It’s been a tumultuous week in this country. Amidst the headlines over hurricanes and national protests, this article will leave those topics to the pros.
Ryan Trahan, a runner at Texas A&M, was recently ruled ineligible to compete due to a YouTube channel, where he promotes a company he started. His channel revolves around his habits and works to assist other aspiring runners to improve their games.
The NCAA is notoriously selfish with its athletes. The debate over whether student athletes should be paid has raged on for many years now. Many issues have arisen, from how the stipulations would be made, to the logistics of how participants in other sports that may not bring in money for the university to receive pay.
The idea that student-athletes cannot profit off themselves is outrageously asinine. This restriction applies to many things from jersey sales to posters, or anything with the athletes’ likeness on it.
So basically, when a football player at a major university becomes immensely successful, they receive none of the profits that they generate for their schools.
A football team typically has 100 players on its roster, with more than 80 being on scholarship. Those on scholarships have their tuition paid for. They receive textbooks and a stipend per month for rent and bills–usually $1,000 to $2,000 depending on the university and cost of living in the state. With rent, car, phone, groceries and other bills taken out, the athletes are usually left with a couple hundred bucks when it’s all said and done.
So for the sake of argument, let’s say a player at Ohio State makes $60,000 a year in total scholarships, counting the cost of school and monthly stipends. The school makes one billion dollars off of football alone. Not any other sport necessarily, so this erases the vagueness of the student-athletes being paid argument.
Although the school makes 10 figures, while the athletes make near minimum wage—factoring in work devoted to their respective sport, which is usually 60-plus hours per week between practice, film, weights, games, travel and meetings— we’ll let that slide.
However, the idea that individual athletes cannot make any type of profit off of their own likeness is pathetic. The NCAA cracks down and touts its power with a ridiculous authority, profiting by billions annually, while athletes make zilch.
They wield the threat of ineligibility and bully teenagers into deleting YouTube channels. They care very little for those who do the hard work, while those at the top, who don’t get their hands dirty, simply get to grease their palms. Star players are exploited for their talents and held in college football for three years under the guise of being responsible.
Who cares if a player leaves early and isn’t ready? The pros are a jungle. It’s a risky system, but better than staying in college and accumulating head hits and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, for the cost of minimum wage. Yes, it’s a choice to play college football—nobody is arguing otherwise. However, the least the NCAA can do is let its athletes make money.
