NCAA paying College Athletes

In recent news, The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has officially allowed college athletes to accept endorsements deals in college to make money. The NCAA passed this after 3 of the nations top high school recruits decides to bypass college and go to National Basketball Association: G League. Whether to allow college athlete to accept pay in anyway has been a pretty big topic in todays collegiate world.

The Start Up:Ohio State, and Johnny “Football” Manziel

I’m sure the NCAA had more issues involving payment of players before the decades of 2000s but that’s where we shall start. According to The Associated Press, The Big Ten Champions Ohio State Buckeyes were stripped of their 12-1 season due to players selling their championship rings for money and tattoos, they also had a look into earlier season of players getting paid to much money for “summer work”. This caused the team to get suspended from bowl games and player suspension

Johnny Manziel, former Texas A&M quarterback, in 2013 charged fans to get him to sign his autograph. This at the time could’ve put his eligibility to the NFL at huge risk, however the NCAA could never prove that he was actually paid for the autographs but could prove that the autographs were sold so they suspended him for half of the season opener. However that year, USA Today released the schools revenue from sports in 2013, Texas A&M made 93.9 million that year, so your telling me a university is making millions of dollars year, really off Johnny because at the time he was the biggest in college football, and Johnny got suspended till halftime making a couple hundred dollars? Some of that money should’ve gone to him because of the revenue he brought to that school. Sports in the college world is a full time job, these players don’t have time to get a job and make money.

Fair Play Act and The Pros Speak Out

Tyler Lauletta was with Los Angles Lakers LeBron James after practice at a press meeting he talked about how if he went to the University of Ohio State that he would’ve been the face of everything and he would have got nothing out it, while him and his mother were poor. While also Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors says “the NCAA is a dictatorship.”

What is the Fair Pay to Play Act? the Fair Pay to Play Act was originally known as California Senate Bill 206, is a California statute that will allow collegiate athletes to acquire endorsements and sponsorships while still maintaining athletic eligibility. The bill would affect college athletes in California’s public universities and colleges says Wikipedia.

Now the bill would not go into affect until 2023 but could be later because this bill will face many legal actions. Many California schools and NCAA opposed it. In May of 2019, according to Jenna West of Sports Illustrated, she mention that the President of the NCAA sent California legislators letters that school could face the possibility of not going to the National Championship.

This at the time was a bad thing for the NCAA because if they didn’t pass letting these athlete get endorsement money, most of the top athletes wouldve been going to only schools in California complete shifting the sports world because big D1 schools likes UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal would be allowing these kids to gain money off of their likeness and image. What 18 year old kid getting offered that and a scholarship to the best school in the nation wouldn’t want that. Its every sports kids dream.

NCAA Endorsement Policy

In recent months, one of nations top high school Jalen Green has decided to skip college and take part in the NBA G league for new elite players. These players will be making around The league initially indicated it would pay salaries of up to $125,000 to top prospects, but that figure has since increased, ESPN reported that top prospects who choose the G-League route could now be in line to make more than $500,000.

With this happening I believe the NCAA was afraid more athletes would do this and not go play in the NCAA so they officially allowed players to accept deals and gain money off themselves if needed.The three NCAA divisions that govern the levels of competition in college sports will allow this. The divisions are expected by January to adopt rules that would take effect at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.

The NCAA has been under pressure to allow athletes to capitalize on the use of their unique abilities as universities have built sports programs into a billion-dollar programs without paying players. Students who don’t play sports like actors, musicians, and others can already make money if they have exceptional talents and not be confined to rules under an association.

The new NCAA plan would let athletes make deals as social media influencers, appear in commercials and hold paid autograph sessions, among other opportunities according to the New York Times.

Athletes could still pitch products in TV commercials or social media posts, or make money from developing and promoting their own clothing line. Schools in each of the NCAA’s divisions will have to decide whether to bar students from promoting shoe and apparel companies, or alcohol and tobacco products.

The people who believe they shouldn’t get paid

People believe these student athletes should not be paid because they already getting the dream of a life time: College for FREE! These kids get to go to world class schools that cost thousands of dollars for people to go to for free and get the best education they can for as long as they want too. That is real most people many argument who think they shouldn’t but I would have to ask them what happens to that kid who get hurt and never plays again? These kids lose their scholarship and end up with nothing, the school drops them hard on their face with nothing to fall back on? How would you feel if that was your kid.