The circumstances surrounding the college athlete compensation system have triggered a debate concerning whether players need to be paid for their sports participation

Several points have been articulated on the need to pay these college players, while others have buttressed their points on why these young fellows do not need to get paid.

However, there seems to be a lack of attention given to the context. This context we are referring to is the factors that facilitate the huge remuneration of professional players and the absence of similar rewards in colleges.

While sports is a lucrative business in the professional world, can we say the same for colleges that invest in their teams and players? Professional sports have even boosted betting activities with live betting odds for sports events for fans. However, the fact remains that the professional sports arena cannot be compared to the academic sports context. Hence, we shall highlight the benefit of paying these young men and the cons that come with it.

Why should Colleges be Paying Athletes?

• It helps boost players' financial capacity. The regular support they get from colleges comes through scholarships, including free tuition, academic materials, and accommodation. However, only a tiny percentage of players meet the requirements for this scholarship. Hence, many are forced to work extra hours in addition to their sports and academic engagement to make ends meet. Being paid for their sports dedication reduces their financial burdens and adequately gives them enough time to study and train for sports events.

• College students depend on their families or charity organisations to fund their studies. One might want to refer to the availability of student loans and grants or even scholarships. As for scholarship, it is highly competitive, and even the best might not get it. By paying college athletes, there is a conscious effort to keep students employed while studying. This would impact their financial capacity and devotion to studies. With this, they would not need to take another job since they would be identifying as professional athletes employed by their respective colleges.

• Since one of the primary drives for participation is the financial gain it promises, colleges are usually confronted by the challenges that come with a star player leaving school. This is generally because of a more rewarding offer a professional team might have offered them. It is a fact that colleges might not be able to compete with professional groups. Nevertheless, with a proper welfare package that prioritises the remuneration of athletes, the pressure to find a professional team to join while still in school would reduce if colleges paid them.

Why Colleges Might not Need to Pay College Athletes?

• Access to training facilities can be the right boost for a college athlete to propel their professional career. For many individuals who believe college players do not need to be paid, there is an exchange of service between these players and their respective colleges. This is because they get benefits that include athletic development, fitness coordination, health support, therapy sessions, and regular training facilitated by experts. In addition, some receive tuition waivers, free accommodation, and stipends to meet their basic needs.

• The school needs financial resources to pay college players. This would imply that sports activities can generate income for the university. But this is not feasible because many sports generate little to no income. We can only mention sports categories like men’s basketball, women’s basketball and gridiron as the most popular sports with the capacity to generate revenue a college might want to consider rewarding for their expenses on college players. With this reality, paying college players would significantly affect the school’s financial capacity.

• If colleges decide to start paying college players, it means that they would not only be students but also university employees. As employees, there would be double responsibility placed on these individuals. First, they must maintain good academic standing and athletic performance, ensuring they are well-paid. This might affect the general objective of a college, which is to impact knowledge as the profit-making venture the college students are part of might greatly affect their academic performance.

Conclusion

College players must be paid for their commitment to sports and the drive to represent their institution in sports competitions. However, this financial burden should not be placed on their respective institutions. This is because of the financial limitations of the school. Meanwhile, the recent Supreme Court ruling offers insight on how to solve this dilemma.

It ruled that student-athletes can be compensated. But this has to come from private organizations who might want to use the player's profile for publicity. Hence, this grants every player the chance to benefit from their hard work while also lifting this responsibility from the college.