In today’s sports, the goal of many elite athletes is to get to the pros so they can make a very good amount of money. Some of them go to college for the minimum amount of years they have to or based on their sport not at all. Now, why would they stay in college or go there at all if all the glory and wealth are in the pros? This is an issue facing college athletics today.

These young athletes in college work their tails off every single day. They are always traveling, missing school, barely sleeping, not seeing their families and of course, dealing with so much pressure to perform well in nationally televised games. These athletes are on a full-time job when they play in college and they deserve things in return for their dedication and performance.

There are large differences in college programs how they treat the coaches and the players. “Student-athletes are the ones working hard out on the court and field. Coaches might have a big effect on a team, but it is up to the athletes to get it done. Coaches receive bonuses for breaking records, reaching the offseason, and winning the big games; the athletes receive none of it,” said former professional athlete and reporter Tyson Hartnett for HuffPost.

Now coaches definitely deserve to get paid a lot of money for how much they do for the team. The thing is that athletes should not necessarily be paid nearly as much as the coaches, but why shouldn’t they get at least some? Many coaches get big checks and glory for accomplishing big goals but the thing is, without their players being productive they would not accomplish anything. On top of that, the players are the ones on the field dealing with the stress, pain, and overload of big games.

Now this damage to athletes’ physical and mental health is not just in big games. It is an everyday thing. “Setting aside the disturbing fact that a career-ending injury will stop their scholarship, those college athletes put their bodies at risk of permanent damage, without being paid. Hurting your knee might leave you limping for the rest of your life. Suffering concussions can cause dementia and depression, not to mention CTE. Those college athletes who put their bodies on the line for each training session and game they play deserve to be paid for the health risks they are taking,” reporter Elad De Picciotto wrote in an article for The Perspective.

College athletes go on to college because they love the game, it gets them scholarships and in some cases could get them to the pros. Although no matter how much love and passion they have for their sports, they are putting their bodies at risk. Whether it is lifting every morning or playing in a national championship game, love and passion can’t protect them from tearing an ACL or getting a concussion. Also if they were to get hurt and end their career now the plan they had to make a living in the pros is gone and they have no idea what to do with their life.

Last, these athletes draw so many fans, media members and overall publicity to their schools. All this attention is what brings in so much money for universities. “The NCAA had close to $1.1 billion in annual revenue during its 2017 fiscal year,” said Steve Berkowitz, a reporter for USA Today.

The way athletes are performing in big-time games and putting on a show for so many viewers is continuing to make money. As athletes become more elite the more excited they get and the more viewers it draws. Universities are getting millions of dollars from their sports and the revenue is only going to keep increasing.

Although students don’t need millions of dollars because they are already going to university and getting an education for free, they should earn at least a portion of money for everything they do for the school and the sport in general. The amount of work they put in and execution they do in games to help their schools win and earn revenue is unbelievable. Along with that, they are putting themselves at risk for the greater good of the game.

These tremendous athletes deserve some appreciation in return.