College Athletes Should NOT be Paid

The debate as to whether or not college basketball players should get paid is constantly on fire. The NCAA brings in so much money to the universities, due to revenue from merchandise, advertisements, and sponsors, that athletes believe they deserve a cut.

The players believe that they have a right to the money because they are the cause for the fans entertainment, and the sponsor's desire to advertise. However, they are getting paid. Their selfish and spoiled minds led them to believe that they are doing all of this for free. Many, if not all of the starters, on an NCAA basketball team have full ride scholarship. That is already their $120,000 contract for four years. According to an ESPN.com article, the players get many privileges that are not offered to all of the other students at the college. The sports players get, "Not just free food, free "training table" super food (at least for football).Not just a free room and board: The best dorm rooms on campus. Not just the occasional access to professors: Full-time teaching assistants whose only job is to make sure the athletes get the most out of the education experience (uh, that's aspirationally). Not just free books and classes: First choice of any classes they want." That is definitely payment enough.

Also, if one college sports team gets paid, then all of the teams that the university offers need to get paid. Then, if the teams are paid, the teams need to be paid equally. If they are not, it creates a hierarchy and increases tension among the sports. If money became associated with power, then the basketball and football teams, which are sports that bring in the most amount of money, would be considered better than the baseball and wrestling teams. According to an article by Johnette Howard, there are many issues that need to be considered when college athletes become employees. "Should stars get more or would there be a flat rate for everyone? Can a college athlete/employee renegotiate? Get fired? For what?"

The bottom line is, athletes should not be given a salary, on top of the advantages that they already have. They get everything that they need, and more. Giving them more money would only bring up problems. Many issues will arise for the college employees that would need to be addressed.