The debate of whether or not college athletes should be paid has grown much bigger recently. Players feel as if they deserve to be paid, while schools argue that college athletes are already being given a scholarship to a college for sports and shouldn’t be paid. The argument can be seen clearly from both sides, and the outcome of this debate will be interesting to see. Personally, I find it hard to develop an opinion on this argument, and here is why.

First off, I can see where the college athletes are coming from. They are widely considered as professional athletes, and therefore, there is nothing wrong with them thinking that they deserve to get paid. Many college football and basketball players end up going to the NFL and NBA and becoming stars in the league. That proves that these college football and basketball players can compete at the top level and deserve to be treated like professional athletes.

However, the other side of the argument makes sense too. Schools believe that college athletes are given enough simply from their sports scholarship and the education that the school provides. While many college athletes are grateful for their sports scholarships and the education provided by the school, many college athletes would argue that they still deserve to be paid like professional athletes.

Studies have shown that from 2006-2012, the average attendance per NFL game was higher than the average attendance of NCAA football games, but since there are nearly four times as many NCAA teams, they had more fans overall. If there are more overall fans of the NCAA than the NFL, than in my opinion, NCAA football players deserve to be paid like professional athletes.

When it comes to college basketball, March Madness draws in many fans every year. The title game between Louisville and Michigan drew in 23.4 million viewers. The thing about college basketball is that there aren’t nearly as many viewers during the regular season as there are during the postseason. Unlike NCAA football, which is widely talked about during the regular season, you don’t really hear much about NCAA basketball until the postseason arrives. Even though the regular season of NCAA basketball isn’t very popular, I still believe that because of all the hype every year surrounding march madness, college basketball players deserve to be paid like professional athletes.

In conclusion, I believe that college athletes do deserve to be paid like professional athletes. NCAA football and basketball are very popular throughout the United States, and many college athletes end up making the professional leagues, and show that they can compete at the highest level. For those two reasons, I think that college athletes do deserve to be paid like professional athletes.