Since its beginning in 1906, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has presided over intercollegiate sports and enforced a law preventing college athletes from being paid. Basketball, football, and many other college sports produced tremendous revenue for many schools in the mid-20th century. Yet, the National Collegiate Athletic Association continued to prohibit payments to athletics. 

The NCAA backed the restriction by claiming it was essential to protect amateurism and differentiate “student-athletes” from professionals.    

The Supreme Court answered whether college athletes should be paid on June 21, 2021, ruling in NCAA v. Alston et al. The decision upheld a lower court’s ruling that prevented the National Collegiate Athletic Association from enforcing its rules restricting the types of compensation that college athletes may receive.

College athletes now have the right to benefit from their NIL (name, image, and likeness) while owning the right to partake in their sport at the college level due to the NCAA v. Alston ruling. However, the restriction against schools paying athletes directly remains. So that means the students aren’t employees of the university.

Many states have approved laws that enable such compensation. Universities and colleges in those states must adhere to these new laws when devising and implementing their policies toward name, image, and likeness compensation for college athletes. This can be very tricky to navigate for students, parents, and universities. So deal with each situation on a case-by-case basis. You must do your best research to ask educated questions during college visits.

Why are college athletes not getting paid by their schools?

The reasons college athletics are not getting paid go back to the first hosted sports competitions between universities and colleges in the late 19th century. Amateurism at the collegiate level reveals the “aristocratic amateurism” of sports played in Europe at the time, even though some of the athletes at U.S. colleges had working-class backgrounds.   

College football became popular for violence and rowdiness in the early 20th century, much of which was attributed to the use of professional athletes by the teams. This gave way to the creation of the NCAA, which restricted professionals from participating in college sports and enforced laws prohibiting compensation for college athletes. The laws are intended to preserve the amateurism of student participants. The National Collegiate Athletic Association justified the laws on two grounds:

• Interest by fans would be lost if the players were professional athletes.
• They were limiting compensation to control scholarships to guarantee that college athletes remain part of the college community.

National Collegiate Athletic Association rules also restrict college athletes from receiving payments to “promote, advertise, or recommend” any commercial service or product. Athletes were banned from participating in sports if they signed a contract to be represented by an agent. Now, because of the NIL court decision, the National Collegiate Athletic Association will no longer enforce its rule relating to compensation for name, image, and likeness activities and will allow athletes to sign contracts with agents. So some schools are doing their best to help students find agents that can represent them before playing their sport or coming to the school. This can make recruiting tremendous or a nightmare.

What are name, image, and likeness agreements for student-athletes?

Over the years, some college athletes at schools that field teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s highest divisions have protested the banned placed on their ability to be compensated for third-parties use of their name, image, and likeness. During the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I basketball tournament, explicitly known as March Madness, many players wore shirts bearing the hashtag “#NotNCAAProperty” to draw attention to their objections.

As a result of the decision in NCAA v. Alston, the National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted a temporary policy allowing college athletes to sign NIL agreements and other endorsements. This interim policy will be used until federal legislation is adopted or new National Collegiate Athletic Association rules are created governing NIL contracts for college athletes.    

Do College Sports Generate Revenue?

For many years, universities and colleges have believed that scholarships are enough compensation for college athletes. Almost all college sports cost more for the schools to operate than they make in revenue for the institution, and scholarships are all that participants look up to.

However, while most sports don’t generate income, a few sports, notably football and men’s and women’s basketball, stand out as essential exceptions to the rule:

• Most schools that field teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I football tier constantly earn tens of millions yearly from the sport.
• National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments for men’s and women’s Division I basketball championships made more than $1 billion in 2019.

We won’t go into all the ways college sports generate revenue, but a few are Ad revenue, TV deals, clothing and apparel, memorabilia, and ticket sales. Especially for the beloved rivalry games! These can have colossal revenue share deals attached to them.

How will the change affect college athletes and their schools?

The consequences of court decisions and state laws that enable college athletes to sign NIL agreements continue to affect campuses across the country, even though athletes and schools have gotten little guidance on how to take care of the process.

• The top high school athletes in basketball, football, and other income-generating college sports will consider their potential for endorsement earnings while being recruited by different schools.
• The first NIL agreements showed the disparity between what elite college athletes can expect to earn and what other athletes may know. 
• Most names, images, and likeness deals are for small amounts, typically about $100 in free wear, in exchange for endorsing a product on social media.

In conclusion, students have benefited from their participation in intercollegiate sports by learning dedication to their sport, building relationships, and being part of a team. Sports allow students to acquire many important values, such as fair competition and mental and physical health. Education should be at the forefront of all aspects of college, including sports, whether collegiate athletes are paid or not. With that said, if you want guidance on how to handle the transition from high school to college, you can use the following links to get our great resources:

Parents – www.ladderingyoursuccess.com/parents

Students – www.Ladderingyoursuccess.com/students

Teachers – www.ladderingyoursuccess.com/teachers