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Should College Athletes Get Paid?

In California governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play act. They only thing is

that the law does not take into effect until January 1, 2023. Since this was signed it has been a

huge conversation about whether athletes should be getting paid by their college. This law is

allowing college athletes to make a profit from endorsements and their likeness. ​The article by

Jasmine Harris on Credo, Sinclair College, extends on why this law is not going into effect until

2023 by providing a cushion to allow the NCAA time to adequately adjust its current bylaws to

be more in line with this new legislation (Harris, Par 9).​ ​The NCAA (National Collegiate

Athletic Association) should let their college athletes get paid because they are the main income

for the college, coaches get paid more, even though the athletes are the ones putting in the work,

and the effort the athletes put towards the sport.

Opponents think that many of the more talented athletes will get all of the money.

Throughout an article in the New York Times, Bokat-Lindell writes and explains what different

people’s views on if college athletes should be allowed to get paid. Cody J. McDavis, a former

Division 1 basketball player, speaks on behalf of many people. He believes that “the best players

at the best schools would reap all the benefits… while less popular sports and athletes would

suffer” (Bokat-Lindell, par 10). McDavis goes further and explains how “major brands like Nike

would pay top football and basketball talent at the biggest schools, while student-athletes in other

sports or at smaller programs would be ignored” (10). He also stated that “currently, corporate

funds go to athletic departments and are generally distributed among all sports; while third party

payments, those funds could instead mostly go directly to a few student-athletes, starving the rest

(10). All three of these points may be valid but on the other hand, those athletes that are the best
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are still not getting any of the income the colleges are getting. So at this point, he can not argue

that because no one is even getting paid and there is zero evidence that that may happen. Nothing

comes easy in this world, so this will push the ones that “would suffer” to work harder to become

a noticed player (10).

College sports events are one of the main incomes for the university. An article from the

Scholastic Scope magazine wrote arguing that “college sports bring in billions of money a year.

But the athletes who play them do not get a penny. Is that fair?” The Duke basketball game

against North Carolina in 2019 sold one ticket for $10,652, and it goes through people’s minds

that Zion Williamson, the “teenage prodigy is raking up the big bucks. But in fact, he does not

make a cent” (Dignan, par 1). The college gets every penny from the sold tickets. The people

buying the tickets are going to be able to watch their favorite player, not because they get to sit in

a seat for a certain college. As said by Rich, “NCAA as a whole reported revenue of $1.1 billion

in the 2017 fiscal year” (rich, par 1). The money is being made because of the well-performing

athletes, but they are not getting any of the profit. The author of the Scholastic Scope, Dignan,

explains that “Nike pays Duke millions to outfit its players in Nike gear” (Dignan, par 3). All of

this money is still going to that college even though it is the players wearing it and advertising

that certain brand. The college is getting “money from TV deals to merchandise like hats and

sweatshirts” (Dignan, par 3). Many of the top college teams can bring “in nearly $20 million a

year from Nike or Adidas sponsorship” (Bokat-Lindell, par 4). These sponsorships track down

the one athlete that has the talent and the Universities continue to not give back to the one that

makes these millions of dollars. “Top college teams can also help increase their school

enrollments and bump up donations from alumni” (Dignan, par 4). All of this money is brought
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in so why not trickle it down to the players? No athletes, no sports events, no advertising, then no

money for the college.

Throughout the country, college coaches are getting paid an extreme amount because of

their team and achievements. Many colleges pay like this just to bring in wins. They pay them

with lots of money to then have the athletes perform well so fans come to watch which means

more money for that certain college. ​An article written by Bobby Rich shows a picture of the

United States. This picture shows what each state’s highest paying job is (rich, par 3). Only 10

out of the 50 states has a most paying job that is not a college coach. The other 40 states are

either a football or basketball coach that has the highest paying job of their state. In this same

article Dignan goes through the top 25 highest-paid college coaches of 2019. All of the

upcoming salaries are just base salaries not counting “bonuses, prize money, and outside income

such as endorsement deals or other sources…” (rich, par 6). In 2019, the highest-paid coach is

Mike Krzyzewski making $8,982,325 being a men’s basketball coach for Duke University (8).

