“ The NCAA is really F’d up ” said Ben simmons per espn’s Myron Medcalf. For a couple years now people have been debating whether or not the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should be paying there college athletes. “While seemingly operating in a purely professional atmosphere, the NCAA continues to endorse an amateurism concept in college athletics” says John Acquaviva and Dennis A. Johnson of the sports journal. We need to pay our college athletes because it gives them what they deserve and supports them and their families.
As of 2017 the average Division I player is worth $170,098 per year with the 351 Division I basketball programs taking in more than 4.5 million in revenue on average each year, states the huffington post. That means the Division I basketball players are worth 26% of their teams total income per year. According to forbes The NCAA currently produces nearly $11 Billion in annual revenue from college sports — more than the estimated total league revenues of both the NBA and the NHL. So if college sports are worth more than professional sports why are there athletes not making a single dollar while the average athlete in the NBA makes $6.4 million and the average NHL athlete makes $2.4 million.
According to the National College Players Association 86%, 86% of all division one college athletes live below the poverty line. So while these schools are making millions these athletes are starving and struggling for money.The Washington journal called the athletes lifestyle worse than indentured servitude. Just ask former Uconn men’s basketball player Shabazz Napier who as quoted by the huffington post said “We do have hungry nights that we don’t have enough money to get food in. Sometimes money is needed.I feel like a student athlete. Sometimes, there’s hungry nights where I’m not able to eat, but I still gotta play up to my capabilities.”
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So if the NCAA expects these kids to go out and play to their full capability why not give them the money to feed themselves and keep them healthy. And if your not going to do it for the players at least do it to help their families who struggle everyday to live a decent life. This struggle forces athletes to leave early to go to the pro’s to help themselves and their families.
People who oppose my argument may argue that the athletes are getting paid by scholarship to go to college but this is not true. According to the sports journal “Today, the “full ride” scholarship can only include tuition, fees, room, board, and books. However, even with a full scholarship, an athlete will have to pay somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000 out of pocket to bridge the cost-of-living gap.” Therefore, the full athletic scholarship does not provide a free education.
Now let me tell you a story about stanford football player Bryce Love, who is trying to graduate in December. Bryce skipped media day because he had a class that’s right a class. He skyped in but still received criticism from many people including the NCAA. Cbs’s Dennis dodd said “I’m stunned, though, that his decision to skip media day so he can go to class is called a ‘bad precedent.’ So as the economists Damon Jones put it “You demand professionalism, pay professional salaries.’
