Dear Next President:

I am a football player at West Albany High School and I think that when college athletes think that they should be paid, it's absurd. This issue comes up multiple times every year. The simple answer is no, why should someone who is already getting their college paid for be paid to play a sport? As a player I understand that there is a risk of getting hurt when you play but that happens at every level. College athletes should not be paid to play any sports when they are in college.

College athletes should not be paid because it ruins the way that college players pick which colleges to go to. According to Ekow N. Yankah in “Why N.C.A.A. Athletes Shouldn’t Be Paid,” “Paying student athletes erodes that association. A high-school football prodigy reported that he chose Michigan not for its academic quality, tradition, or beautiful campus but because it outbid all other suitors, a connection to the university’s values would be lost.” If we start to pay athletes, being good or having a good school won’t matter. Most athletes pick a certain college to make them get noticed by a NFL team. When being paid, athletes would chose the college who has the most money to offer them.

Colleges sell merchandise at different events. For example at football games they sell jerseys with different numbers on them. When college football players say they don’t get paid for them selling their jerseys, they are wrong because they don’t put their name on the back of the jersey like they do in the NFL. They now have no argument about the school using their name when they don’t. Some athletes say they play for the school and should get paid. This argument is invalid because you chose to go to that college and play a sport for the school. You will make money if you are good enough to go pro. According to Kieran McCauley in “ College athletes shouldn't be paid,” “College athletes don’t need to worry about student loans because of their school being paid for.” It wouldn’t be fair for other students if only the athletes got paid.

In conclusion, I feel like no one who plays a sport in college should be paid. All it will do is make it harder for colleges to get good at sports. It won’t be about the school being good, it would be about how much money they have. This wouldn’t be fair to the students who work hard at school and don’t even have a scholarship and watch these athletes get paid at a level of competition that isn’t pro. If colleges start to pay athletes it will destroy the college sports world as we know it.

Sincerely, Brody J