Through the past couple of years, there’s been a huge debate on whether or not college athletes should be paid. As of right now, it is against NCAA sanction for colleges to pay athletes, and any college that gets caught doing so will face the “death penalty”, which results in a reduced recruiting class and no post-season eligibility for sports like football, baseball, and basketball. Both sides of the argument have made massive pushes, but so far, no progress has been made.

Those in favor of college athletes being paid have a few standard arguments. College athletics is a multi-billion dollar corporation where the only people with no say in money is the athletes themselves. This wouldn’t fly in any other line of work. Some claim that paying athletes would help them build a sense of thriftiness before they get paid $8 million a year in the NFL or NBA. There have been multiple big names that have gone on after their professional careers and blown all of their money, including former national champion Vince Young. One of the largest concerns from people on both sides is how players that go onto the NBA and NFL will leave after one year or three years, respectively. People are afraid that losing out on most of your college education does more harm than the millions of dollars the NBA or NFL will make them. So paying them sounds like a good idea to get them to stay, right?

The other side also has a few universal thoughts. The largest opinion is that scholarships already count as payment. Everyone knows college is expensive, so being able to go for free or close to free and play the game you love sounds like payment enough. All the money their families would be spending on college can now go to other things, such as fancy shoes or maybe a savings account. Another argument is that paying them will detract from the purity of the game. Many have called college football the purest form of the game, as players strive to make themselves and their teammates better, with no care for money, but only for winning. Many still think that’s how it should be, with the game held higher than money. The last major argument is that it is simply too difficult to put into place. Only a few sports (baseball, basketball, lacrosse, and football) actually bring in enough money to pay players. Many wonder if the payment process would fall on the corrupt NCAA or the stingy schools themselves.

Regardless of opinion on student athletes payment, the NCAA will still have $10 billion and up contracts with ESPN and CBS, and the athletes will continue to grind it out in hopes of making it to the pros.

There is a poll on the home page for you to voice your opinion on the payment of college athletes.