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| Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated |
The
importance of collegiate athletics in our country is something unique to
America. In other countries collegiate
sports are recreational and not used as a source of profit for universities. However, in the United States, college sports
are nearly as popular as their professional counterparts and in some areas more
popular. This popularity, particularly
in men’s basketball and football, brings in millions of dollars for large
universities. However, other than
scholarship money, the players don’t get to see that money. The absence of pay for college athletes has
created a schism among sports fans. Some
fans go to extremes, believing college football is a form of modern day
slavery, with a large, poor population of black males making a small population
of white males rich. The question many
sports fans are struggling with is whether or not athletes should be paid, but
this question is more complex than a simple yes or no answer. Which athletes should be paid; by whom should
they be paid; and how much they should be paid are all questions that need to
be answered if a pay-for-play system is to be instituted by the NCAA.
