Should College Athletes Be Paid?

Every Saturday in the fall, millions of people gather around their TVs to watch their favorite schools battle it out on the football field. Schools, broadcasting companies, and vendors bring in millions every weekend. Meanwhile, the players who dedicate their lives to the sport and put their health on the line every day don’t see any of this money. This issue exists across all college athletics, not just football.

The reason schools don’t pay their athletes is because the NCAA, the organization that manages college sports, has strict rules against any form of compensation for Athletes or recruits. If a school even pays for a potential recruit’s travel and accommodations on a visit it’s an infraction. Colleges that are found guilty of violating these rules can face harsh punishments. For example, in 1987 SMU football was charged with paying recruits in order to entice them to commit to the school, and as a result, the NCAA placed the death penalty on their program. The 1987 season was canceled, SMU lost 55 scholarships over 4 years, was essentially banned from all TV coverage and bowl games, and suffered other recruiting and coaching punishments. Due to the payments, SMU was offering recruits, their top 20 program was crippled so bad they still remain a 2nd tier team today.

SMU was motivated to pay recruits because they wanted to secure the top talent in the country, but not only SMU benefited from the payments. Many Athletes looking to play in college come from very poor environments. These students have worked tirelessly for years to get to the top of their sport and for many of them, their parents can’t afford rent or food. To one of these athletes, receiving 10 grand to commit to a certain school is life-changing.

The NCAA justifies not paying athletes because they are defined as amatuer “student-athletes” rather than at the same level as pro players. This assessment seems unfair when schools pull in millions through broadcasting, advertising, tickets, and concessions. An athlete doesn't even see any of the money that gets made from selling jerseys with their number on it. If these players are watched like pros, generate revenue like pros, and play like the pros, why don’t they get paid like pros?

Despite the NCAA’s efforts to keep money out of the hands of the athlete; somehow elite athletes get paid. At many Power Five schools, star football and basketball players, along with other athletes who were, for the most part, raised in poverty are driving around in brand new BMWs and Dodge Chargers. Clearly these students are receiving payment, but no one, except the people within the program, know exactly how. There is record of students and recruits receiving sums of cash in the tens of thousands from anonymous “bag men” who are connected to different schools. A coach may write a few thousand dollar check to a player as a personal gift. But no matter how it’s done, these illegal payments harm everyone involved.

For the most part, the NCAA turns a blind eye to these payments but when a program loses the favor of the NCAA the fallout is disastrous. Similar to SMU’s 1987 incident Ole Miss players, coaches, and the program as a whole were shook by sanctions put on them when the NCAA discovered payments being issued to recruits. If schools were allowed to just pay their talent up front, nobody would have been hurt in this situation. Instead, players lost scholarships, coaches lost jobs, and a football program was severely damaged.

If schools were to officially pay their athletes there is an important question of how they should do it. One way would be paying athletes a cut of the money made from sales of their jerseys or other use of their names. However, while the most elite athletes would benefit from this, the majority of players would still remain uncompensated. There isn’t a whole lot of money in jersey sales for a 3rd string wide receiver or a D2 track star. Perhaps the best solution is for schools to pay athletes based on their success and importance to their given program. This system would still reward the best players for their skill but wouldn’t leave lower-level athletes unpaid.

Another issue with the current payment situation in college sports is that when a player gets injured they are left with nothing. In most cases, injuries are minor enough that a player only misses a season or a few games, but sometimes an athlete loses their ability to compete at all. In this case, the athlete is left disbaled and misses out on potential millions, if they were going to go pro. In contact sports, a player may not miss a game in their career, but they still put themselves at risk of brain damage such as CTE. It is unjust for these players to be expected to put themselves at such high risk for free while a university makes money off of them.

This month, in New York, a bill has been proposed that would allow colleges to pay athletes an amount equivalent to 15% of ticket sales and a portion of the money made off of their likeness, or in other words, money made off of their name. The bill would also require an injury fund for athletes so they don’t miss out on money if they get injured. Also, this week in California, legislation was introduced that would allow college athletes to make money off of their likeness.

For over half a century the NCAA had been preventing athletes from receiving any form of compensation. These athletes constantly work to improve, and compete at the highest level of their sport. It is unfair for the NCAA to treat these athletes like they are highschool students rather than professionals. It’s past time for collegiate athletes to get paid fairly. 

By Jake Bogartz