At universities across the country a single question drives heated conversations, should college athletes be paid to play their sport? Otherwise stated, should college athletes receive a salary to play? While two sides of this argument stand, the clear and correct response is no! College athletes should not receive money to play their sport.

There are many factors to be considered when approaching this argument. Those in favor of paying college athletes will say that the schools make money, so should the athletes. They will say that many of the students making money for their school come from impoverished backgrounds and the college athletics represent true earning potential. A key argument states that every college athlete stepping on the field or court of play risks career ending injuries, possibly preventing him or her from playing at the next level (Wilbon, 2011, para. 3).
Those opposed to paying college athletes will argue the athlete receives pay. They will say that not every sport makes money for their school and in fact some universities do not have a single profitable team. Let us explore each of these topics in greater depth.

The schools are making money, so should the athletes. A number of universities bring in large amounts of money from broadcast revenue, ticket sales and branding. Looking on the expense side of the ledger for the same schools reveal that the net revenue does not meet expectations. ESPN posted revenue and expense numbers for the top forty grossing universities in 2008 and the University of Alabama tops the list. Alabama’s athletic program brought in $123, 769, 841 dollars in 2008. Alabama’s athletic program spent $123, 370, 004 dollars the same year. The net profit in 2008 for the highest grossing college athletic program in 2008 amounted to less than $400,000 dollars (Nocrera, 2011, para 11). In fact, according to a USA Today story last month, only 23 out of 228 Division I athletic programs managed to run a surplus in 2012 (Dorfman, 2013, para.7). Per ESPN, the biggest drivers of college athletic expenses include tuition, visiting team accommodation, coach’s pay, recruiting expense, team travel and marketing. The schools do indeed bring in money, but do not make any money.

Many athletes making money for their school come from impoverished backgrounds and the college athletics represent true earning potential. Many students, athletes and non-athletes come from impoverished backgrounds (Brynelson, 2013, para 7). The main step on the ladder out of poverty equals an education. College athletes, especially in media driven sports (Division 1 Football and Men’s Basketball) attend college on full scholarships. In exchange for their athletic participation, they receive a “free” education. The goal for every college athlete from an impoverished background should be to complete their education, opening a lifetime (not just four years) of earning potential (Brynelson, 2013, para 8).

Every college athlete that steps on the field or court of play risks career ending injuries, possibly preventing him or her from playing at the next level (NCAA, n.d., para 6). To validate this argument, one must assume an opportunity to move from college to professional athletics exists. With 420,000 athletes, the NCAA commercial indicates, most of those athletes will go “pro” in something other than their sport. For the very small percentage with the skills to play professionally, proponents of pay to play argue athletes risk their careers to injury by playing for free (NCAA, n.d., para 2). Twenty years ago that may have been a valid argument. With advances in the medical field, today most injuries will in fact not end a career. Adrian Peterson, running back for the Minnesota Vikings, tore his ACL and MCL in December of 2011. After surgery to reconstruct his knee, Peterson came back the next season 228 yards shy of the all-time single season rushing record and received MVP of the NFL (Nocrera, 2011, para 20). Sarah Hawkins had a very similar injury, tearing her ACL, meniscus, and MCL. She came back four months later able to play like before (S. Hawkins, personal communication, February 13, 2014). To recap, for the very few with an opportunity to play professional sports, an even smaller percentage of them will have a career ending injury.

The athletes do in fact receive pay. Athletes on full scholarship receive tuition, books, exposure, room and board, and a platform to get to the next level in exchange for their participation in college athletics (S. Hawkins, personal communication, February 13, 2014). Those entitlements have an associated monetary value. Additional athletic perks received by all athletes without regard to scholarship amount can include tutoring, counseling, medical care, free travel as well as strength and conditioning training. In all, a college athlete’s education, care, and training package can achieve amounts valued at 50 to 125 thousand dollars annually depending on the school and sport. (Dorfman, 2013, para 4). The entitlements come tax free as well.

Not every sport makes money for their school and in fact some universities do not have a single profitable team. Pay to play for college athletes finds roots as an argument for fairness. The athlete makes money for the school and in the name of fairness, he or she should share in the revenues. The issue of fairness however runs much deeper. If the broadcasted college sports drive the revenue, who should receive pay? Cross country athletes work just as hard, can come from impoverished backgrounds, risk injury and represent their school just as well as the football athlete from the same university. Should the cross country athlete not receive pay because the sport does not drive the same revenue? What about title IX? Title IX, a legal ruling, states the same amount of money must be spent on universities’ male and female athletes. Would pay for play support title IX (Wilbon, 2011, para. 1)?

Some very large universities drive significant revenue, but do so at a significant cost. Most college athletes aspire to receive their education at a reduced rate in exchange for their efforts on the field or court as they know they will not turn pro. The present scholarship system works for the majority of all student athletes. Student athletes on scholarship receive monetary value and do so tax free. If it ain’t broke, why do we spend so much time trying to fix it?”