Should college students be paid for playing sports?

is the price of tuition a big enough reward for athletes’ time and efforts?

By Aidan Brown

Edited by Rachel Klosterman

Illustrations by

Photography by Layout by Grace Knapke

Sports are a large part of our society; millions of people watch sports such as football and basketball on their TVs or in person. In fact, according to The Athletic, a college football playoff at Texas Christian University managed to average 21.4 million viewers. That is a large audience watching a college football game. It is such a large audience that companies pay millions to broadcast these games to them. ESPN currently pays a reported $470 million annually to broadcast College Football Playoff finals. While the cost is high, the price is worth it. According to Statista, in its 2022 fiscal year, the NCAA generated 870 million U.S. dollars in revenue from television broadcast payments and licensing rights. With how large of an audience college football has, along with the revenue it generates from television broadcasts, surely the ones who play the sport get well compensated? The short answer is kind of, they get paid, but it is not with money. College football players and other athletes get rewarded by having their college tuition paid for. To some this is a good deal, college can be expensive, but others think it is not enough and these players should be getting real money like the athletes in the NFL and other sports. College athletes should get paid for their efforts.

College costs a lot, and many see sports as an effective way to pay for it. Getting your college career paid for is a dream for many. According to ON To College, the average Ohio tuition for four years is $26,213. That’s a lot of money and having that be paid for is good, but how much is that in comparison to the pay professional athletes receive? The average wage of an NFL player is $860,000, according to Indeed. That is over thirtytwo times more than the average four-year tuition in Ohio.

While it is true that college football is not as grand as the NFL, college football has so many viewers and broadcasting that it makes so much that it is reasonable to believe that college football players are being under-compensated. The issue is not limited to just college football, college basketball has the same problem. The average wage of a professional basketball player, according to ZipRecruiter, is $47,840. A year’s pay is nearly double the cost of four years of college in Ohio. College students deserve to be paid for their efforts just as much as professionals. Some may argue that they are still kids but remember that these “kids” are eighteen.

That is a factor that many forget about, these players are no longer in high school, they are adults, and adults get paid for their work. Many college students pay for their education by having a part-time job. For college athletes, playing college football, basketball, etc. is their job. These players need to earn money; they need to have the finances to be able to live on their own. Getting their college paid for is not enough, especially if their sports careers end after or during college.

Another reason college athletes should be getting paid is the fact that they are not guaranteed to be taken onto an official sports team. Official sports teams usually take on the best players due to how competitive the sports are. This means that athletes who tried their best may be out of the job before they even started, making their time playing sports pointless. They have a college education, but now do not have a readily available career opportunity to fall back on and no money to support them in the meantime. It could have been worse though; they could have suffered a career-ending injury.

Because sports are so physical, the risk of injury is remarkably high. Broken bones, muscle damage, and concussions for example are quite common. These injuries take a while to heal, some taking months and often end a player’s season. For professionals this is not so bad financially, being paid a million dollars a year will cover most if not all the cost. This is not the case for college athletes. When a college athlete gets injured, they must pay for it, not the college. Despite getting the same injuries as professional athletes, they are far worse off due to a lack of salary. This is a major reason college athletes should get paid. How is it fair for students to risk their health and not get paid compensation? It is even worse if the injuries are permanent. If a college athlete suffers a permanent injury, their career is done, and they have little in the way of compensation for it. If college students can risk permanent damage to their bodies, they should have the money to pay for it.

With how much professional athletes make and how dangerous it can be, college students should be paid for their efforts. College sports like basketball and football are watched by millions and yet the players receive so little for their ability to entertain so many people. College may be expensive and having it paid for seems nice, but it is nothing compared to the cash these students should have in their own pockets.