Why College Athletes SHOULD Get Paid!

The NCAA has an income that challenges many of the country’s biggest public companies. It is never compared to these companies because the NCAA is a non-profit organization. However, each year the NCAA brings in close to $11 billion in revenue across college sports. The biggest earners are football, basketball and baseball.

$11 billion is more than the annual income of the entire NBA or the NHL. It should also be said that this money is not evenly distributed at all. The top playing Division I schools contribute more to this figure than many of the lowest members combined.

For example, the University of Alabama took in about $143.3 million in athletic revenues alone. This number is not only more than any professional hockey team in the NHL earns but it is also more than 25 out of the 30 NBA teams as well.

While there is nothing wrong with a non-profit organization taking on huge amounts of money, it seems that the wealth could be and should be distributed to those who are mainly producing for the organization.

A fully-funded degree is definitely something, but it is far below many athletes’ hopes and expectations. For students who work 90 hour weeks for four or five years, the burn out at the end of those long years can be very difficult and damaging. Paying college athletes would at least help them leave education with a little bit of money to buy them time to find a new path and way of life.

This first video from “The Herd”, a sports talk show from ESPN, Colin Cowherd explains his opinon on the topic. Obviously, for what he says and explains I completely agree with. Players should have been paid a long time ago. There is no reason to not pay these athletes at these schools, especially the big name schools, when the athletes bring in so much money for their programs. Coaches are paid millions upon millions of dollars. If you don’t want to pay the athlete because they’re students at the school, then you should pay the coaches a teacher’s salary also.

This second video about CNN’s Sara Ganim reports on the latest lawsuit challenging the NCAA, asking that college athletes be paid. She goes into great depth about the situation and gives off some incredible numbers about it. My take from this video is that these athletes sacrifice their bodies and suffer brain damage (Football mainly and other physical sports) in order to entertain millions of people across the country and even world, all for only $24,000 for four years. That’s just crazy and insane. Even someone working at a fast food restaurant like Taco Bell or Burger King for four years will make four times than that.

Many people watched and had eyes on this incredible athlete shown right here. If you haven’t his name is Johnny Manziel or nicked name Johnny Football. Just about 5 years ago he had two incredible football seasons as the lead quarterback for the Texas A&M Aggies. In one of those seasons he one the Heisman Trophy which is a the most prestigious award in all of College football. This gif is not famous for his great rewards and awesome play, it’s famous for what the Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel did. Back in 2013, the college eligibility for Johnny was in question following an ESPN “Outside The Lines” report that the Texas A&M quarterback accepted thousands of dollars for signing memorabilia earlier this year.

The report says Manziel agreed to a “five-figure flat fee” with an autograph broker named Drew Tieman for signing memorabilia during Manziel’s visit to the site of the 2013 BCS Championship game in January. The report cites two witnesses saying they saw Manziel sign the products but did not see money exchange hands. Though the allegations against the sophomore Manziel would appear to be an NCAA violation, the situation clearly shows an ongoing issue on college athletics. The fact that athletes cannot get any extra benefit from their likeness or accomplishments, but those around them can. For example, a Texas A&M memorabilia dealer and clothier, Aggieland Outfitters, raised $18,000 for scholarships earlier this year by auctioning a helmet autographed by Manziel.

Here is a quick slide I have made showing some other key things on to why college athletes should get paid and how just a scholarship simply isn’t enough on supporting the athletes through their college career.

This is just a video that my friends and I decided to make. It shows how quickly a college athletes career and education can change if an injury or any other dramatic event happens to that athlete. This has actually happened to one of my friends but it wasn’t this dramatic and he was still able to transfer to another school to continue his education. The transition wasn’t easy for him but some colleges really help out the athlete with these types of situations.

Here is an Infograph covering the 4 main points of being a college athlete and having the time to be one. As you can see, schools spend loads of money on literally everything except the athletes how are the ones bringing in that kind of money to the organizations and school. Many athletes don’t go pro after their done with college. So the excuse of “they will get money or get paid in the next level” doesn’t come into play. Most athletes know when they’re done with High School they won’t play in College. They know they won’t have a great College experience because of the crazy schedule between sports and school and also most don’t end up going pro anyways.

In conclusion, student athletes are in a conflict between their athletic and scholar careers. While the NCAA constantly shows its commitment to its root values, it is also breaking deals with national channel networks to show live football games to millions of people. Too many college athletes put their whole lives into what they do and too many come out with no reward.

Many people say that NCAA has an idea for having a way for their athletes to earn money. Not only do they expect athletes to perform great in the classroom but that performance has to be translated to the field. Should the athlete begin to feel the pressure of the crazy and compact 90 hour weeks, they are cut from the team and lose their scholarship.