Why college athletes should be paid

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Why College-Athletes should be paid
College athletes are considered among the hardest working people. They are not only living averagely as students, but they are also subjected to a strenuous sports schedule (Branch 91). Their compensation is one of the most controversial topics today. However, it is important to note that the students work hard to play and read at the same time. Thus, this paper supports the argument that student-athletes should be paid.
First, College football is a multi-billion dollar franchise generating over $11 billion yearly (Leung and Joseph 713). The students that make the sport possible do not benefit. It is only reasonable that the student-athletes who work hard to play the sport share the money generated through it- the franchise would not exist without them (McKenzie and Sullivan 373).
Second, through the money earned by the sport, the only people who benefit are the coaches and institutions (Cronk 135). For instance, the current coach of Oklahoma Football team, Lincoln Riley, earns more than $5.06 million every year (Tsitsos and Nixon 74). It is justifiable to say that the NCAA is exploiting the student-athletes based on the number of revenues they generate yearly hence the need to compensate them.
Third, college athletes are an important part of America’s economy and culture (McKenzie and Sullivan 373). Sports editors, like Marc Edleman, argue that “paying the stu…