Athletes Should Be Paid

In today’s society, the everyday life of a college student athlete is a grind. Playing a sport in college is a fun and unforgettable experience for many students, but it takes up a lot of leisure and study time. Student athletes are like employees at a university with no pay.   The debate over whether or not college athletes should get paid is very controversial. Some believe they shouldn’t get a dime and others believe they should get a weekly paycheck just like any other job. Student-athletes either don’t have time or are not allowed to have a job and colleges should share the revenue they earn from athletics with the players. I believe that athletes at any college should receive not only scholarships but also 2% of a schools total revenue should be distributed amongst a school’s athletes.
College Athletes bring in major amounts of money for the school they play at. Whether it be from tickets people buy, donations, or profits from the concession stand. The University of Michigan football program made $36,825,136 for the 2012-2013 season from ticket sales and received $25,312,201 in donations from supporters of the school and athletic programs ("College Football Revenue: Running The Numbers"). The University of Texas had $60.9 million in football ticket sales and $30.3 million in donations ("College Football Revenue: Running The Numbers"). At the University of Georgia, concession sales along with parking and novelty items for a football season topped $1,304,015. All of these sources of income generate a lot of revenue for the schools. Athletes in 12th grade in high school have the opportunity to go to whichever school they want to. If they pick a school they want to go to, the school should pay them for choosing them. Football and Basketball are the main sources of revenue for a school’s athletic programs. The University of Texas has a total revenue, for all sports, of $165,691,486 ("USA TODAY Sports"). With about 500 athletes attending the school and playing...