Prewriting 1

Question: Should college athletes be paid?

The debate about whether or not college athletes should be paid has been going around for many years. Everyone has a different opinion on if it is right to pay college athletes or not. There are many positives and negatives on both sides of the debate.

College athletes bring in a lot of money for their schools, but get nothing in return. All of the money that college athletes bring in is given to the coaches, administrators, media, and other people, but nothing is given to the players. On Wikipedia it said that “In 2010, two of the most profitable college conferences—the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten—earned over one billion dollars and $905 million, respectively.” That’s over one billion dollars that college athletes bring in, but are not getting for themselves.

Since college athletes are so busy with training, practices, and games they do not have much time for their school work or for a job outside of their sport and class. An ESPN writer, Robert Lipsyte, said, “Paying student-athletes would give the athletes an incentive to stay in school and complete their degree programs, rather than leave early for the professional leagues.” If athletes were to get paid they wouldn’t have to worry about getting a job when they are so busy with practices and class.

Some college athletes are so angry that they are not getting paid that they are starting to fight back. In an article I found I read about a Heisman trophy winner, Johnny Manziel, who is suing a Texas A&M vendor who was selling jerserys with his name and number on them. It is said that Johnny Manziel is worth $37 million to Texas A&M, but since he was a college athlete and they don’t get paid he did not even see a penny of it.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_athletics_in_the_United_States)
(http://sportzedge.com/2013/04/05/should-college-athletes-be-paid/)