The simple answer is no, and there are several reasons why they shouldn't.
1) They are attending college and receiving an entirely free college education.
2) They receive all-expenses-paid trips across the country.
3) Schools' training tables, or the large dining halls reserved for student-athletes, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain yearly including food costs. Again, at no cost to the student, they receive the best food and diet advice money can buy.
The list goes on for all of the things these guys get, but there's one overwhelming issue to also considers.
Gregg Doyel of cbssports.com tells why
here
This quote sums up his point.
That's where the payment of college athletes becomes untenable. Not all players are equal. At Michigan, quarterback Denard Robinson could be worth more to the athletic department's bottom line than any three or five or maybe 10 players on roster. And you could probably identify the last 25 players on scholarship and determine that Robinson is worth more than all of them combined. So if you advocate paying college football players, how do you clear that hurdle? By giving a fourth-string defensive tackle as much money as Heisman candidate Denard Robinson?
Or you could go the more democratic route and base a player's pay on his performance. But then, key players do get injured. Or even benched. Which means they'd require a cut in pay.
See my point? Paying college players is a fool's errand, but let's go one step farther and talk to the fools who think these guys need the money in the first place. If you're one of those fools, my apologies -- but stop being foolish. Do a Google search for the terms "A.J. Green" and "slavery" and see just how stupid some people can get
Also...
The same goes for an athlete's book allowances. Buy used books, pocket the difference. Athletes know the system and they work it -- and don't get me started on Pell Grants, which can be thousands of dollars in free money, no strings attached, for qualifying players in addition to their scholarship.
Alabama's Marcell Dareus was suspended for the season's first two games for receiving benefits from an agent. To be reinstated, he had to pay $1,787.17 -- the amount of benefits on two agent-funded trips -- to the charity of his choice. The NCAA allowed for a payment plan, but Dareus didn't need it.
He paid in cash.
How you think he did that?
