There are a lot of benefits of doing sports in college, for everyone except the athletes themselves. Surely, your sports achievements can get you recognition and respect. But the issue here is not being paid at all.
You see, sport is arduous labor. And any labor, according to common sense, must be rewarded with a salary. On the other hand, doing sports for the sake of sports can also be justified. There is no clear answer for “Should college athletes be paid?”. Writing an essay, though, can help you find it.
⚖️ Should College Athletes Be Paid: Pros and Cons
This matter is very recent. Therefore, there is a lot of space for discussion here. Some may say that athletes are paid. They actually get scholarships for their work.
Others may argue that only 1% of all the sportspeople get the full amount of money. Both statements are true, and the correct answer doesn’t really exist. To help you form your own opinion on the topic, here are some pros and cons:
👍 Pros
- It would be fair to pay sportspeople for their hard work.
- The sport takes a lot of time from studies, and it must be compensated.
- The health risk is very high, and the reward for it is a must.
- The sport would become an excellent alternative for a work-study job.
- Many athletes’ families require monetary support, which athlete payments can give.
- A lot more people would be attracted to doing sports.
👎 Cons
- The athletes already enjoy enough compensations.
- The amount of actual future sports pros is depressing.
- It can undermine the overall studying experience.
- Most of the sports programs cannot afford salaries.
- It would create room for inequity.
- Mixing studying and sports would become even more difficult due to increased demand.
- The concept of playing for the love of sports would cease to exist.
We will look into them deeper in the next section.
👍 Paying College Athletes: Advantages
- It is simply fair to pay athletes for their endeavors. A single sportsperson can generate millions of dollars for their college. It would be only fair if the stars themselves got at least some of this money.
- It is a great way to compensate for taking away from studies. Sport is a time-consuming activity. And time is a valuable thing when you are a student. Let’s not forget that college athletes also need time to study. Or at least compensation for the time they put into the sport.
- The money would at least partially make up for possible injuries. While health is priceless, risking it must be rewarded properly. And that’s exactly what college athletes do. They put their well-being on the line for their universities. Unfortunately, universities don’t seem to give the favor back.
- It would be a great way to substitute work. An average athlete puts 40 hours a week into doing sports for his college. You can easily compare this amount of time to a generic work-study job. The only difference is the latter brings you money, and the former does not.
- It’s a great way to motivate athletes to continue their sports careers. After graduation, the majority of college athletes will stop playing for their team. They are far more likely to simply find a job and get a steady income. Paying them would make a choice between sports and career not that obvious.
- It would support a lot of students’ families. While college sportspeople bath in success, their families often suffer financially. Sustaining a starting athlete can be really costly at times. That’s where a salary would be a saving grace for struggling families.
- It is a great motivation for more students to pursue a sports career. The possibility of making money will attract more people into playing for a sports team. And that brings a better chance to find young talent.
👎 Paying College Athletes: Disadvantages
- The athletes already have their compensations. The coach’s advice, the medical treatment, the strength training. All of these cost money. But the athletes don’t have to pay a single cent for these and many other services. They are provided for free as compensation already.
- Not a lot of athletes will actually become professionals. Out of all college athletes, a mere 2% go pro as a result. Most of them see doing sports as a way to receive education and nothing more.
- It can harm other colleges’ programs. Since the salary would come from the college budget, there would be inevitable cutbacks. As a result, every student in the institution suffers.
- There are not many sports that make a profit. More often than not, sport doesn’t bring a lot of money. Exceptions are basketball and football. Should football players make more money than, for example, swimmers? Here’s where the next issue occurs.
- Possible inequity. You see, if some students participate in a sport that has no profit, then why pay them? As a result of such logic, whole college teams will cease to exist.
- Possible study problems. With the appearance of salaries, the expectations from the players will rise. Attending training sessions and games will become a definite must. No skips would be allowed. In this case, ping-ponging your priorities from sports to studies is much more difficult.
- The love for the game would go away. College students play sports mostly because they want to do what they love. Paying them might destroy the compassion for doing sport. The amateur leagues will be filled with players who are in it for the money and nothing else.
💡 Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay Topics
- Balancing college sports and academic mission.
- Payments to collegiate athletes.
- Top college athletes are worth six figures.
- Title IX in the female sports development.
- Kids and sports: Lack of professional sports guides.
- College athletes do not deserve the degrees they’re studying for.
- Steroid abuse in the world of sports.
- Shortage of officials at the high school sports level.
- College sports should be made professional.
