universities. Therefore, athletes should be paid part of this money, which would motivate them.
On its website, the NCAA states that, “In the collegiate model of sports, the young men and women competing on the field or court are students first, athletes second.” However, through the sale of match tickets, college athletes bring a lot of revenues hence the need to pay the athletes. Sports all over the world are full-time careers for sportsmen and women. Students on athletics scholarships dedicate most of their time on games with limited free time (Osborne 145). These students join college mainly to play sports and have very little time for other things like going out to watch movies or even visiting friends. College athletes spend most of their time playing tournaments, practicing, jogging, and traveling to take part in sports. Participating in these tournaments generates revenues for the colleges, which is used to pay the coaches and the technical staff. Therefore, the athletes should be paid just like their counterparts on the technical bench on college athlete teams. Colleges generate revenues from the sale of television’s rights to air live games. Airing of live college games increases television viewership hence increase in advertisements for the television channels (Mills et al. 222). Consequently, colleges and television stations record an increase in revenues resulting from college athletics. It is therefore fair to pay athletes in colleges because these games are no longer for fun, but it is a billion-dollar sporting industry. College athletes should also benefit from this massive industry by receiving salaries for hard work.
Furthermore, being on athletics scholarship limits the student’s ability to seek employment hence the need to pay them. When colleges excel in specific sporting disciplines, they attract more students. Some colleges use college games for marketing themselves and luring more students to their campuses. The increase in students on athletics scholarships increases the revenues generated through college games. This, in turn, improves the financial position for these colleges. Therefore, there is a need to pay them a monthly allowance to cater for other expenses. Paying these athletes would motivate them to stay longer in school. When gifted athletes remain longer in school, they win more championships, which attracts other students to join those colleges hence more income for the colleges (Osborne 149). It is, therefore, necessary to pay college athletes to enable them to take care of their expenses. Sporting activities are physical and may require additional resources to cater to other requirements that are not covered by the NCAA. Also, paying college athletes relieves them and helps them to acquire other necessities that they require for improved performance. Paying college athletes will enable them to purchase training gear, recovery items, and other items as are necessary for better performance in their sporting disciplines. Some of these items are expensive, and most college athletes may not afford them because they are forced to buy them using money from their pockets. According to Sanderson et al. (130), the desire to perform well is what drives these college athletes to use their own money to purchase these items. Therefore, paying college athletes would help them acquire other necessary items without paying using their own money.
The amount of money college athletes get from scholarships should be used to determine how much they should be paid. Athletes should be paid enough money to cater for their tuition if the award is not adequate. Due to hard economic times, it would be fair to pay college athletes to meet their ever-increasing expenses in terms of necessities. The scholarships received by college athletes cover part of the costs. College athletes put a lot of time work in sports; hence should be treated as employees because their primary duty is to play for the colleges. Acquiring a college education comes second for these athletes. The NCAA requires all college athletes to follow the tournament schedules, which sometimes compel the students to miss classes to participate in televised games that generate a lot of revenue. Consequently, there is a need to pay the college athletes using the millions of dollars generated by these games. The primary duty of a college coach is to recruit talented players who can enable them to win man championships (Osborne 150). These colleges use scholarships to lure top talent. The scholarships only cover tuition, stationery, accommodation, and board. However, these athletes lack money for other items that are necessary for a college student’s life. College students provide a service when they participate in college games that generate a lot of revenue for colleges and universities. When people offer services, they should be paid. Through these games, they entertain millions of fans every year.
Conclusion
College athletics is a massive industry in the world today and generates over one billion dollars every year. Universities and colleges get a lot of money from college games every year. Athletes provide a service when they participate in college games hence they should be paid for the services offered. Additionally, colleges make money by selling of branded sports items, match tickets, and broadcasting rights that run into millions of dollars every year. Therefore, it would be fair to pay these sportsmen and women in school based on the revenues accrued from selling branded sports items, match tickets, and broadcasting rights. Paying college athletes would stop them from accepting illegal payments as per the NCAA rules. College athletes dedicate most of their time to the sport, which generates a lot of income for universities and colleges; hence they should be paid to enable them to cater for other expenses not covered by the scholarships.
Works Cited
Mills, Brian, and Jason Winfree. “Athlete pay and competitive balance in college athletics.” Review of Industrial Organization 52.2 (2018): 211-229. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11151-017-9606-8
Osborne, Barbara. “The myth of the exploited student-athlete.” Journal of Intercollegiate Sport 7.2 (2014): 143-152. https://doi.org/10.1123/jis.2014-0136
Sanderson, Allen R., and John J. Siegfried. “The case for paying college athletes.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 29.1 (2015):115-38. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.29.1.115