Post 1: Should We Pay College Athletes

Everyday college athletes put hours on end of practice in order to compete at a high level of competition. The question I am asking is if these young men and women are generating millions of dollars should they be allowed to keep some of the money? I plan discussing both points of view of whether it is right to pay these college level athletes.

I became interested in this topic when I watched a college football game and saw the thousands of fans cheering on their team. I wondered why aren’t these athletes paid? They put up a good show and perform. I am also interested because I am a college athlete and wrestle for San Francisco State. So I can have a valid opinion on whether we should pay college athletes.

I am open minded about the topic. I have no trouble seeing both sides on the argument as long as the argument is valid and makes sense. I already know that college athletes at this time are not being paid. I also know that college athletes can spent 25–40 hours a week just in their sport alone. Which at least the same amount of time in a part time job on top of being a full time student. So I am relate to this because I am student athlete that commits himself to his sport. There is nothing really that confuses me about the topic and what needs to be done to complete it.

As far as finding articles I found a few interesting ones, but one of the articles that stood out was “Court Strikes Down Payments to College Athletes” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/sports/obannon-ncaa-case-court-of-appeals-ruling.html by Marc Tracy and Ben Strauss. He went into depth of the battle between college athletes and court fighting for their right to be paid for the money they generate. The NCAA responded to the lawyers representing the college students that.” College athletes were amateurs and that anything amounting to pay for play would transform college sports into something unrecognizable” (Tracy 1). This goes into depth of why college athletes are not being paid because can transform the idea of a student going to college to get an education into making it about money. That is the biggest fear of the N.C.A.A. they fear that if we pay these athletes then their focus is on practice instead of school.

The topic is important to all college athletes because this directly affects them and their college experience. This could be important for others too because it offers a unique place for fans to see where the money goes when they go out to college football game. The average person most likely does not know that sometimes the NCAA is a non profit organization because in theory they are not making a profit. They spend all their money. So that could be raising a new locker room for the college athletes or pay the colleges more, but none of that money would go to the athlete.

The questions I want to ask are:

Is there a cap on how much scholarship money a student athlete can receive?

How much money does the NCAA generate a year?

How can this change the education of a college degree?

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