Number two is Nick Saban making $8,307,000 being a football coach for the University of

Alabama (12). The third highest-paid coach is Urban Meyer making $7,600,000 being the Ohio

State University football coach (18). All three of these coaches have a ton of records and have

reached a high level in athletics with their teams. Even though these coaches deserve these

amounts of money because of all of their accomplishments with their teams, it is not just the

coaches putting in the work to build the team to success. The coaches team takes what they

learned and continues to perform it at a high level so why not pay the athletes as well for their

great accomplishments?
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To be able to build a division 1 team the athletes have to put in a ton of effort and time

into that one sport. Doing this makes a person have no time for work or little to no time for

anything that does not involve that sport. An article written by Kelly Mantick is about a normal

Division 1 football schedule for an in-season athlete. From the perspective of the fan of Division

1 football players, we all see the good, fun side of it all. On the other hand behind the scenes

where it all happens the schedule is none stop working to become better. Mantick put in an

image of the times and what certain things an athlete does at that time. From 5:00-6:00 am they

wake up, eat breakfast and pack for the day. At 6:00 am they football players do strength and

conditioning, and at 8:00 am the team has a meeting to review the practice schedule. Then at

8:30 am they shower and get to class by 9:00 am and eat lunch before they go watch film at 2:00

pm. The practice then will start at 3:30 pm, and then shower and training will happen at 6:00 pm

after the practice is over. They will eat dinner from 7:00- 7:30 pm which may be provided at the

training center. Then at 7:30 pm, they all are required to go to the Academic support center

which is almost like a study hall to get school work or any help down. Then from 9:30- 12:00 am

they can finish homework and go to sleep. That just shows that a Division 1 athlete has no time

for anything. They can not go to work to try and make money, which is why colleges need to pay

their athletes. “NCSA head recruiting coach Zak Willis… explains, “the competitive level in D1

sports is so high, you have to work out all the time…” (Mantick, par 4). In the in-season it is all

go, go, go, at the same time, the offseason can give a little break to the athletes. Although they

are still expected to work out and practice with the team. Which forces athletes to always be

working and practicing to get better no matter how necessary it is for them to work, because of
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the no extra money they have. These athletes are willing to put in over 100% of their time to the

college but the college can not give anything back.

Any college playing sports under the NCAA should pay their athletes because of the

amount of money the colleges are getting from them, the amount they pay the coaches, and the

amount of time each athlete puts in towards their sport. Colleges are keeping a steady income

from the athletics events and should be giving it to the athletes because they are the main reason

people are paying the college. Many coaches are getting paid because of the effort they put into

the sport and are still performing but the athletes are doing the same and not getting paid. So they

should be paid and not have to worry about finding room in their schedule to get a job even

though there is no room for that.

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Work Cited

Bokat-Lindell, Spencer. “Should College Athletes Be Allowed to Get Paid?” ​The New York

​ he New York Times, October 1, 2019,

Times, T

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/opinion/california-student-athletes-paid.html

Dignan, Jennifer. Carro Mackenzie. “Should He Get Paid?” ​Scholastics Scope,​ Vol. 67 Issue 8,

May 2019, ​Middle Search Plus.

Harris, Jasmine. "What if college athletes got paid? 3 questions answered." ​The Conversation:

An Independent Source of Analysis from Academic Researchers​, edited by Conversation,

The Conversation, 1st edition, 2018. ​Credo Reference​,

http://sinclair.ohionet.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/conv

ersqauq/what_if_college_athletes_got_paid_3_questions_answered/0?institutionId=6043.

Accessed 05 Nov. 2019.

Mantick, Kelly. “A Day in the Life of a Division 1 Football player.” ​NCSA, ​November 16, 2017,

https://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2017/10/03/day-life-division-football-player/

Rich, Boby. “The 25-Highest Paid College Coaches of 2019.” ​The Quad,​ Thebestschools.org,

January 17, 2019, https://thebestschools.org/magazine/highest-paid-college-coaches/