workload comparable to that of a student without commitment to athletics. Opponents against paying student-athletes say that they should not be paid because through scholarships, they're already being paid. Yes, a scholarship is a form of payment. A scholarship is nice, but it is not enough. A scholarship will not pay the bills. Moreover, unlike ordinary students without athletics, student-athletes must also many times care for families and spouses. Actually, approximately 24% of student athletes are married, and of that 24%, about 62% have children. Of the students without their own spouses or children, many must care for parents and siblings. It wouldn't hurt universities to give back a little. The average Division One School profits $6 million per year on basketball and football alone. Consider that, some universities such as the university of Florida or University of Michigan profit more than $10 million per year on their respective athletic programs. At least three-college football teams; Michigan, Florida, and Notre Dame, are each worth more than the NFL's Detroit Lions. Today, networks and cable channels pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the right to televise college football games. NCAA basketball, which has its wildly popular March Madness, is currently in the middle of a contract that pays almost $2 billion. Awkwardly enough, the money ends up in the pockets of the NCAA and respective universities. Another sign of the amount of dollars in college athletics is the salaries being paid to the coaches. Recently, Steve Spurrier, head football coach at the University of Florida, signed a six-year contract that will pay him nearly $2 million per year. Plus his $2 million annual salary, Spurrier received two new cars (one for him, one for his wife), a generous clothing allowance and 24 fifty yard-line tickets for each Florida Gators home game. The deal also includes incentives that would be paid when specific ...
