When trying to decide what research topic I wanted to use, I considered many ideas. I've decided that the idea that interests me most is whether or not student athletes should be paid. This is very intriguing to me since my master's program is sports management. To do this research there must be many ways to use other people's research and ideas. This project is a very important topic in today's discussion among sports fans, university administrators and student athletes themselves. The media has recently put more pressure on this topic as well with Northwestern's decision to unionize and pointing out that an athletic director gets an extra $18,000 for a wrestler from their school who wins a national championship. To get a better idea on this very topic, I would like to do in-depth research on how many variables might influence people or universities other than the idea of ​​student athletes getting paid by their university. This topic baffles me because of all the variables involved and what can be learned from the research. One thing I would like to know is how much money is made for some of the major universities by some of their great athletes. This interests me because being an Auburn fan, Cam Newton and Bo Jackson are two of the most prolific athletes to ever touch a football field and both played at Auburn. At every game I attend, thousands of fans wear those cute jerseys with the no-name numbers 2 and 34 on the back. I would like to know how much money just those two players made for Auburn University without ever having to pay them for their efforts on the field. This happens across the country every year, but only in school…middle of paper…today due to the time it takes to participate in practices, games, and offseason workouts for each sport. When you watch professional sports, you'll notice at the end of games that the athletes on the losing team don't seem to be as disappointed by the loss as the college athletes. Sometimes while watching, fans believe that this reason is because professional athletes don't care as much because they will still get paid at the end of the day. This could have an effect on college sports if student athletes get paid. Many things that could alter college athletics are what interest me most about this topic and hope they help others become more informed about the situation on both sides. Reference PageCreswell, John W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Approaches, 4th edition (pp. 4-32). United States: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.