Athletes Not Getting Enough?
By: Matthew Moore
You see athletes in the spotlight all the time, but you never see what goes on outside of the field, court, etc. These student athletes are put through rigorous training each day and usually two to three times a day. Not only that, but these girls and guys have a very demanding academic life that they must stay up on. Plus a lot of kids tend to have a social life. Now, do these kids who need money even have time for a job?
College athletes spend their whole time invested in school and sports. Many of these kids need money to be able to fill up their gas tank, get a bite to eat, and just be able to go out some nights. They don't have time at all to get a job though; some collegiate coaches don't even allow their kids to get jobs, because they feel they need to be committed to just school and sports. Student athletes at the division 1 level should be paid minimum wage for playing sports.
I think everyone would agree that it is nice to have some money to be able to do things. Even though most of these students have scholarships, they don't ever really gain money that helps them afford necessities. 37 million people wouldn't be able to go to college right now if it weren't for scholarship or some type of financial aid. Even though they have made it in, they have no other money to spend on other stuff. College is very expensive when you are forced to live on your own, even with a scholarship,
Students need money for multiple things. I know that if I go to college then I will need to pay for gas that is put into my car. You will need to pay for sporting events that you wish to attend. You will need money to go to the bowling ally with your buddies on Tuesday "a dollar a round night." You will need money for so many things in colleges, but the only way to get money is by getting a job. The suicide rate has jumped 60% in the last 45 years, and by letting these kids go out and have fun will boost their morale and take unneeded stress away. How do you get a job for these activities if there is barley any time in your schedule.
Yes, these kids deserve money. For example, most football programs bring in about around 10 million in revenue for the university. Texas in 2012 brought in over a 100 million dollars in revenue to the university. This wouldn't happen without these student athletes. I understand that the school depends on that money, but all that student athletes are asking for is minimum wage for the hours they put in. I think this is a win-win, because the university is being benefited financially by these players' talents, and the students are being rewarded with money that they can't find anywhere else.
I understand that a lot of people will counter my argument by saying that these kids don't have to pay for college because of scholarships. Yes that may be true, but these kids never really made money in that deal. A lot of kids come into college poor, but a scholarship saves them, but by giving them a little income would allow them to do many things that they aren't able to do right now. A lot of students get in trouble trying to find some way to make money such as selling autographs or stuff in that nature. This shows the desperate need these guys have for money. By giving them just minimum wage you will prevent a lot of these NCAA infractions.
Athletes put so much time into sports, and they deserve to be paid. An average college baseball player puts in 42.1 hours in a 6 day week. On top of that they are committed to their academics for 31.7 hours in a school week. Then athletes need their sleep, so if they sleep for 8 hours for Monday through Saturday then that is 48 hours of sleep. Adding that up you get 121.8 hours a week invested in those things, and that doesn't count workouts on your own, or studying on Saturday and Sunday. There are only 144 hours in those 6 days. A social life would be hard, and a job is impossible.
All these athletes want is minimum wage for the time they put in. If they put in 40 hours a week then that would be about 290 dollars a week. This would help out these students so much, and you may even see an increase in morale and even performance.
It is not fair to these young men and women playing division 1 athletics. They just do not have enough time with all that they do to also get a job. Athletes with school, friends, and sports just don't have enough time to acquire a job.
These players themselves have invested so much time, energy, and effort into getting into the university. They also put all that into academics as well as there team. The least we could do for these athletes is get them to be paid.