No more debating it, college athletes deserve to be paid for NIL

You know when things just become crystal clear? You know when, an issue becomes so ridiculous and so obvious that, the debate shouldn’t really be a debate anymore? Well, we’ve certainly reached that tipping point on the issue of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness).

The fact is, there shouldn’t be a debate anymore. The bottom line is, if a university, company or anyone else is going to use a college athlete’s name, image or likeness, then that person has the right to be compensated for it.

I’ll be honest, when I was addicted to playing NCAA football by EA Sports on Playstation, I never gave it any thought. Playing with real college players, I never thought about how those real human beings, who were scattered across campuses not getting paid for being in a video game, would feel or how it would affect them. I just didn’t make the connection.

But that was more than 20 years ago, and things have changed. The money schools make off these kids has grown to mind-boggling proportions. The money these schools make off jerseys and so much more is just staggering. And don’t even get me started on the TV deals these schools and conferences have is just insane, and without those kids, there wouldn’t be a reason to have those TV deals.

Of course, there’s been an argument for years that, college athletes are already getting paid. They’re getting an education paid for that most college students don’t. But that argument is completely tired. I went to college. I wasn’t on scholarship. I had a job. I was starving at times. I had to do a lot of things on my own. And yet, I didn’t have one-tenth the obligations that these student-athletes have. I didn’t have the time commitments, the stresses, the injuries, and I certainly didn’t have anyone profiting off me being there. No, they weren’t selling George Ferguson jerseys at the University of Montana Journalism School. So, my experience in college to that of any student-athlete is an apples to oranges comparison and has absolutely no baring on the debate about NIL.

And the debate is really over. It’s not even an ethical issue at this point. It’s a human being issue. Anyone should have a say over the use of their name, image or likeness, whether it’s George Ferguson, or a college football player getting a scholarship — It’s our face, it’s our name and it’s our images, and if someone is going to make money off that, we, as human beings have the right to be compensated for it.

The bottom line is this, if a college athlete is going to be used to make money, they need to get paid for it. It’s that simple, and it’s always been that simple. There’s no reason to discuss it anymore. It isn’t about maintaining the integrity of amateur athletics, it isn’t about scholarships and it certainly isn’t about ethics, it’s about money, and for the past 100 years, it hasn’t even been close to a level playing field. I suck at match, but I can do this one — universities make millions, and soon enough it will be billions, while the student-athletes, most of which will never have a professional sports career, don’t see a dime of that revenue.

That’s wrong. It’s always been wrong, and the right thing to do is to fix it. And NIL fixes the issue. An issue, that’s not really an issue anymore.