NCAA industry leaders still don’t want to pay the stars of the show.
It is time for the college football championship game in Houston, Texas. So, let’s take a look. The pilot and co-pilot of the plane that took the University of Michigan team to Houston got paid. The pilot and co-pilot of the plane that took the University of Washington team to Houston got paid. The bus drivers taking the Michigan and Washington players from the airport to the hotel and practice and the stadium were paid. Housing, paid. The head of security and the security staff at the corporate named stadium, paid. The corporate named stadium officials who gave money to the people who allowed the name on the building. The TV and radio people paid to broadcast the game. Their checks are good. The announcers and production crew paid. Marketing partners who have the right to be associated with the game have paid for that right. People who are attending the game, someone paid for those tickets. The players? Nothing. This is game 15 for both teams and at least 15 weeks of practice, a couple weeks of training camp and those so-called voluntary practices. It has been a full-time job since last summer or maybe last spring. They get a scholarship and a chance and if they have time away from the practice field, to get an education.
Some players can get marketing deals and some of those deals are pretty lucrative. But not all the players who will be on the field in Houston are able to land marketing deals that feature their names, images and likenesses. College sports is a multibillion-dollar business in the United States and there are still people in the college sports industry that don’t want to share television and stadium revenues with the stars of the show, the players. The players are the reason people watch. It is time they get paid by the schools.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
