Should college athletes be paid? That is one of the most difficult questions to answer in regards to collegiate athletes. The blog "Emmert on student athletes and the commercialization" discusses what the new NCAA President Mark Emmert feels about paying a student athlete. He says that a student athlete will never be paid during his duration as president and that by doing so they can preserve the sanctity of college sport. One common misconception that the general population has is that larger programs such as Florida, Alabama, Penn State, UCLA and other large prestigious schools make large amounts of money from their athletics and have the money to pay their players. Sadly only few schools even come close to breaking even (Iowa being one that just about breaks even). Paying players and giving them royalties on jersey sales and perhaps basketball cards, would take away the drive and motivating factors that contribute to going to the next level. Also, if players were to be compensated, recruiting would become a huge bidding war with the athlete solely going to the highest bidder, rather than the best program. This years biggest story regarding college athletes and being paid was about Auburns Quarterback Cam Newton who's father tried to set up a 'pay-to-play' system at Mississippi State. Allegedly Cam knew nothing about this but many have the feeling it will come back to haunt him in a few months or years after the investigation is completely over. The reason I bring up this story is because I believe many athletes and programs get away with this unnoticed. Unfortunately for Cam, he was a Heisman candidate and the Quarterback for the #1 team when the allegations came out so he had everything to lose and every critic looking for something to knock him out of both races. Although I am sure there could be positives that come out of paying student athletes, like Mr. Emmert I believe the system should remain the way it is.
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