Adrianna Heard
English 101
Professor Cox
February 16, 2015
Paying College Athletes In both the debate Ban College Football and the documentary Schooled: The Price of College Sports, they argue about whether or not it is ethical to not pay college athletes. They made many good points on both sides of this argument.
I can battle on both sides of this argument. Why should college athletes have their tuition and housing paid for them, when non-athletes need to take out loans and get scholarships to pay for college? Some may think that paying for a person’s tuition and housing is enough. But when that athlete ends a big game and goes home to an empty fridge, it makes you wonder why they don’t have the money for food. I’d rather see the athletes have to pay for tuition and housing, and instead get money for food and clothes, which is what’s really important. These athletes don’t have enough time to go out and get a part time job to support themselves, because all their time is spent practicing or studying. These players are getting a free education for their skills, so the school can have a better team, which in turn gets them billions of dollars from tickets, merchandise, even incoming students wanting to go to that school because they’re the best. And in return these athletes get free tuition and housing, but they are not getting any of the income that’s coming in from these games. Most argue that college athletes don’t get paid because they’re amateurs, which means that you play for the love of the game, not for money. They don’t get paid because they’re amateurs, but they’re amateurs because they don’t get paid. One man in the documentary Schooled said if people aren’t paying to see you play its amateurism. If they are paying to see you play and you’re not getting paid, it’s you getting taken advantage of. All the money these athletes bring in are going towards the coaches, the administration, and the school. Some could argue that the coaches of these teams are also amateurs, so why are they getting paid? They should have to coach “for the love of the team” just like the players have to