Twice a year, college athletics take center stage in every media market in America. In early March, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament takes place over the span of three weekends and in late December and Bowl Week (almost two weeks) takes place in which the NCAA holds all of its championships and bowl games for the men’s football programs. During these times, it is nearly impossible to avoid contact with college athletics. To some, it is an annoyance. To others it is an obsession. People follow their favorite schools with a level of passion that is unmatched in any other arena. They grow attached to the faces of the teams, the athletes that make their teams successful. These athletes are the engine that drives their teams on the path to glory. Their respective sports are basically a job. Between practices, workouts, travel and games, more time gets absorbed by sports than by school. Should they be compensated for the work that they put in? Should college athletes be paid to play? Background The business of college athletics has become big, very big. Schools generate revenue from their respective programs like it is being thrown away. According to a study by ESPN.com, major college programs like those at The Ohio State University or The University of Alabama generate revenues close 100 million dollars on an annual basis. Revenue comes in from a multitude of sources. Media deals with television or radio networks, equipment contracts and ticket sales are the key elements. According to Nocera(2011), “College football and men’s basketball have become such huge commercial enterprises that together they generate more than $6 billion in annual revenue, more than the National Basketball Association.” Television networks realize the high demand for college sports, and are paying out accordingly to broadcast those games. According to a report by Thomas O’Toole of USA Today, The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will receive nearly 11 billion dollars from CBS and Turner Sports over the next 14 years to cover the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. That equates to over 770 million dollars per year to cover an event that spans over three weekends. According to interim NCAA president Jim Isch, “This agreement will provide on average more than $740 million annually to our conferences and member schools.” There are currently 344 division one men’s basketball programs in this country. That equates to over $2 million a year to each program from this television deal alone. Some divisions have their own media networks that will cover the bulk of their games. The BIG10 Network and ESPN cover the majority of the televised games for the Big 10. According to a study by Matt Peloquin of collegesportsinfo.com, the BIG10 receives $236 million annually for the television rights of their games which equals $19.7 million a year for each team in the conference. Add that to the CBS deal and each BIG10 school will receive over $21 million dollars in television rights each year. Ticket sales are probably the largest revenue provider. The University of Michigan plays seven games every season at Michigan Stadium otherwise known as “The Big House”. The average attendance at one of these games is around 110,000 people. When you pair that with the average ticket price of fifty dollars, it gives you 5.5 million dollars, per game. Equipment contracts or “branding” is another way schools raise money. Years back, colleges did not allow brand logos on their uniforms. They did not want to “commercialize the NCAA”. Footwear companies still signed teams to footwear deals, but they paid the coaches directly. Sonny Vaccaro was the pioneer that started the merchandising boom for college athletics. He first started with Nike back in the early 70’s by traveling the country and signing coaches to endorsement deals. This meant the shoes were on the players, which were seen on television, but the coaches got the money directly. Not the University. According to Vaccaro (2011), He said the first person he signed was long time UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian to a $10 thousand deal. He said “We gave the school 120 free shoes, 60 sweat suits, that nature. This is the '70s now, so you have to understand, there was no number. This is the