The Villanova Wildcats returned home from winning their first National championship in 31 years with a 77-74 victory over north Carolina thanks to Kris Jenkins buzzer beater.

The players will take part in a parade in Philadelphia Friday and they will have a memory that will last the rest of their lives. What they won’t have is any of the money the NCAA made in the tournament. In 2013, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament generated 1.15 billion dollars in television ads, more than the NFL and NBA playoffs according to ESPN. Not to mention ticket and jersey sales.

What did the players get? They got a seat in a classroom worth maybe a hundred thousand dollars with no guarantees that they’re going to pass while maintaining school books as well as playbooks.

Chances are these Villanova athletes will not be furthering their careers in the NBA. This run is all they will have and the fact that they cannot profit from it while the NCAA makes billions off of it is atrocious. These athletes are not renting college for a year to go make money in the pros. They stayed and won the National Championship so the coaches and athletic program can get raises. Meanwhile, they get nothing but that seat in the classroom which I don’t mean to undervalue, but it definitely pales in comparison.

Like any business, you should pay your top earners. They should run it like the business, that it is. Also, I see no reason why a player cannot benefit from the revenues generated using their name and number. If a star athlete wants to make a few dollars signing autographs at a store, what’s the problem? If the school is going to sell their jersey, why shouldn’t they participate in the profits?

What do you think? Should college athletes be paid based on how much money they make the school or is that seat in the class room good enough?

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