Introduction

Why do colleges make so much money off of their own players who don’t even make a cent back? Why do colleges sometimes put a player jersey up on auction and that player can even get a percentage of the money? Why athletes can’t make money off their merch? Is it ethical to let athletes put their body on the line to give it their all to win games which sometimes could lead to injuries and not pay them?  The NCAA (which stands for National Collegiate Athletic Association) holds a big tournament every year for basketball athletes called March Madness. According to The Washington Post, the March Madness tournament generates 1.1 billion dollars in revenue a year. All that money and not a single athlete being paid for people going to watch them play. I expect athletes should be paid in the future soon because not all athletes go pro and some may need money now to help their family. Some may say that colleges pay millions for athletes to have free education where other students pay thousands, but if you compare that amount to how much they really profit off athletes it’s honestly outrageous. Athletes are not to be paid through other ways such as youtube or their own merch. If they were to break those rules they would lose their eligibility to play sports for their school. In a way, I feel the NCAA makes athletes feel their own by them and nobody else which is not right. Through research, I will find evidence on why college athletes deserve to get paid and explain with examples of athletes that struggle financially during college and also some cases of people losing their eligibility to play NCAA sports because they had made some money like I said through youtube or even selling there merch.