The first reason is because the student athletes are defined as amateurs. Amateur is defined as a person who engages in a pursuit, especially a sport, on an unpaid basis. The NCAA has very strict guidelines that the students must follow if they want to participate in any athletics. In general, amateurism requirements do not allow: contracts with professional teams, salary for participating in athletics, prize money above actual and necessary expenses, play with professionals, tryouts, practice or competition with a professional team, benefits from an agent or prospective agent, agreement to be represented by an agent, delayed initial full-time collegiate enrollment to participate in organized sports competition (NCAA). The NCAA is essentially stating that college athletics is just an extra-curricular activity. Two law professors at Michigan State University, Robert and Amy McCormick state that "There are more demands put on these young men than any employee of the university," says Robert McCormick, "These young men are laboring under very strict and arduous conditions, so they really are laborers in terms of the physical demands on them while they're also trying to go to school and being required to go to school." The students are required to follow these strict requirements all while maintaining their status as a student. These athletes do not necessarily take the classes they want to due …show more content…
College athletics are simply more than just extracurricular activity. Being a college athlete is a very hard task to manage. Athletes at top programs spend 43.3 hours per week in their sport; this more hours than average American works per week. This is all on top of their already busy schedules. They need to manage time for practice, part-time job, family, friends, school. This is large schedule for someone who probably is only 18 to 22 years old. Paying college athletes will help keep students in school longer. This will encourage them to earn their degrees. This way they will earn a wage for participating in their sport and earning a degree. College students should be paid for participating in any athletic program. All in all, the benefits of paying college students simply outweigh the