Why Do College Athletes Get Paid

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According to Adele Birkenes, “College football and men's basketball generate revenues of more than $6 billion every year. Yet not one penny goes toward paying the people who make the sports possible: the student athletes” (“Pay to Play”). The very people who make the money for the NCAA do not see any of it, besides the scholarships and other things college athletes get for free. There are a few reasons people think college athletes should remain unpaid, or at least stick with the program already in place. One of those people being Akash Bagaría with this quote, “I think college athletes should not receive direct payment from schools for several reasons. College athletes already receive numerous benefits. Many get scholarships, which help pay …show more content…
The colleges make loads of money, only to spend it on other sports and even college coaches multi-million dollar contracts so the pay to play idea is not that bad of an idea. The college athletes also face many roadblocks during their college careers and letting them live comfortably with extra pay also lends a helping hand to the pay to play idea. College athletes would stay longer in school, not jumping ship for big bucks to go pro, and they wouldn’t be showered in illegal gifts because they would be able to buy themselves stuff, so the positives can be looked at as life changing for many athletes in college. The colleges could end up suffering in the long-haul due to having to pay all athletes if some end up being paid. And that could end up negatively affecting the college athletes themselves. So, should college athletes be paid to play? The answer is not as simple as yes or no, the answer is much deeper and needs much more thought before deciding on such a drastic change to the college athletic way of