Yes and no.
That’s usually my answer to that very loaded question: Should college athletes be paid?
Unfortunately, it isn’t just a yes or no answer. We’re talking about completely changing the fabric of sports. It deserves a more thorough investigation into the implications, one that can hardly be fit in just one sports column.
College football is where the story begins. It has become a money-making machine of unstoppable force. Sure, that’s where we must focus the conversation, even if it most certainly won’t be the only sport affected by it.
In case you haven’t noticed, a lot has changed in the last half-century that college football has been around. In the 1950s, a prominent coach might get a $10-15,000 salary and his team might play in a stadium that holds 50,000 fans that paid maybe a few bucks to get in. In the 1970s, the numbers were around $35,000 and 65,000 fans paying $25. In the ‘80s? $88,000, 75,000 and $50.
Today, coaches like Nick Saban of Alabama are earning more thn $5 million this year. Their teams play in front of 80-100,000 fans. A ticket online might set one fan back $600, if not more. Don’t even get me started on parking.
It’s no secret. College athletes get their tuition paid. They get their books and their room and board (in some sweet digs) provided. But outside of that, they’re kind of left out to dry. They typically don’t have the option of their own income from a job because they are too busy working on their collegiate football careers. Players have admitted to illegally taking money on the side, not because they wanted a nice car or fancy clothes, but because they were hungry. It’s certainly not the glamorous life that a lot of us make it out to be.
What’s more, colleges profit off their players. This cannot be denied. Never mind the expenses fans pay to get into the games, or buy a hot dog at the concessions. How about when little Jimmy wants that No. 15 Mizzou jersey for Christmas. You think he likes the number 15, or he’s a fan of Dorial Green-Beckham?
Many times I’ve heard: Colleges make so much money off college football that they can afford to pay players — so that’s the reason they should be paid. I have a thousand dollars in my college checking account, so that’s why I should pay a thousand dollars for a vacation. That’s kind of the same, right? What do you think, mom and dad? Or even worse, it sometimes cost fans $700 for a ticket to a football game — or in the case for Alabama football games, $700 for parking at the game. So why can’t the players be paid?
People tend to forget that they are still students. College life is a costly enterprise for most people, who must usually drown in a pool of debt once it’s over. Although, they usually don’t owe as much as other students after graduation, college players must survive like everyone else. Still, they must remember that they have things working in their favor.
For the select few, their talent brings them to professional football. There they get paid. For everyone else, their college experience — and thus college degrees — bring them to professional careers. There they get paid. Unfortunately, college football players are profited off of by universities, and they are often exploited in a dog eat dog world of competition, greed and television contracts. But that doesn’t compute to justifying players being paid.
I still would support some sort of grant to be given to college athletes, if done correctly. This means they get some sort of “survivors” money. Every player gets the same amount, regardless of playing time. They get it for food and the occasional trip to the movies. As a college student myself, I know I could easily survive on less than $100 a month if I had to.
But players being paid “salaries”? No. No, a million times over. That sounds like a breeding ground for creating NFL-like greed among college students that should never come to fruition. But there are ways to fix the problems in college athletics. It’s just going to be a long process, a long sea to sail on “yes and no” ship. This is only the beginning.