Blog 3: The business of college sports

Pay for play, why not?

The ever growing debate of "should college athletes be paid"has become an interesting topic in today's society and quite frankly, they should. It is known that college athletics generates millions in revenue and this would not be possible without the athletes themselves. Yes these athletes spend countless hours perfecting their craft to bring there school money and championships but the question still arises of what is the athlete getting out of it? According to Listland college athletes should not be paid because they spend almost as much money as they generate. The example that they use is the University of auburn constructing a mega screen that is 11,000 square feet, high definition and can be seen from 30 miles away. The total cost of this was 13.9 million, and you ask yourself was this screen really needed? College sports like college is a business everyone wants the newest and biggest products to bring in fans and keep the money train flowing. But you never see a business that does not pay its employees. College athletes spend more time on the field then some full time employees do at their jobs, but still are not required to be paid for their play.

some argue that college athletes should not be paid because they are on full scholarships and everything is paid for so all they have to worry about is being good at their sport but this is incorrect. Believe it or not all college athletes do not receive full scholarships , and on top of that some college athletes don't receive scholarships at all. Outside of sports these athletes do have lives and some have responsibilities and even bills and with practice and school, there is little time for a job. These collegiate programs are generating millions of dollars from the hard work of athletes and not giving them anything of the profit that is gained. Below is a graph from Business Insider of different schools and the amount of money individual sports brought in.