- Steroid use effects on professional young athletes.
- Is it justified for college athletes to be paid?
- College sports should not require missing classes.
- Professional athletes allowed to use steroids.
- Paying college athletes: Reinforcing privilege or promoting growth?
- If colleges pay college athletes, it would increase the disparity between small and bigger college teams.
- School athletes and drug tests.
- Arguments for adequate remuneration for college athletes.
- The NCAA definition of college athletes as amateurs is outdated.
- Sports-related problems and conflicts.
- African American studies. Negro baseball league.
- The moral side: “A gentlemen never competes for money” (Walter Camp).
- Running injuries, workout and controversies.
- Should college athletes be paid?
- Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit: Using athletes’ images in video games.
- Does youth sports play a part in character formation?
- Children participation in sports.
- Where does college sports money go?
- Sports analysis: steroids and HGH in sports.
- Steroid usage in professional sports.
- College athletes work as marketers for their college, as their success in sports improves admission rates.
- Physical activity and sports team participation.
- Using performance-enhancing drugs and in the world of sport.
- Research handbook of employment relations in sport.
- Successfully luring college athletes.
- College athletes should be paid.
Haven’t found anything inspiring in the list above? Try using our topic-generating tool!
📑 Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay Outline
Before writing your work, the first thing you want to do is outline. An argumentative-style essay would be perfect for writing on our topic.
We will go with a generic 5-paragraph format:
- Introduction. The starting point of every essay. It will include:
- Hook. A flashy sentence or two to evoke interest in your work. A joke or a shocking fact, for example.
- Background information. General info that the reader needs to know before going deeper into the essay.
- Thesis statement. It is a sentence that reflects the main idea of the further text. It leaves room for debate and briefly showcases the arguments you will discuss further.
- Body. The body is the biggest part of your work. In our case, it will be three paragraphs long. Each paragraph names and explains the argument you want to make.
- Conclusion. The end of your essay. Nothing new should be added. Just restate your thesis, summarize the points you made in the body, and be done with it.
💸 Why College Athletes Should Be Paid Essay Example
In 2017 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) made over $1.04 billion in revenue. None of the college athletes have seen any part of this sum. A survey made the same year showed 60% of the sportspeople to be satisfied with the scholarship-only payments. The situation, however, has drastically changed over the years. The same 60% now agree that college athletes need monetary compensation. While college athletes' payments are a controversial topic, their hard work and health must be fairly compensated no matter what, and a salary seems to be the best way for it.
It is no surprise that doing sports consumes a solid number of things. Time is one of them. An average college student puts in their sports activities 35 hours a week. It can be compared to having a generic work-study job. The only difference is the job brings you money as any hard labor should. However, in the case of college sport, it seems to profit anyone but the athletes themselves. While the NCAA executives make six-figure salaries, the players, the actual stars of the competition, have the status of the unpaid workforce.
Another thing consumed by sports activities is health. In 2017 over 60% of all Division I players were reported to suffer a major injury. Although, this phenomenal danger to athletes' well-being seems to go unnoticed as well. The only "compensation" provided to people who risk their soundness for the sake of university is education itself. Usually, the health risk is considered a reason for a salary raise. Unfortunately, in our case, there is nothing to give a raise to.
Putting yourself to the fullest in any activity must be rewarded. And the sportspeople truly give it their best. Time, passion, health, everything is given. And for now, everything they give is given for nothing.
🙅 College Athletes Should Not Be Paid Essay Example
There are hundreds of sports college athletes do. Only two of them bring the college profit. The issue of paying the students involved with the college sports activities has been around for a while. Some are satisfied with their scholarship and the possibility to get an education. Others, however, demand more tangible rewards for their achievements. While payments may seem justified, the fact that the athletes already receive enough compensation for their work via scholarship and education is often overlooked.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reports more than $3.6 billion in athletic scholarships to be provided annually to more than 180,000 student-athletes. A simple calculation shows $20.000 a year for each athlete. This sum is more than enough to cover the average cost of an academic year of $17,797.
Furthermore, most college athletic programs make barely enough money to sustain themselves, not to mention paying salaries. The only two kinds of sport that make enough profit to afford salaries are football and basketball. Others, sadly, do not. And this fact creates a significant equity problem. Do we pay all players equally? And if not, who do we pay more? All these questions remain unanswered.
While it seems just, creating salaries brings more problems than solves. The extent of the compensation necessary is, of course, negotiable. But all efforts made by college athletes are compensated in some way. That is a fact.
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