Friday, November 15, 2019

NCAA Athletes: Should they be paid?

Similar to the fight between MLB players and their owners regarding fair wages, there has been an ongoing debate on whether or not NCAA athletes should be paid. NCAA, National Collegiate Athlete Association, refers to the collegiate level of sports, and is responsible for monitoring and supporting student-athletes throughout their college experience. They have been questioned as to whether or not they should allow student-athletes to be paid.

Those against paying collegiate athletes argue that college athletes are to be students first and that if being an athlete also provided a monetary reward, they would begin to prioritize athletics over their education. In addition, most collegiate athletes are already given scholarship money to play which is its own form of payment. If they were to be paid, the scholarship money would likely be retracted and they wouldn’t earn much more than their scholarship already provides. Finally, some believe that if these athletes were given the money they so call deserve, it wouldn’t be used responsibly given their age and environment. It could lead them to financial danger in the future with the risk of poor investments and lavish spending. They also do not want to deal with the following questions it would pose such as, “Who will pay them?” and “How often and how much would they be paid?”.

On the contrary, those who are actively fighting for collegiate athletes to be paid believe that if this were to happen, the ones getting paid should be the ones that bring in money such as football and basketball players. At first, this seems unfair, but it’s simple capitalism. Additionally, the opposing side (those supporting that athletes should be paid) point out the physical risk athletes take to play for their college. Athletes go out every day with the risk of a career-ending injury without financial compensation.

Recently, California’s governor signed a bill allow athletes attending big-sports schools such as Stanford and UCLA to make money from endorsements and create deals with agents starting in the year 2023. This is the first example of someone directly challenging the NCAA system. Scheduled to take effect in just a couple years, this law will allow students to be paid for the use of their name, image, or likeness, and will also allow them to hire agents.




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