Should College Football Players Get Paid?

by Khari Dash

College football is a big thing in America. During weekends, people will tune in to watch different schools and players played against each other. Despite the love and glamor, people have for college football, many have different issues with it. One issue in particular people have is whether college players should be getting pay to play in college.

People believed that they should get paid for playing in college games and I believe they should get paid for the hard work and effort that they put in for the team and the support they bring in to the school. College football players deserve to get paid for numerous reasons. 

One reason is the ratings college football players help bring in to primetime television channels like ABC, Fox, and other channels. These channels will show different ads showing when the games will be televised and show different highlight from players from previous games to draw in the viewers' attention and see how good the school players are.

Another reason why college football players should get paid because it will help with financial responsibility. Getting money in college can prepared players on how to manage their money. For example, ex-football player Terrell Owens finds himself with a low income now because he did not know how to manage his money earned in the pros.

 If students get paid in college, they can learn how to manage their money and learn real-life skills in money managing and budgeting. Also if college football players move on to the next level in football, they will have the skill set to save their money and managing it better.

Another reason they should get paid for playing college football is that it will make them smarter on and off the field. In the NFL, players will lose pay when they get suspended for making bad decisions on and off the field. 

If college football players were getting paid, they will make smarter decisions so they get the most money possible in college. They will think about the consequences that happen when they make a bad decision. So allow college football players to get paid for helping colleges bring in big sums of money and help to make coaches look superior and putting more money in their pockets.

Not just college football players want to get money but all college sports want to get paid. Former UCLA student-athlete once stated,  “Despite the hours I put in every day, practicing, learning plays, and traveling around the country to play games, and despite the millions of dollars our team generated for UCLA—both in cash and in recruiting students to attend the university—I was always too broke to do much but study, practice, and play,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. 

Even college basketball players deserve to get paid too because they need money to do different activities and they put in a lot of hard work and effort too. They make money for the college and deserve to get some of the money from it.