Breen 5
Michael Breen
Miss Burke
English 11
16 April 2018
NCAA Athletes Should be Paid
Could you imagine working 43.3 hours a week and not earning a salary? That is what it is like to be an average Division One Football player in the NCAA. That is not just football players, however. The average NCAA athlete works towards their sport about the same amount of time as the average American work week, except without salary. This topic has been controversial for quite a while now. NCAA athletes should be paid because they cannot get a job in their free time, work like a full time employee, and make the NCAA and their college loads of money.
NCAA players deserve to be paid because they could be considered employees. This is more than just an opinion. The average American employee works about 40 hours a week, for a salary. This being said, the average Division 1 football player puts 43.3 mandatory hours a week in towards team practice, lifting, and film (Edelman). That does not even include the individual work they put in to get better, along with the classes they take. With at least 3.3 hours a week more of ‘work’, they do not even make enough money to support their family back home, yet alone take care of themselves as best as they can. The NCAA also claims that the student athletes are primarily students. They back up the fact they do not pay the players because they get free education. The problem with this is that if they are students first, why are they occasionally forced to miss class for sport purposes? If they justify the fact that they do not pay the athletes by saying they get free education, then they cannot take away portions of their education by making them leave class early or miss a class completely for games or workouts. The coaches and administrators of these sports teams make salaries big enough to take care of their families with comfort, without ever breaking a sweat. The students are the ones working hard to win just for their coaches to get a raise. The definition of an employee is “a person that does work for another person or group.” That defines the typical student athlete in the NCAA. The player is the person that is doing work for the coach, or for the NCAA. With all these statements and facts, it is hard to not consider NCAA athletes employees. Essentially, these athletes participate in an employer/employee relationship and should be paid accordingly.
NCAA athletes deserve to be paid because they are restricted from getting a paid job. They are not allowed to pick up a job earning over $2,000 a year. This is kind of absurd to most. If these student athletes find free time to find a side job and earn a little extra money, they should be allowed, you would think. They also are not allowed to take money from a coach. This is any amount of money, even a simple candy bar. These student athletes not being able to accept money from their coach is unacceptable. The athletes are the ones on the court or field making the coach th...
