Proper Compensation for College Athletes
Introduction

College athletes with poorer socioeconomic status typically have issues with position educational outcomes. If college athletes were paid, they would have the ability to provide financial assistance to their struggling families, which would provide them with a higher probability to excel both academically and athletically. There is strong rationale that college athletes should be paid, as colleges earn billions of dollars each year from their athletic programs. As with any athletics, college athletes and their sports are the product, The present compensation – a full or partial scholarship, depending on the athlete or the sport – is inadequate compensation for the labor these athletes provide, and the economic benefit of that labor. A more equitable approach to the distribution of the proceeds of that labor will alleviate many of the challenges that college athletes face, in addition to providing distributive justice.

The issue of compensating college athletes has been dissected in many ways. There are blanket arguments for and against, but there is also discussion surrounding the question of how compensation should be handled, if compensation of college athletes is allowed. Some of the issues that have been raised regarding the “how” are whether there should be a compensation cap to prevent unfair recruiting practices, and how should it be determined how much each athlete should be paid. In professional sports, salaries on a team will different substantially, as will salaries between sports. In college athletics, these same issues would arise if compensation of college athletes is allowed. But the first and more important question is whether or not college athletes should be paid, and I believe that they should be paid.

This paper will break down the case for why college athletes should be paid, leveraging from some of the arguments that have been made by journalists and other experts in the subject. A variety of perspectives will be examined. There will also be a discussion of the arguments against paying college athletes, so as to strongman the opposing argument. Then, a recommendation will be made, wherein my argument is backed with the research and the counterarguments are refuted in turn.

Why College Athletes Should be Paid

De Piccioto (2019) notes that college athletics generates a tremendous amount of revenue for the NCAA and for the individual schools. The NCAA March Madness tournament alone generates over $1 billion in television rights. The fact that there is such big money in college sports is held up as one of the major reasons why college athletes should be paid. They are, after all, the product that the audiences watch, and in many instances these athletes are putting their own health on the line, particularly in high contact sports, but often times even in other sports as well, since college athletes are...…difficult. Thus, paying college athletes should be allowed, and then the bright minds among the stakeholder groups can start the heavy lifting of figuring out what fair and equitable distribution looks like. The California law can be added to this an as extra layer – the stars among college athletes are free to pursue market forces for their gain, beyond whatever system is designed for compensation of all athletes.

Conclusion

College athletes should be paid for their work. First, the economic benefits of college athletics are significant, and they are not distributed in an equitable manner. Indeed, the iniquity of the distribution of this wealth serves to perpetuate systemic racism and reduce economic mobility within socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Whatever sacred bonds might exist, whatever idealized notion of higher learning might persist, none of those arguments are strong enough to counter the powerful economic, social justice and distributive justice arguments in favor of paying college athletes in line with their contribution to economic outcomes associated with college sports.

Final Thoughts

The revision process and using this checklist has been helpful. The checklist provides structure to the revisions, and to the essay as a whole. Ensuring that all of the elements are present is a critical part of the process of crafting an effective argumentative essay. The structure keeps the writer honest, and allows for the full and proper development of the arguments, with appropriate supporting points.…