The Ethical Case for Paying College Athletes: Balancing Amateurism and Revenue Sharing

Name Institutional Affiliations Date Ethics in Sports Should College athletes be paid to play? Background of the Topic Whether college athletes should be paid to play or not has been an ethical issue ever since the inception of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); since its inception in 1906, NCAA has paid particular attention to intercollegiate sports through governance and enforcing rules prohibiting college athletes from any form of payments to play (Tepen, 2021). Based on the National Collegiate Athletic Association, such prohibitions protect amateurism and distinguish student-athletes from professional athletes. Back then, schools did not generate a significant amount of revenue from college sports, which could justify the need for full participation without such college athletes expecting any form of payment in return. However, basketball and football, among other college sports, began to generate tremendous revenues for many schools by the mid-twentieth century. However, this governing body still holds prohibitions restricting any payment to college athletes. Is it ethical to deny such college athletes a small token of appreciation, yet they are the pioneers of such revenue generations? In response to such a concern, the Supreme Court on 21st June 2021 made a ruling that paved some light on such ethical concerns. In its ruling on NCAA v. Alston et al., the lower court ruling blocked NCAA from enforcing restrictive measures denying college athletes payments as compensation for their participation in various sports. To that effect, college athletes gained a right to compensation as a way of profiting from engaging in sports while respecting and retaining their right to participate