Have you ever imagined paying college athletes to compete? Do you know the implications of this to the college sporting activities? Well, today I will tell you how and why they should be paid. College athletes especially within the United States are offered scholarships at various colleges as a reward for their engagement into various sporting activities. However, majority of the people think that athletes should as well be paid for their patriotism to the nation. As opposed to what most people think, becoming an athlete is considered a full time job. Athletes wake up earlier before class time to do the necessary exercises that makes them fit for the task. After classes, they go for more exercises that keeps them ready for the various sporting activities (Byers, & Hammer, 2012). Despite the numerous exercise, athletes must create time to complete their class assignments and prepare for the academic tests as well. This may be tiresome and occasionally impacts negatively on their academics. Besides, college athletes just like normal athletes have certain expenses to meet such as purchasing foodstuffs among other human necessities that they need (Adler, & Adler, 2008). Banking on this, I believe college athletes should be appreciated if not paid for their dedication and hard work to lift the image of the school in sports.
Various colleges and Universities earn a lot of money annually within their athletic schedules. The money is sourced through donations, media rights, ticket sales, and advertisements. The college athletes are used to symbolize the various schools where they come from (Goldman, 2009). Therefore, the achievement of an athlete is beneficial to the school and the economy at large. I believe that all this achievements should not only be rewarded by scholarship but also the college athletes should be paid some money even for their upkeep. When a school is successful it would be the images of the athletes that would be publicized yet the school and the economy would be enjoying the benefits from the students achievements (Byers, & Hammer, 2012). It would be wise if the athletes were paid so that they would also enjoy their achievements not only through sponsorship but also by earning from sports activities.
In one way, paying the athletes would motivate them to work even harder to achieve more success that would benefit the school and their lives (Goplerud III, 2010). Another important point of consideration is the fact that college athletes have families who also need to enjoy their athletics. If the athletes are not paid then how their families would be rewarded. The athletes when aid would share their success to their families who play a vital role in their performances by motivating them (Adler, & Adler, 2008). Through the athletes, the schools not only earn a lot of money but also enjoy certain benefits like increased enrollments within the school administration.
When the athletes from a given school are successful, more students are attracted towards joining the school in order to be successful too or be associated with that success (Goldman, 2009). The increased number of enrollments translates to more revenue to the school. There are also chances that the enrolled students might be athletes who would further improve the image of the school. The enrollment of new students at the college acts as recruitment for more athletes hence the future of the school in athletics is guaranteed (Smith, 2011). This also shows why the college athletes are determined to succeed for the benefit of the school, themselves, the nation and their families. From this insightful talk, I believe majority of you agrees with me that paying college athletes is not a bad idea after all. However, we must take caution because money corrupts and where payments in the form of money is involved, transparency and efficiency loses meaning as people serves their own selfish interests at the expense of others.
References
Adler, P. A., & Adler, P. (2008). Intense loyalty in organizations: A case study of college athletics. Administrative Science Quarterly, 401-417.
Byers, W., & Hammer, C. (2012). Unsportsmanlike conduct: Exploiting college athletes. University of Michigan Press.
Goldman, L. (2009). Sports and Antitrust: Should College Students Be Paid to Play. Notre Dame L. Rev., 65, 206.
Goplerud III, C. P. (2010). Pay for play for college athletes: now, more than ever. S. Tex. L. Rev., 38, 1081.
Smith, R. A. (2011). Pay for play: A history of big-time college athletic reform. university of Illinois Press.
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