Written by Henry Wassink
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar famously wrote upon the economic struggles he and countless other college athletes have endured in his essay, “College Athletes of the World, Unite”. Details of hunger, exploitation, and poverty fill his work as he challenges the billion dollar economic empire that is college sports. However, for some athletes, there is a changing dynamic. The granting of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), has allowed college athletes to profit off of their talent. In several cases, top athletes have been cited marking million dollar deals. While the most elite of these college athletes are no longer in economic suffering, for the vast majority of college athletes, they are still at a huge disadvantage. They have been left in the dust to struggle. This article will prove that Name, Image, and Likeness, is not an effective solution to the economic exploitation college athletes face.
During a press conference this past summer, Alabama’s Nick Saban exclaimed that his quarterback, Bryce Young, “Has made over a million dollars, without ever even starting a game”. This is great for Young, as he is able to get his healthy cut of the million dollar business that is Alabama football. However, Saban showed some concern, stating, “This is going to create an imbalance in that to some degree, I hope it doesn’t affect team chemistry across the board…” However, this is not about team chemistry, this isn’t even about the Crimson Tide, as for the most part, their players will be just fine. This is about the thousands of college athletes who won’t ink million dollar deals and will be utterly outcasted as the NCAA continues to laugh.They laugh as out of the $6 billion the NCAA pulls in every year, not one penny of it goes to the athletes who allow this empire to prosper.
So Name, Image, and Likeness is great, right? It is great for the elite, but for the 99% of college athletes across all sports and levels, NIL doesn’t help them at all. They are left hungry, deprived, and hopeless.
Back to Abdul-Jabbar. The people making the profit here are the top college football and men’s college basketball stars. They win. What about everyone else? The thousands of other college athletes? They lose. They are forgotten. Abdul-Jabbar states, “ If we’re going to start paying the football players, we have to pay the field hockey players, and we have to pay the men and women swimmers, and we have to pay the lacrosse players, softball players, baseball players…”. However, these athletes, for the most part, are not paid. It is so easy to look with a blind eye at how this works for a couple of stars at the top and ignore the fact that everyone else is left in the same dreadful situation as before. NIL was created to be “fair” to these athletes and compensate for their hard work, but the system is just as crooked as before. The vast majority of athletes are stuck in an unjust economic disadvantage, while the NCAA and universities continue to make billions.
So let’s delve deeper into the issue.
According to Opendorse, a tech company that connects endorsements and athletes, over 60% of all NIL deals have been signed by football players, even though they make up just a slight fraction of college athletes. Doesn’t seem fair to the rest of the athletes? That is because it isn’t. While college football stars such as Alabama’s Bryce Young, Texas’s Quinn Ewers, and Auburn’s Bo Nix, have all made more money off NIL than any teenager can know what to do with (averaging $1 Million in their deals), the average athlete is making close to nothing.
When you take the average deals of the names mentioned above and compare them to the rest of the field, you can’t even see the field (the 99%) on a graph. Literally. That is how unequal this system is. It doesn’t fix anything for the hungry, hopeless, economically disadvantaged, college athlete who we have been talking about supporting for so long.
Ewers, and Bo Nix to the rest of the field
Yes, the average earnings for D1, D2, and D3 athletes are present, you just can not see them because compared to the top earners (Bryce Young, Quinn Ewers, and Bo Nix), the average college athlete gets nothing. This graph highlights the inequality and ineffectiveness of this system. It is a slap in the face to the average athlete. They stay starved. They stay desperate. The NCAA wins again.
More data from Opendorse, the average NIL compensation for Division I athletes is $471, while for Division II athletes, the average is $81, and for Division III athletes, they received a whopping $47. These numbers not only show how unjust this is to the athletes at the lower levels, it also shows how insensitive it is to think NIL will actually help all athletes. It might sponsor a trip to the grocery store, but that’s about it.
Graph Comparing the Average NIL Earnings by Division Level
While it is evident that Division 1 athletes make far more on average through NIL than Division 2 and Division 3 athletes, let’s take a look at the numbers we are talking about. $471, $81, and $47, respectively. These numbers are minuscule. Sure, any college student can always use a few extra dollars, but these numbers we are talking about aren’t changing anyone’s life. These numbers, to be honest, are a big insult of further exploitation by the NCAA.
For years, college athletes getting paid has been a polarizing topic of discussion in the world of domestic economics. NIL was originally granted so college athletes no longer had to struggle through their college years as the universities they proudly represented made millions of their blood, sweat, and tears. While this works for some, a disturbing majority are in the same horrible situation as the days before NIL.
According to Admissionly, a website built to help inform and support college students, the average college student spends roughly $1400-2100 monthly on various expenses. This shows how the numbers above, the average earnings athletes have made through NIL, do practically nothing to get these athletes out of the economic hole the NCAA has put them in.
In order to keep these athletes from staying hungry, working side jobs just to stay afloat, and having to live in unnoticed poverty, the NCAA must cut into their yearly 6 billion dollar profit so these athletes no longer suffer. Something like a universal, monthly, and regulated payment plan from the NCAA and Universities alike could go a long way in ensuring these athletes no longer suffer. Perhaps a sanctioned credit card, limited to food and other necessities would help eliminate the poverty these athletes so often face. For the NCAA and universities alike, this is the least they could do. A regulated system would even out the playing field for all athletes of all sports, genders, and division levels, as well as simply be the right thing to do.
We, as fans of college athletics, but also as people, and humanitarians alike must band together. It is time to hold the NCAA accountable for their endless exploitation of the athletes who allow this empire to run. Well ultimately, NIL is good for a select few individuals, it is evident that it isn’t the solution to the problem that is the struggle of college athletes. The NCAA and universities alike must come up with a fair and proper solution to support all of their athletes. The time to act is now, we can not continue to let our athletes struggle any longer..
References
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem, et al. “College Athletes of the World, Unite.” Jacobin, 11 Dec. 2014, https://jacobinmag.com/2014/11/college-athletes-of-the-world-unite.
Chiari, Mike. “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Says College Athletes Must Be Paid in Crossfire Interview.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2000942-kareem-abdul-jabbar-says-college-athletes-must-be-paid-in-cros sfire-interview.
“College Student Spending Statistics (Facts & Figures 2021).” Admissonsly.com, 8 May 2021, https://admissionsly.com/college-student-spending-statistics/.
[email protected], Mike Rodak |. “Bryce Young: Tide’s Culture Keeps NIL from Being Issue.” Al, 19 Aug. 2021, https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2021/08/bryce-young-alabamas-culture-prevents-nil-earnings-from-bei ng-issue.html.
Steinbach, P. (2021, October 18). Which college athletes are making Nil Money, and how? Athletic Business. Retrieved December 28, 2021, from https://www.athleticbusiness.com/operations/marketing/article/15279898/which-college-athletes-are-making- nil-money-and-how