Collegiate Athletes Being Paid
Coaches sign six figure deals with shoe companies, like Nike, Reebok, Converse, and the players are the ones wearing the shoes and jerseys, the coaches have on whatever they want. Even though just recently the NCAA Committee allowed athletes to get a job; between schoolwork, and practices, they don"t have enough time to find a job. Most of the kids come from poor backgrounds, and don"t have enough money to do normal college things, like going out to eat, going on a date, or out to the movies. People believe that paying college athletes will ruin the tradition and innocence of the game. However, people forget that Olympians get paid, and most of them are amateur athletes. "Gold medallists from the United States receive a minimum of $15,000 for their success (from the U.S. Olympic Committee and the national governing body of the winner's sport), USA Today, Final Ed." These Olympians can also capitalize on endorsement deals and other additional bonuses, most of which are illegal in college athletics. The innocence of the game is already in jeopardy, in a June 24th, 1996 issue of The NCAA News, " Studies indicate that 75 percent of underclassmen have received cash or gifts from an agent." That"s a pretty high number, three out of every four are involved in illegal activities involving agents, and 90 percent of projected first round draft picks have had contact with an agent, (Steve Wulf, Time pg. 94). If they received some compensation for the hard work, this corruption would gradually lessen, because the need for money would lessen. Just recently the NCAA allowed college athletes to get a job, but seriously, where are the athletes going to find the time to work. With classes, schoolwork, practices, and games (which include traveling all over the country), when are they going to fit in time to serve fries at Burger King. "I guess it"s a good thing," says Indiana University freshman guard Michael Lewis. "But between class and basketball, I"d like to know when I"ve got...
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