Paying the Student-Athlete

A lot of people that watch college sports believe that student-athletes should get paid for the work that they do on the court. If a person was to read into the issue a little more closely they would see that paying a student-athlete to perform on the court is not possible for a lot of schools. Believe it or not, almost 90 percent of NCAA schools lose money on their athletic programs and have to rely on funding in order to survive and play another season. Even if a school was to drop all other sports besides football and basketball, it wouldn’t free up enough money to pay the athletes. This is because in Division I, only 30 percent of football and 26 percent of college basketball teams actually bring in money from their games.

I feel that it is important that we do not pay our student-athletes, because if we do, then they will only want to play for the money, and they will feel that they don’t have to hold up to the high standards in the classroom any longer. They are called student-athletes for a reason. They are supposed to be students in the classroom and participate in sports on the court. If we pay the athletes to play, then the whole concept of a student-athlete goes out the window.

Mark Zadakis