Should College Athletes Be Paid?
The college basketball championship tournaments, better known as March Madness, tip off later this month. Fans will pack into arenas to root for their favorite teams, and millions more will watch the games on TV. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will make hundreds of millions of dollars through ticket sales, advertising, and TV deals. A lot of that money will be shared with the colleges. But the players won’t receive any of it. Under NCAA rules, college athletes aren’t allowed to get paid.
At top sports schools, many athletes receive scholarships to cover the costs of tuition, housing, meals, and books. However, many people think that college athletes—especially football and basketball players—deserve a real paycheck. Those sports are billion-dollar businesses, so many people say it’s unfair that the players don’t get part of the profits.
But others disagree. They argue that the main purpose of going to college is to get an education, not to make money. They point out that many athletes get the chance to earn a college degree for free. At some schools, the value of all the benefits athletes receive during four years of college can be more than $250,000.