College athletes should be allowed to make money related to playing

I highly encourage him to take a look at some debates that older members have had (such as myself, Roylatham, or Danielle) as well as how the voters vote and reach their conclusions. This should help him understand the basic format. With three days per round, I do hope that he gets this opportunity. Now, to dive into the debate. Let me start by arguing why it is wrong to continue with the current path of students not being allowed to be compensated for their work. I will follow that with an outlined plan of a better option that will allow them to be compensated, generate revenue for the schools, and have limitations to help prevent the money and success from going to kids' heads and corrupting them. === Issues with current system ===The current system states that students cannot be paid at all for work, nor their image as a result of their work. This means that their coaches nor school cannot pay them at all with any assets, even with food [1]. This also means that they are not allowed to sell their own autographs, while others are allowed to do so all the time (there are entire stores that do nothing but sell autographs of players [2], this store alone has over 27,000 college items). Technically, the rules state that no player can give their autographs to anyone that they know will profit off of it, but the NCAA only enforces this against family and friends [3]. It cares not if you spend 4 hours signing stuff for a single individual that will hawk them on ebay, so long as you make no money. Players can be awarded scholarships from schools to pay for their schooling and board, but this does not cover food or other general living expenses. As Arian Foster said, reflecting back on his years in Tennessee [1]. .. "There were plenty of times where throughout the month I didn't have enough for food," Foster said in the 90-minute documentary. "Our stadium had like 107,000 seats; 107,000 people buying a ticket to come watch us play. It's tough just like knowing that, being aware of that. We had just won and I had a good game, 100 yards or whatever You go outside and there's hundreds of kids waiting for you. You're signing autographs, taking pictures, whatever. Then I walk back, and reality sets in. I go to my dorm room, open my fridge, and there's nothing in my fridge. Hold up, man. What just happened? Why don't I have anything to show for what I just did? There was a point where we had no food, no money, so I called my coach and I said, 'Coach, we don't have no food. We don't have no money. We're hungry. Either you give us some food, or I'm gonna go do something stupid. ' He came down and he brought like 50 tacos for like four or five of us. Which is an NCAA violation. "With the time it takes for schooling and practice, getting a job to add on to all of that is not a practical solution (until we discover a way to never need to sleep). But, whatever way you look at it, such a system is not just. From a rights/free-market/capitalist point of view, an adult (of which the vast majority of players are 18 or older and so adults) should be able to negotiate any pay for their labor. From a liberal/labor/socialist point of view, no one should be getting rich of the labor of someone else. === A better alternative ===One very large market is the selling of autographs, imagines, and likeness of a player. At the moment players cannot be compensated for this at all, while others are allowed to make bank off them. Players would be allowed to sell their autographs to anyone at any price. The restrictions would be that whatever they sell, half goes to them, half goes to the school's athletic program up until the player makes $50,000 a year ( with the fiscal year based on school year, rather than calendar year). If they continue to sell above that, half still goes to the school, and the players half will instead go into a trust fund that the student gets once they graduate. The $50,000 a year is an arbitrary number that is free to adjust based on the economy and inflation. One concern with players getting paid is that many fear that the fame already has a very corrupting influence and adding money in with that is only going to make it worse (as we see with so many child movie, TV, and music stars). However, putting a humble limit on the amount that they can put in their pocket right away will allow them to feed themselves and have a decent life style without being so much that have any real corrupting influence. It also allows money to be put away for future use. which is something that athletes (and everyone in general) has a hard time doing [4]. I will end with this and let my opponent present his argument. Thank you,[1] . http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com...[2] . http://www.sportsmemorabilia.com...[3] . http://sports.yahoo.com...[4] . http://www.munknee.com...