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Publication: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD.
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While Landy thinks athletes deserve payment, Melick argues that paying football and basketball players is inequitable.
The Opposing Viewpoints series is a space for students with diverse perspectives to answer pertinent questions in conversation with each other.
In college football, University of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa — the Heisman Trophy frontrunner who has his eyes set on delivering the school its second straight national championship — won’t make anything. No contract, commercials, shoe deals. Nada. The same goes for Duke University’s Zion Williamson, a generational basketball talent whose talents will fill Cameron Indoor Stadium night after night this upcoming season. You won’t see them starring in shoe commercials, jerseys with their names being sold on store racks or their names and likenesses being used in video games.
College athletes do not earn money because they are considered “student-athletes,” and their sports are effectively extracurricular activities. But...