I am very passionate about watching college football.  College football has always been my favorite sport to watch on TV.  When Saturday comes, I’m always excited about college football.  The fans are extremely involved, the players give it their all–throughout the entire game–and millions of people around the country watching them play on TV.  In my free time, I also watch pro football, and it is equally exciting to view.  However, there is one big difference between college athletes and professional athletes: college athletes don’t get paid a penny, but, on the other hand, professional athletes are getting paid millions and millions of dollars.

I think that college athletes should get paid because they work just as hard–and perhaps even harder–than professional athletes, and they put on an outstanding show when they play.  If a college athlete gets a single penny from even a jersey that has their name on it, they will not be able to play anymore.  College athletes should get paid at least so that they don’t have to get a job, so they can go out and get some food and a car.  Most colleges get paid a lot of money, which finances building expenses and whatever bills they need to pay, but none of it goes to the athletes.  All of those athletes are risking getting hurt all day, every day and they aren’t earning a single cent off of it.  Wouldn’t you want to be paid for something you are doing and risking getting hurt for?

In my opinion, that should be changed and they should be paid.  Imagine if you were an extremely good college football player, you performed impressively on the field, you were diligent in your classes and got good grades, you had a job so you can pay for your expenses but you are still not making money from playing for your college.  One day you get good enough and you get the opportunity to go play pro.  Along your journey, you make money for different people and, all the while, you still get none.  You are about to go pro and make millions and millions of dollars, but on your last college game, you get hurt and all of that future money goes away forever.  Is that fair?  I would argue it is not fair at all.

Although on the flip side, a lot of other people think that athletes shouldn’t get paid because if they have a scholarship, their college is already getting paid for, a privilege not everyone receives, so they shouldn’t get paid more on top of that.

In a perfect world, I would love to see all of the money that colleges make get divided equally to everyone, even players so that they don’t have to get a job and so that they can pay for what they need.  However, in the world today, it is just the opposite.