1 Paying College Athletes Would Ruin College Sports

Finally, if college athletes start getting paid, it would simply ruin the college sports industry. Athletes play sports in college for two reason: the love of the game and the change to make it to the pros. If these students start getting paid, college and university athletic departments would turn into enterprises, and this would tarnish the college athletic system.

All of the shenanigans that occur in the pros would likely happen in college sports if student athletes started getting paid. Students would start holding out on contracts because they want more money, unions would spring up that would focus on the rights of college athletes, and there would be lockouts if these athletes are not happy with the university they are playing for. People watch college sports because they don’t have these things associated with them, and adding payments to athletes would bring all of these to the forefront.

At it’s heart, college athletics is the way to turn boys and girls into men and women. It teaches students how to be disciplined and driven. Fans do not want to turn on ESPN on Saturday afternoon and see a labor strike at their local university because the students don’t like that they aren’t getting paid more. Instead, they want to see these players hit the field or the court, play without the distractions of cash, and do it for the love of the game.

Conclusion

The debate of whether or not it is appropriate or fair to pay college athletes rages on. Though there are a couple of compelling reasons why college athletes should be paid, there are many other reasons why they shouldn’t. Paying a student athlete would put most universities in dire financial straights, it would cause other programs to be cut, and could ultimately unfairly cause an imbalance in the college spots system as some schools would certainly have more money to spend than others.

Student athletes already receive benefits for playing college sports including a free education, housing, meals, travel, networking and other perks, which give them a huge boost up in life when compared to their peers. If student athletes start getting paid, however, they would not only continue to likely receive these benefits, they would receive many more. This could lead to even more corruption in an already corrupt system and it would create many more issues than are already in existence.

Whether or not the NCAA ultimately decides to pay student athletes is likely not a decision that would come down any time soon, and since the NCAA is a non-profit itself, it is unlikely to happen at all. Until any decision is made, student athletes are best to do what their predecessors have done…play their sport simply for the love of the game.