Colleges earn millions from their athletes. Should the players be getting paid as well?
By Desirae Olivera and Davi Santos
BOCA RATON, Fla. — The correlation between money, talent and business can’t be ignored, especially when it comes to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. On Sept. 30, California became the first state to pass a bill allowing student athletes to be paid, though co-eds won’t see a paycheck until the year 2023.
The NCAA could be considered the Rockefellers of the sports industry, monopolizing every inch of collegiate sports and business, while bringing in an annual revenue of nearly a billion dollars. With the NCAA annual revenue rising each year, the debate on amateur athletes getting paid continues to rage.
The NCAA league is meant for amateurism, but questions over whether that’s equitable are constantly discussed, and indicate an evolution in opinions on the issue. Each year, prestigious athletic schools receive donations from wealthy alumni, specific sport conferences sign multimillion-dollar television deals, and Division 1 coaches sign seven-figure contracts. But paying athletes is out of question — or has been thus far.
“To the guys making the NCAA rules and regulations, a scholarship and a meal plan seems like enough for a kid to survive off in college, but take it from me, someone who’s played college ball… it’s not enough,” said Michael Eugene, a teacher and football coach at Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines.
As of 2018, the average college football head coach was making $1.64 million annually, with the highest payed head coach, Nick Saban of Alabama State University bringing in a salary of $8.3 million in 2018.
“Without these kids a lot these coaches wouldn’t have jobs, without them I know I wouldn’t have another source of money besides teaching,” said Michael Eugene, a teacher and football coach at Flanagan High.
While coaches are making a hefty salary, their athletes are offered scholarships. Depending on their level of playing (Division I,II, III or Juco) some athletes are offered full rides to school amounting in the range of $36,000 to $45,000 a year for four years. But according to the NCAA, “only about two-percent of high school athletes are awarded athletics scholarships to compete in college.”
The scholarships typically cover tuition, fees, books, room, and board. But for most college athletes that isn’t enough.
“Being an athlete is a full-time job. I understand finding a way to fairly pay all athletes is hard but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t pay us at all. We work just as hard as a 9 to 5 job, maybe even harder,” said Ahman Ross, a safety on Florida Atlantic University’s football team.
Times have changed, and the call for paying student athletes is a debate that continues to grow, especially since the rise of fame for Zion Williamson.
Take Zion Williamson, a 19-year-old basketball phenomenon who has been compared to players like LeBron James. He recently played for Duke University and went number one overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft.
During a huge conference game, Williamson had a freak injury and slipped out of his Nike shoes. Williamson is a 6’8, 270-pound power forward, so his strength and power might have been a large reason why he ripped through his shoe. But given that Duke University has such a big influence on college basketball and is sponsored by Nike, it impacted Nike’s stocks heavily.
The next day after Williamson’s shoe mishap, Nike saw a billion-dollar drop in their stock value.
An amateur athlete having an impact of that magnitude for a billion-dollar industry shows how much money is fluctuated and produced by these athletes and their likeness. TV contracts, million-dollar donations, and for some of the best football programs, stadiums that can hold well over 100,000 people is basically paid for by these athletes.
“They make millions of dollars from one game alone,” said Nick Eubanks, a current tight end for the University of Michigan who’s aware of the financial gains a university can make.
Depending on how well a specific sport does during a season, coaches could also be awarded with a bonus check in addition to the one they’re already getting, while athletes get the satisfactory of maybe a championship ring and an injury to go along with it.
In addition to the money and business of the NCAA, paying athletes could be a way to get rid of cheating when it comes to rules and bribing. It happens in every sport, every league, and it’s just a matter of not getting caught.
Recently, powerhouse college basketball programs such as the University of Louisville, University of Kansas, and the University of Arizona have all been sanctioned and punished by the NCAA.
These schools have been caught bribing players in multiple ways in hopes those athletes will attend their university. The scandal is significant because executives of big brand companies such Adidas and Nike, have been arrested in relation to collusion.
It’s typical of an athlete to sign with the same brand that sponsored their collegiate school. High-profile athletes such James and Williamson were sought out by big name brands as early as high school juniors.
It is almost like a race to find the next gold mine for college programs and sport brands. Especially if the athlete is highly favored in their sport, which is tied to their likeness.
Likeness has been a key factor in the passing of the bill in California. Depending of the athlete’s likeness or ability to gain a sponsorship they’ll be able to earn some kind of compensation off of their own name, which has never happened before in collegiate sports because of the NCAA rules.
At just 18, straight out of high school, James signed a $90 million deal with Nike, an offer he would’ve never been able to accept if he was under the strict rules of the NCAA.
“NCAA players aren’t allowed to have jobs. The sport is the job. Texas A&M University made $175 million off their football program last year and the players put in all the work and they don’t get any of it, it all goes to the school,” said Nick Dawson, a former offensive linemen at South Eastern University in Lakeland, Florida.
A change in the system might regulate the money going to the student athletes, changing the way the NCAA functions may also limit any potential scandals, and level the playing field because bigger schools equals bigger money.
A solution may be to pay all athletes equally by their perspective schools, and maybe depending on the student athlete likeness they’ll be able to profit independently off their own names. That’s what California hopes to accomplish in 2023.
Elijah Daniels, a former defensive back at the University of Maryland and current defensive back at Florida A&M University, also supports compensating student athletes. “We get checks and certain treatment, but it still doesn’t equal the amount of money the higher positions make, and we go and risk our bodies every day,” said Daniels.
The issue of paying amateur athletes is a debate that probably will be going on for a while because there’s no simple solution. California has four years to come up with some type of way of fairly paying their student athletes, which won’t be the easiest thing to do.
Some athletes might get upset because a teammate is getting paid more than them, coaches’ salaries might decrease if they start paying their athletes, or maybe paying athletes could affect the amount of scholarships given each year or in all.
A slow-moving domino effect is starting to kick off in other states. with South Carolina, New York, Florida and Colorado planning to introduce bills next year in hopes to also allow college athletes to earn compensation. But the dilemma of how to fairly pay these athletes may delay the process.
Numerous problems can arise on the road to playing athletes and maybe that’s why the NCAA has avoided doing that thus far.
But is avoiding this situation the right move?
Many like to say playing sports at a collegiate level is a privilege, so paying amateur athletes isn’t necessary. But many are wondering, louder than ever, whether privilege compensates for compensation.
