Paying College Athletes

Table of Contents

Introduction
Pros
- Pro 1: The NCAA, colleges, and universities profit unfairly from the work and likenesses of college athletes.
- Pro 2: College athletes are risking their bodies as well as their future careers and earning potential to play for colleges and universities while often receiving a sub-par education.
- Pro 3: College athletes are often valued at more than $1 million, but they (and their families) frequently live below the poverty line.
Cons
- Con 1: Scholarships are fair financial compensation for college athletes, especially considering the precarious finances of athletic departments.
- Con 2: Very few college athletes will go pro, so athletes should take advantage of the education being offered in exchange for playing a college sport.
- Con 3: Paying college athletes would not solve the real problem: the American amateur sports system is broken.
Take Action
Sources

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

2022 NCAA champions

Read Next

College graduation. University graduates in caps and gowns.

Pro and Con: College Education

Graduation asian female friends hold diploma. cheerful students hugging shoulders arms with thumbs up beautiful cheerful women students looking each other smiling

Pro and Con: Free College

Human Jukebox - The Southern University Marching Band perform during a college football game at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday, September 10, 2022. Southern University "Human Jukebox" Marching Band

What Makes HBCUs Unique?

Discover

Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics

10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time

Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1855), founder of the house of Rothschild; lithograph by Friedrich Lieder, c. 1830.

Where Do Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories About the Rothschild Family Come From?

Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Alice in Wonderland)

11 Banned Books Through Time

An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

A human Inuit skull in a stone chambered cairn in Ilulissat in Greenland. These ancient graves are pre christian and are at least 2000

14 Tough Questions Answered

Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 9th Mechanized Division learning to operate and maintain M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks at Besmaya Combat Training Center, Baghdad, Iraq, 2011. Military training. Iraq war. U.S. Army

8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century

Paying College Athletes: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

2022 NCAA champions

See All Images →

Topics

higher education college sports Sports and Drugs Golf National Anthem Protest Olympics Cheerleading Fighting in Hockey