Reflecting on the Shame of College Sports: Should NCAA Div 1 Basketball and Football players get paid?

Collegiate sports are such a huge part of our society that they even have their own T.V. networks; ESPN U, Big 10 network, and the soon to be SEC network. NCAA is one of the largest, money making businesses in the world and the driving force behind all the money and publicity is the student athletes. This brings up a very debated question of rather or not student athletes should get paid for their athletics?

The argument for paying college athletes is a very strong one for multiple reasons. As mentioned before he NCAA is a billion dollar industry and the athletes, who are the main reason for that, are being paid nothing is salary. All of the money is going to the schools, their athletic departments, and coaches. The "Shame of College Sports" article stated that the big football schools such as Texas, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Penn State each bring in 40-80 million dollars in profits each year, after paying the coaches. This is an insane amount of money and many believe student athletes should and need to be paid some of this. Paying college athletes would also decrease the possibility of athletes receiving illegal benefits under the table, such as cars, jewelry, providing strippers for the athletes, etc.. 

Although morally and logically it seems student athletes should be paid, there are also reasons that argue against paying them. The first is that in a sense these athletes are being paid through scholarships to go to very expensive schools. While many students either can't afford to go to school or struggle paying the tuition, many of these D1 athletes receive a higher education for free. Also regardless if they could pay for school or not, many of these athletes do not have the grades to attend these major universities, but their athletic ability allows for their acceptance. Another argument against is that these athletes have never been paid in the past so why should they now? College sports needs to stay true to its tradition and paying these athletes would change many aspects of collegiate sports.

I have mixed feelings on this debate as I can clearly understand both sides of the argument. At first I feel that due to the millions of dollars that these athletes generate for their schools, they need to be paid. Their production does not correspond to their value, as far as money. The NCAA seems like a corrupt business where the people at top make millions of dollars while taking advantage of these young students. I also understand that although they are being paid in tuition, that does not amount to their actual worth. While they are not producing as much revenue per person as professional athletes in leagues such as the NFL or MLB, the gap is not that wide and these professional athletes are bing paid millions of dollars. I also understand that the culture and tradition of college sports would change if student athletes were paid, but I feel change can be good, especially if it is the morally right thing to do.