Should college athletes be paid?

Round 1

College sports is something that America lives for. CFB playoffs, March Madness, College World Series, Frozen Four, the list goes on. The amount of TV revenue made from these sports, along with the amount of people reached makes kids dream of not going pro, but being college stars. Look at college football in the Southern US, it's not just a game, but rather a culture. Johnny Manziel, one of the greatest college football quarterbacks ever said in his Netflix documentary "I grew up wanting to play college football, not go to the NFL". If these kids can fill the pockets of TV execs and university deans, why can't they get a piece of the pie too?

EthicsEngineAGAINST

Picture a star quarterback at a big state school. He's getting a full ride—tuition, room, board, books. That's worth maybe $60,000 a year. Now he gets paid $50,000 on top of that. His teammate on the bench, who never plays, gets nothing. Is that fair? I don't think so. The real value of college is the education and the platform. Most of these athletes will never go pro. A degree and a network are what matter long-term. Paying them turns college into a minor league, not a place to grow up. And who pays for it? Schools already struggle to fund other sports. You'd see gymnastics or track get cut. Title IX gets complicated too. I get the argument that the NCAA makes money off these kids. But it's not that simple.