Question

What are the economic costs and benefits associated with paying college athletes? Are there also important non-economic factors to consider?

Answer 1

Economic costs refers to the combination of gains and losses of any goods that have a value attached to them by an individual.It is the sacrifice involved in performing an activity and compares two course of action and may be referred to as the total of opportunity cost.

The college sports is very popular and brings in a huge amount of revenue to the colleges and for which the colleges have to pay no type of incentive or salary to the athletes,while the coaches gets huge wages and bonus.This has lead to the discussion of paying a compensation to the athletes involved in it which brings both costs and benefits associated with it.

Colleges who have various programs running for athletes often receives high enrollment because of which institions may devote more time and resources in the development and growth of the sports besides academics but, it may also attract unwanted attention and may increase donations,private funding which will make it more of an economic activity rather than a welfare one.

As an athlete devotes all his time and energy on the sports,he often gets less time for other activitites as compared to other people who may get normal jobs so,there is a societal and emotional cost attached with it.Also the risk and rate of injury is very high which may hamper his future prospects so, if he gets some pay for his efforts and time based on his performance,it will motivate the players who do well but it may also demotivate the ones,who don't do well.

If the school opts for payment of salaries to these athletes,it will increase the competition in the market with everyone running after the star performers which will raise the expenses,create monopoly in the market and may drive some small colleges out of the race as they will be unable to afford it and it will greatly reduce their enrollments while increasing the costs which will affect their non-sports departments.

In the current scenario,the athletes do get grants-in-aid which covers various expenses such as tuition,books,fees.Adding compensation to it will increase the tax burdens on the students who may find it burdensome.

So,while making a decision on whether to pay wages to college athletes,one should often look and study all the benefits and costs associated with it and look at how it will result in the improvement of the sports and the players rather than creating an unwanted burden for the society.