A huge controversy in the sporting world is whether athletes should be paid or not. Looking at both sides of this issue can help better understand the big conversation.  

Pro

College sports are big money makers for the school. According to College Statics website, said “College sports bring in between $30-million and $40-million to the university each year” That is an exceptionally considerable number of funds alone from just sports events. For having such a high influence and impact as an athlete and getting no money can be considered unfair.  

Con

May cause athletes to lose motivation and be irresponsible. The idea that athletes will be highly influenced by this new pay will lose their passion to keep playing as hard. Also making it easier to access drugs and alcohol, making it harder to refuse those temptations. Putting their career more at risk. Many pros have had these issues such as Rikki Williams who struggles with marijuana addiction, Pelle Lindebergh who was charged with a DUI for causing an accident from drinking, and Michael Beasley who struggled with both drug and alcohol addiction. 

Pro

It could greatly benefit many families financially. College alone is expensive and costly. According to the “College Data” website said, “For 2020-2021 academic year, the average price of tuition and fees came to: $37,650 to private colleges, $10,560 at public college (in-state residents), $27,020 (out-of-state residents).”  

According to National College NCPA Players association said, “The range of out-of-pocket for a “full” scholarship student-athlete in the football subdivision (FBS) is $952/year to $6,127/year depending on what college.”  

Con

Determining salaries can be messy. Deciding if everyone would be paid equally, who gets paid more, do all schools pay athletes equally. Once deciding to pay for the issues and complaints athletes will have that may cause them to quit. Paying women’s athletes fairly compared to male athletes as well, an issue we see in professional sports as well. Many issues could occur from this, it seems like no one could win.