Destiny Jenkins
Staff Writer
destiny.jenkins@hawks.shorter.edu
Should student athletes be paid? This controversial ques- tion has been around for many years with no de nitive answer. Some people have raised the notion that student athletes should be paid because it is like having a regular job while others side that being a student athlete is a privilege rather than a job.
Shorter womens’ head soccer coach Ben Birdsong echoed this sentiment,
“The reasons people love college athletics, I think on the national level, is because these teams are so competitive, and it is such a good environment to watch. You hear all the time they are not paid it’s just passion. That’s what they’re are really putting into the sport… Based on the information I know, the NCAA needs to stick with what they have (do not pay players),” said Birdsong.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, President Theodore Roosevelt founded the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1905. The institution was committed to the idea of not providing a salary or stipend to the student athletes who took part in collegiate athletics. It is based on the idea of amateurism, and this was a notable idea at the time.
Years later, the NCAA has been modernized to take full advantage of the new kinds of media and sport fans. Today, athletics in the NCAA draws in billions of dollars every year for the organization, according to www.thenation.com. From high salaries to performance bonuses, the NCAA seems to be making a lot of money consid- ering it claims to be a non-profit organization.
Despite all of this cash going around, the athletes who make the organization so much money do not see any of it. The organization argues that student athletes are provided with free education.
While this was previously a great incentive to work towards a career as a college athlete, the billions of dollars that are poured into the industry every year does not bene t the ones who make it, and players themselves question this fact.
Sophomore communications major Drew Brennan says,
“I believe that big-time Division 1 basketball players and college football players have a right to be paid because they slave through hours of practice and travel and are just loaded with (academic) work. In the same sense, I believe Division 2 and 3 athletes don’t deserve to be paid… D-1 athletes bring in tons of money to the school… and I feel like they have a right to earn some money.”
Should collegiate sport teams ght back against the NCAA standards in support of being paid?
Some argue that “student athlete” describes collegiate-level athletes for a reason. Players are receiving an advanced educa- tion at universities and colleges that thousands of Americans cannot attend. Plus, they are getting it on the dime of the university.
College athletes need to recognize their opportunity as a privilege that most young children aspire to attain but are never given to opportunity to have. Just do it for the love of the game because that is what it is – a game. The last thing athletes want to happen is to turn college sports into a chore or a job with an hourly wage. Then, the pure love gets lost. It should never be about how much material value your play is worth.
