In Defense of Paying College Athletes

The Takeaway

Be it from ticket sales,  memorabilia, television rights, or donors, college sports generate over $6 billion in annual revenue. Yet while coaches are receiving larger and larger contracts – the average college football coach’s salary in 2010 was $1.36 million – the money doesn’t trickle down to the players. The discrepancy has led many to call for stipends or other methods of paying college athletes for their work on the field. On January 14, the National Collegiate Athletic Association will review the issue. Joe Nocera, op-ed columnist for   The New York Times, outlined a plan for paying college athletes in this weekend’s Times Magazine.

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