Contrary to the benefits of paying student-athletes comes the barriers to that, which can be considered the cons to this idea.  In theory, to me it makes a great deal of sense that these athletes are compensated for the revenue they bring in to the institution they attend but in reality there are many other variables that stand out hindering the thought as well.

The first problem to paying student-athletes that comes to mind is would schools have to cut other programs to ensure they were able to pay their athletes.  But this is a two-headed horse.  This creates a much larger problem within itself and you then also have to consider the element of how are these pay cheques going to be divided and done so in a fair manner.  How does one deem a sport as football more important then say lacrosse?  For me, it is simple to say having been in this position; football gets chosen every time.  Why is that? Quite simply they attract more fans, they bring in more merchandise sales and to be blunt, they generate more revenue then lacrosse does.  Does that mean these athletes are any more deserving to a higher amount of financial compensation? That is what someone would have to decide.

The second thought that comes to mind is now schools would have to be concerned that IF student athletes were to be paid, this now opens up the door of athletics taking priority over academics.  Unfortunately, this is hard to dispute because once you are being paid to do something you ‘specialize in’ such as a sport, your commitment and focus remain strictly towards what it is that is paying you.  The NCAA has regulations which need to be met in order to qualify student-athletes academically to deem them eligible to play but if you begin to pay these athletes, this gets thrown out the door.

Finally, the big overarching theme to all of this is that you now remove the line between amateurism and professional.  Although many people debate student-athletes are in fact paid through scholarship, once you begin to pay a athlete cash or stipends for performance, they are considered to be a professional athlete.  Essentially, it wouldn’t be thought of as a stepping stone to pro but instead an affiliate that helps branch these ‘students’ to going professional.

Although many people believe student-athletes deserve to be paid, it is clear there are many complications to consider when thinking of the logistics of exactly how it all would work.  For my last post, I will give my stance at where   I stand with my free inquiry question of do college athletes deserve to be paid?