There has been talk for years about people thinking that college athletes deserve to be paid for playing thier sport. Well, from a college athlete, I think the paycheck is already big enough.
When an athlete decides to play a sport in college and is recruited, they are most likely on some type of scholarship, whether it be athletic or merit. Now, isn't that money?
For example, if a Division 1 basketball player is receiving half of an athletic scholarship to a school that costs $40,000, that means they are receiving $20,000 each year. When you look at that across the typical four-year timespan, that ends up being $80,000. And that is if they do not redshirt a year (which means they do not compete because of injury or academic ineligibility). If you add on the cost of redshirting, that would be another $20,000 added to the bill.
So now that athlete could possibly receive $100,000 in scholarship that cannot be taken away from them except if there are extreme circumstances.
What more of a paycheck do these athletes need?
In a lot of cases that many articles about this topic refer to, they are talking about athletes at top schools playing for the best programs in their respective sports. I am sure these are the same athletes that are already on a full ride to play.
One article, in particular, caught my eye, saying a huge issue for some of these top tier athletes is that they only play one year in college before going up for the draft in their sport and not finishing their education.
Well, that is ultimately the choice of the athlete. You cannot keep them at the college level by paying them. At the end of the day, if they are good enough to play professionally after one year, why do they need to finish the degree? Although they came to college as a STUDENT-athlete, maybe the student part just wasn't for them. Besides, if they are able to get drafted after one year, maybe they found the career path for them before wasting at least four years in school.
Another argument made is that the NCAA and other instiutions are the ones "swimming in all the money," making billions off these sports teams. Just like any other field, it's a business. Bills need to be paid and paychecks need to be given. Granted, it is a lot of money funneling into these organizations, but don't you think the money is going back into the programs?
How do you think the programs can pay for all these athletes to fly to every away game, be in a huge comfortable bus, have the most up-to-date gear and play in the best facilities? All the money they bring in goes towards these athletes.
People want to say that athletes aren't getting what they deserve for performing, but is that really the case? Between a free college education and all the best gear, facilities and travel, what else needs to be covered?
Yes, athletes are expected to perform the best they can. Being a student-athlete, the free education is a pretty great trade-off for playing the sport they love.
If it comes down to the athlete needing to be paid more than the overly generous scholarships they receive, they aren't going to college for the right reasons. Of course, it is important to perform on the court, field or whatever venue they compete in, but college is more than just free throws and touchdowns.
It's about learning how to manage the rest of your life and figure out what you want to do with it. If those athletes realize they want to play professionally, then they used that year of college the right way. If they stay all four years, make great connections and graduate with a job, they did college the right way.
But if these student-athletes are going to college hoping that one day they might get a paycheck, then they might as well not go because they are going for all the wrong reasons.
