Opinions: Show Me the Money

By Jeff Jarboe

In today’s sports community, college athletes are looked upon as if they play in the pros. To the fans, the administration, or the media, they are superstars. So why aren’t they paid like superstars?

The debate over whether or not college athletes should be paid by their school is one that seemed ridiculous until now. The traditional college athlete stayed all four years, received a diploma and then decided if they wanted to go play professionally or not. Nowadays, athletes go to college for a year because they have to, and then go to the pros as soon as they are eligible. When senior classmate Kelly Gallagher was asked if college athletes should be paid, she said, “Well, technically they already are being paid in a full scholarship. Many people do not have that luxury, so in that sense they are treated like superstars.” This is completely true, and is the primary argument against the payment of college athletes.

What good is a full scholarship going to do if these athletes leave as soon as they are eligible? The majority of these athletes go to a school because they: A) Think they have the best possibility to win a national championship. Or B) Think that school will prepare him or her for the pros better than any other school. College athletes want to win a national championship, but not as bad as they want to get paid. Most athletes would choose to play for the New York Jets over almost anything school related, unless they had one major reason to stay in school. What better reason than millions of dollars and a national championship?

Senior Captain of the THS football team, and future Villanova college athlete Don Cherry had this to say on the matter, “I would favor this only because I know how hard these guys work and they deserve every dollar they make. Colleges have built this game into an absolute money making business with all of these talented athletes, it is only fair that they get a piece of the pie.”

Just imagine what John Wall could have done at Kentucky in four years. Imagine the dynasty that could have been built at USC by Leinart and Bush, had they stayed all their years. Imagine if Lebron went to college! All of this might have happened if these athletes had a reason to stay in school.