“Haynes is the back. Underwood to the air looking endzone. Wide open, Klein. Touchdown!”
This is what Doug Karsch, Michigan Football’s announcer, said after freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood threw his very first touchdown as a Michigan Wolverine. Since 1975, only four true freshmen have started as a quarterback at the University of Michigan (sports.yahoo.com).
But Underwood is the first to have been paid for it. In November 2024, Underwood received a Name Image Likeness (NIL) contract worth anywhere from 10 million to 12.5 million from billionaire Larry Ellison.
While some student-athletes, such as Underwood, get paid, many others don’t. Student-athletes are the reason why people attend the games that colleges profit millions from their sports, and they work hard for it. Because of this, all student-athletes deserve to get paid by their school. While some student-athletes, such as Underwood, get paid off of NIL, the ones with less popularity don’t get the money that they deserve.
With colleges drawing millions of dollars each year, some of that should go to the students. The richest college sports program, Ohio State, has the largest sports value in the United States. In 2023, Ohio State drew in 230 million dollars from sports programs (cnbc.com).
This money gets sourced from the fans who attend and buy souvenirs. When I go to a sports event, I go because I’m ready to watch the players. With all of that revenue drawn in from the fanbase, athletes should get some of that money.
Of the 230 million in 2023, only $2,985,559 went to student-athletes since the start of the NIL program in 2021. With all of this money, so little actually goes to the student athletes (buckeyesports.com). Student athletes also shouldn’t get paid only off of NIL, but directly from the school. By paying the student athletes off of just NIL, only the “popular” ones can make a good amount of money for the team.
With college sports becoming much more complicated, students have to manage their personal lives with their sports lives. The best and simplest way to make this easier is for all of the colleges to pay their athletes directly. If student-athletes can get paid, it could make their lives better.
