Why College Student-Athletes Should NOT Get Paid
Starting this summer college student-athletes will be able to monetize their name, meaning make money from their own personal brand. Read why Coach Brent feels student-athletes should not be paid.
In the age of digital communication & social media teenagers’ attentions are being redirected online and through apps. So much time is spent on likes, comments, and shares. We’re living in a world where many unfortunately value themselves on how much engagement they get on a tweet or post. I feel this increasingly virtual world annexed from reality, coupled with rewarding student-athletes financially will inevitably take too much attention away from the team and prioritize more on ‘me’. The further loss of focus from the student-athlete and less ‘buy-in’ from each player (which any successful football program needs in order to ensure its team’s success) is going to create serious issues for college athletics programs nationwide.
Many have said college student-athletes get paid by earning scholarships and having their educations paid for. I definitely agree with this sentiment. Granted, not all levels of college athletics offer scholarships, so I can see some incentive for players at smaller schools to be able to earn some extra money, although personally I fulfilled a job all through college to help pay for my student loans and have spending money.
At large Division 1 schools where players are virtually treated like royalty through national publicity, unlimited meals, free housing, and a $200K+ (and rising) 4-year college education, I personally feel this is more than enough. It just seems a can of worms is being opened up and this could create a massive downward spiral for college sports. While yes large Universities are making millions a year from their athletics programs I wouldn’t look at it like ‘why don’t I get a piece of the action’ and instead would think ‘man, I’m blessed to get to go to school for free and participate in the sport I love to do while enjoying the college experience.’
Another issue with this is that smaller schools that may not have the same popularity or ‘clout’ as larger programs will fall further and further off the recruiting map and it will create a more defined disparity between the upper-echelon FBS (Division 1) programs and middle-level athletics programs.
I guess we will see what happens with the whole paying of student-athletes and we all can hope for the best. Hopefully, I’m proven wrong, and incentivizing monetary gain while students are in college doesn’t pollute the purity of college football.
