The debate over paying college athletes is nothing new to the college sports world. However, it isn’t easy to understand. There are issues with the current system, but paying college athletes won’t fix everything.
California has recently passed a law allowing student-athletes to get endorsements. The law will allow students to hire agents or sponsors. It doesn’t require schools to pay athletes, but it gives them that option as well.
Abby Riley, a 2019 PV graduate, currently runs cross country and track at UNI. She received a scholarship for her athletics but no paycheck. “I don’t think that college athletes should get paid other than in the form of scholarships. College is expensive but scholarship money should be the extent of what a college athlete should be paid,” she said.
Riley thinks receiving money would have changed her decision of running in college. “I wouldn’t agree with getting paid,” she said. “I decided to run in college because of my love of running and wanting to have a team atmosphere at college as well.”
Motivation to continue sports in college may be influenced by the option of endorsements or salaries. Schools would be able to promise athletes contracts or bribe them to attend certain schools, which are all against the current rules. Athletes not playing for the love of their sport may corrupt the NCAA sports scene.
If any changes are to come to the NCAA sports world, it should be a more equal balance of money redistribution. For example, the head coach of the Alabama football team made $11 million in the 2017 season. The defensive and offensive coordinators were both paid over $1 million. This hardly seems fair to the players who solely received scholarships even though they were the ones winning games.
Additionally, the divide between professional and amateur sports would be blurred. Professional athletes can be paid or endorsed for their athletics, but college athletes can’t. If they both were able to get contracts, it might make some athletes not focus on college and solely on their sport.
Morally, some athletes may still have a problem with the money colleges make off of their name or image. Maya Hartz, a junior who plans on playing soccer in college, doesn’t agree with how schools are able to make money off of their athletes. “College athletes should get paid because they are the ones helping the school with their athletics,” she said.
Overall, the debate over college athletes getting paid isn’t an easy equation to solve. There are many factors that would change if the NCAA would change to allow college athletes to get paid. For now, college athletes not in California remain with scholarships only.
To read more about how California’s new law on college athletes receiving endorsements, read Spartan Shield Opinion editor, Jack Donahue’s article.
