Fairness and Economic Benefits: Why College Athlets should get paid - Research Paper Example

The NCAA should allow collegiate athletes to get paid because college athletics are structured and operated in the same processes as professional athletics, paying these athletes can also ensure that they get a fair deal of compensation, and this will rationalize college sports as an economic system, instead of being afflicted with the legal boundaries and ethical concerns of “amateurism.” The NCAA should allow collegiate athletes to get paid because college athletics are structured and operated in similar lines to professional athletics.

First, collegiate athletics is structured like professional athletics. Gerdy explains the similarities between professional and collegiate athletics. Collegiate athletics is structured like professional athletics, because the former also conducts rigorous training the whole year, where students “sacrifice their bodies for 'the program'” (Gerdy B6). Furthermore, the schools and coaches are willing to do everything to win, which follows the structure of professional athletics too. . College sports reaps millions to billions of media revenues.

The NCAA signed an eleven-year contract with CBS to air its men's basketball championship; this deal is worth $6.2 billion or $545 million every year (Eitzen 27). Schools also benefit from advertising and other revenues, where some of the leading schools earn $1 million from sports products companies, such as Nike and Adidas (Eitzen 27). Some coaches also financially benefit from their athletes. For instance, nine football coaches already rake in a salary of $1 million every year (Eitzen 27).

If these people and institutions are earning from college sports, then there is no reason why college athletes should not be treated and paid like professional athletes. In addition, an athletic scholarship resembles a contract between the athlete and the coach. Gerdy emphasizes this contractual arrangement: “That contract allows coaches to view athletes as employees, bought and paid for by the athletics department” (B6). This contract should include paying wages to students who train and work just as hard as professional athletes.

Paying these athletes can also ensure that they get a fair deal of compensation, which is commensurate to their financial contribution to their schools. First, schools earn more than what they spend on their athletes and this means that they can also afford to pay their athletes. Basketball star player Patrick Ewing of Georgetown University brought an estimated $12 million of revenues to his school, while his school only spent $48,600 on his tuition and other school and athletics-related expenses.

The school made a “tidy profit of $11,951,400” (Eitzen 28). Second, schools spend more on coaches than their athletes. Coaches who earn