Eleven billion dollars--the amount the National Collegiate Athletic Association makes a year in media rights alone (Revenue). Yet, the athletes that generate this money do not earn a single cent. The NCAA is like a cartel--“unpaid labor whose performance could be monetized in the form of tickets, T-shirts, and TV rights” (Barbash). So, the NCAA should pay college athletes because the association rakes in billions of dollars while players lose money risking career-ending injuries.

In the debate to reform NCAA rules, a crucial argument is the care of players after they get injured. Everyone wants people to be taken care of, so the NCAA probably already looks after their players, right? Actually, the NCAA has no interest in medical care. In fact, the NCAA crafted the term “student-athlete” in the 1950’s to avoid workmen’s compensation, after the widow of a player, who had died in a football game from a head injury, filed for death benefits (Branch). This 60 year old phrase is still used today, and because so, the NCAA has done little to nothing to protect student-athletes. Secondly, a NCAA lawyer even stated that “under the NCAA constitution, each member institution is responsible for protecting the health of its student-athletes” (Strauss). This means that the responsibility of treating injured players falls solely on individual colleges. However, Professor Ellen Staurowsky found that “in the five wealthiest conferences, coverage varied widely” and that some schools only “guarantee medical care only as long as an athlete is in school” (Strauss). This can be very problematic because players can suffer injuries that sustain past graduation, and schools outside these five wealthy conferences cannot afford as much health coverage. In addition to a lack of coverage, students can lose their scholarships once they get injured. Take Kyle Hardrick, a basketball forward at the University of Oklahoma, as an example. Hardrick tore his meniscus in practice one day, forcing him to sit out for the rest of the season. Hardrick later had an operation, having to “use his family’s insurance,” only to find that, “with his health in question, his scholarship was not renewed” (Strauss). Financially, Hardrick was not able to continue his education and was forced to drop out. As tragic as Hardrick’s story is, it represents only one of many examples of the NCAA disregarding the well being of their players. The matter of the fact remains that the NCAA hurts both a player’s health and their wallets. Consequently, the NCAA should compensate their athletes so that they can maintain their health and their education.

On the other side, the NCAA and its supporters in this debate argue that college players are students first and athletes second; they’re amateurs, not professionals. Student-athletes help generate billions of dollars in revenue in exchange for educational opportunities. After all, a student receive scholarships and can only play if they’re passing school, making their sport a privilege, not a job. However, if the educational opportunities hold no value, then the exchange is not legit. Investigations conducted by schools and the NCAA have found that there has been a high popularity of fake classes, or “paper classes”, among student-athletes. These classes, such as high-level Swahili, “involved no interaction with a faculty member, required no class attendance or course work other than a single paper, and resulted in consistently high grades” (Crouch). Moreover, the New Yorker reported that “coaches steer students towards empty classes or supply so-called academic support that amounts to cheating” (Yankah). Therefore, in reality, college players are athletes first and students second.

The discussion over the payment student-athletes is not a matter of money or a matter of athlete versus employee, but a matter of fairness. College players, who put their health and careers at risk, need to receive some sort of reward for making money for the school. But, their only reward is an illegitimate and potentially temporary “educational opportunity.” Right now, even though student-athletes are winning on the field, they are losing off of it. Because everyone wants people to be treated justly, the NCAA should pay their athletes.