College athletes should not be paid.

My opponent claims "we would be putting too much of a value on sports rather than academics". I respond by stating that these athletics prevent a specific student from getting a job. An athlete will be unable to get a job at a local company like the average student because of time conflicts, thus this extra "value" is actually necessary in order for these students to make ends meet. I don't really understand what my opponent is trying to say in point B where he talks about "bringing in money" I request that he clarify this in the next round. My opponent questions the fairness of one sport receiving more money than other sports. He then claims that "all sports are equal. " I respond with some statistics on the average yearly salary of professional sports players. NBA: $5.2 Million MLB: $2.5 Million NFL: $1.75 Million NHL: $1.3 Million source: . http://www.statisticbrain.com... The claim that "all sports are equal" is not true because certain sports draw more audience then other sports, because less people would want to watch hockey then basketball. Thus not all sports are equal and we cannot treat them as such. My opponent claims that high school sports would have to be "entitled to a cut of the money" however I go back to my point about how due to time conflicts athletes wouldn't be able to make money. In the NCAA most regular students are able to get jobs, and thus the athletes are at a disadvantage and need the extra pay. The athletes are not at this disadvantage in high school because high school students don't all have jobs, thus the athletes aren't at a disadvantage in highschool in terms of funds. My opponent claims that they are already being paid in scholarship money, and claims the scholarship money is 27000$ however I question the validity of these statistics. The statistics never actually state the $27000 scholarship number. They state "$27,000 less in college loan debt than the average student" yet they say nothing about $27000 in scholarship money. The writer of this article also says nothing about where he got these statistics, and doesn't state any study or sources to these statistics. Unless my opponent can come up with different sources to state this information then we cannot trust these statistics. I instead site a few different statistics from Mark Kantrowitz of Finaid. org "approximately 1% to 2% of undergraduate students in Bachelor"s degree programs receive athletic scholarships. " Thus the claim that "they are already being paid in scholarship money" is not true. Source: . http://www.fastweb.com... My opponent claims that most colleges do not have the money to pay for their athletes, however he sites no sources and presents no evidence of these statistics. Thus we can not see this argument as an actual point in favor of pro's side. Now that I have refuted my opponents case I will present my own. One of the main sources of revenue for colleges is athletics, and athletics would be nothing without the players. These players do everything for the college, they play the game and do everything for the athletic program. They deserve compensation for what they do. The college sports industry makes upwards of 11 billion dollars in total revenue from television sponsors, ticket sales and broadcasting rights. The athletes are what make up this revenue. Without them the revenue wouldn't exist, they deserve compensation for what they do. Source: . http://24allnews.com... Marc Edelman of usnews. com states that the lack of pay to student athletes is actually illegal. He states quote "Not only are the NCAA rules that prevent colleges from paying student-athletes immoral, but they also are likely illegal. Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, in pertinent part, states that "every contract, combination " or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce " is declared to be illegal. " Applying this language, any agreement among NCAA members to prohibit the pay of student-athletes represents a form of wage fixing that likely violates antitrust law. In addition, the NCAA's no-pay rules seem to constitute an illegal boycott of any college that would otherwise seek to pay its student-athletes. " Because of this the lack of pay to the student athletes is illegal and should be abolished. Source: . http://www.usnews.com...