Should College Athletes Get Paid Essay

Paying college athletes has been a huge topic over the past few years, athletes are the reason why these colleges are bringing revenue to their programs. Most athletes' goal is to become professional and get paid for what they love doing but a couple of years ago college programs would not allow the athletes to get endorsement deals because it would take revenue out of their programs. College athletes should get paid because of the money they generate for the school and how much they have worked to get where they are.

The amount of attention a college program gets when recruiting a top athlete is game-changing. There are proven facts that college programs' revenue increase due to selling more tickets or selling more merchandise. The article,

John and Jr Thompson the writers of “Let's Drop The Charade and Pay College Athletes” talks about how there are more options instead of just college. As they were talking about different routes they mention, “Most of them will go straight to the N.B.A., the G League or overseas — or just stay home and work out” (Thompson par. 4). Athletes that are determined to make it to the professional level are great opportunities for those who want to make it the next step. These leagues have many beneficial opportunities such as they get paid, focusing more on their skill, having no distractions, and playing in a high-level competition. Not only are there other programs, but colleges also focus too much on education. Most athletes have a goal and colleges stir them in a different direction for education. In the article it says, “I believe it’s time for the N.C.A.A. to stop pretending that education is its top priority and pay college athletes” (Thompson par. 1). Top recruits go to those big colleges only for the recognition. Big colleges get nationally televised and those athletes take advantage of that so other recruiters can look at them. Those top athletes are not focused on education because they know they can make it big,

Not only do they pay for the funds, but top colleges also create the most money, so it is unfair to those colleges that can not afford to get top recruits. In the article “Don’t Pay College Athletes” Cody McDavis the writer states, “A handful of big sports programs would pay top dollar for a select few athletes, while almost every other college would get caught up in a bidding war it couldn't afford” (McDavis par. 1). This leads to an unfair battle because the players are going to go wherever the money is at. Also, unfair matches because if top recruits go to the same college it would create a super team and become a pay-to-win. As well as colleges can outbid other colleges but another reason is that colleges give out scholarships. Colleges such as UCLA, LSU, Duke, and Notre Dame are not cheap schools to attend. As that being said in the article National Collegiate Athletic Association says, “most of those revenues are spent covering operating expenses for the school's athletic programs and paying tuition for their student-athletes. The majority of Division I colleges in the N.C.A.A. operate at a loss. In fact, among the roughly 350 athletic departments in the N.C.A.A.'s Division I, only about 24 schools have generated more revenue than expenses in recent years” (McDavis par. 2). Colleges already do enough for the player and spend thousands of