With coaches such as Nick Saban from Alabama receiving more than $5 million every year, it is absurd that these players should not be paid. Now, I’m not saying that every player should be paid in cash or even that they should be paid at all. Just as some players chose to walk-on to their college programs while others receive varying levels of athletic scholarships, all students would not need to be paid the same amount.
The majority of students shouldn’t receive cash. Instead they should continue to walk on or have a portion of their schooling paid for. These cash contracts should be saved for the top players at each program, those quarterbacks and other elite caliber players that are responsible for leading programs to conference and national championships.
These young men are spending hours on the practice field in an attempt to carry their team and in turn earn their school millions of dollars in revenue. Not only do the schools earn money from these players, but so does the NCAA.
In the past couple of months, it was discovered that by searching certain top level players names on www.shopncaa.com, jerseys with their school and number could be found. In addition, Johnny Manziel’s name was used in the description of a t-shirt. Within hours of this discovery, the search function was removed from the site and later, all of these products were removed.
If the program that is supposed to help student athletes to receive a quality education is allowed to make money from these athletes, shouldn’t they be allowed to profit themselves?
Some people may argue that the most important part of college for these athletes is their education. This is true for the large majority of these athletes but this doesn’t hold true for a select group of superstars. This small group spends their entire collegiate career working towards one goal – the NFL. If this group is going to spend their life working and playing this sport, they should start earning this money now.
These same student athletes that are responsible for a multi million dollar industry and for making the NCAA and college football what it is today should be allowed to receive a small amount of profit for their efforts.
Now, for those of you who read this blog in previous weeks know that I railed against Johnny Manziel and the NCAA last week for their rules, saying they needed to be stricter. And while I still hold that Johnny was wrong in receiving money for his signature, I’m not against him being paid but instead against him breaking the rules.
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