The issue of whether or not college athletes should get paid for their services has generated a widespread and heated debate across the nation. Each year, millions of dollars are produced from college sports, and especially in sports such as basketball or football. Those who support paying college athletes, point out the millions of dollars of revenue created through football and basketball alone, questioning the logic behind completely withholding these revenues from the athletes who are largely responsible for generating them. While opponents feel that the "full-ride" scholarship to higher learning institutions that college athletes receive should be sufficient compensation. College athletes have traditionally been prohibited from taking outside employment, and also accepting any kind of compensation for their athletic abilities because it disqualifies them from competing at the collegiate level. The NCAA has established rules and regulations for universities, and paying student athletes would result in the corruption of college sports. Though college sports is a multi-million dollar business, student athletes should not get paid because it would eliminate amateurism in college sports, the value of a collegiate education would be downplayed as significant, and even though the elite college athletic programs in America may be raking in huge revenues, they are actually in the minority. .
Paying athletes would be totally against what the collegiate ranks are all about. Amateurism is what sets college apart from the pros. To pay them is to totally obliterate that distinction and is contrary to the spirit of collegiate athletics. According to the Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, Jim Delaney, "revenues derived from intercollegiate athletics should be expended in support of the broadest array of men's and women's educational and athletic opportunities. Thus, revenues are earned in private -sector activity and spent with the confines of the university for appropriate educational purposes" (12).