College football is one of the most popular sports in the country, if not the most popular. As a result of this, football programs are usually the money-making sport at almost all of the schools that field a football team. College football is also the main cog in the multi-billion-dollar machine that is the NCAA which has come under controversy for not paying players even though the NCAA is using the players to get paid themselves. This issue has been brought up recently due to the Ed O'Bannon trial, which states that the NCAA and colleges must pay players $5,000 in stipends for using their likeness or name on apparel or in video games (McCann). Then, the Northwestern football team tried to unionize in order to get benefits and payment for playing college football (Strauss). Many people believe that college football players should be paid in order to compensate for injuries and entertainment. However, college football players should not be paid because it would take away the competitiveness of the game, and players are already receiving free education and medical treatment.
Many people love college football due to the physicality and competitiveness of the sport. However, the competitiveness of the sport would be compromised if teams were allowed to pay players because the best players would just play for the teams that could pay them the most money. This would also take away from the integrity of the game because these student-athletes would be attending a school in order to make the most money instead of attending a school in order to learn and grow, which basically makes them professional athletes. These players do provide a lot of money to athletic departments and universities, which helps to keep other sports teams at the university on their respective fields or courts, but they are not different than the other student-athletes in the amount of time that they spend in the classroom and in preparation for their sport. Fans who want to pay players may argue this by saying that the NCAA should set a limit as to what each player is allowed to be paid, but then the problem of what the limit should be and how the NCAA would determine the limit would arise. The NCAA would also more than likely have to deal with certain players wanting more money for what they believe to be their superior performance than teammates and also drawing more attention to the school and, therefore, more fans to the games.
Moreover, players are already receiving free education from the university that they are attending. College football teams that are in the FBS football bowl subdivision receive 85 scholarships that cover tuition, dorms, books, and food for players, which means that the vast majority of the team is going to school for free. Football players are going to schools where it would cost almost any other student anywhere from $20,000 a year to $50,000 a year, depending on the school. People who are pro-payment argue that players are not typical stude...
