Paying players in the NCAA

Should college athletes get paid as well as their tuition waved? The question is sparking more fiery debates as time goes on. The NCAA makes a considerable amount of money off of the individual players in merchandise, game rights, and advertisements.The NCAA benefits with both NCAA Football, which is a football video game, and NCAA March Madness, a basketball video game. The games use players information, such as names and stats to generate players in the game. The game in turn sells for profit, which the players never get to see. The NCAA also distributes player merchandise, such as jerseys or other gear, which is another source of revenue for the NCAA. I believe that our current relationship between the NCAA and players of various sports is wrong. There are two ways to change the situation, but only one is for the better.  Players should not get paid for playing college sports.College sports are played for the pride. The pride of winning for your school, winning for everyone who follows the college's football program. As soon as college players begin to get paid, they will flock to the schools with the most money in the football program, I.E. Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, etc. Every school that isn't a football powerhouse will immediately drop off the map. The players will start to play selfishly, only seeking to find bigger contracts and better bonuses, rather than winning for their schools. The gap between pro sports and college sports will be over. Players will come right out of high school looking for money. There are many people who can agree that players playing a given sport for purely money are a detriment to the game itself. Games are about passion, heart, and drive. When the drive is money, passion and heart get thrown aside. When the paid college players lose, they will simply think "Oh well, I'm still getting paid." They will have no want to get better.

Now to quell the sudden burst of arguments about whether college athletes should be paid or not, the NCAA should stop using players personal information for profit. Names in video games, names on uniforms, players depicted in advertisements for the NCAA without reward to the player is just wrong. It is stealing an identity and using it for profit. If college players wish to get paid besides in scholarships, they should skip college and play professional, where the leagues are already corrupted by greed.