Principles on profit: Should non-professional athletes be paid?
NIL deals, also known as Name, Image, and Likeness deals, have been taking the sports world by storm. They are a way for college athletes to receive money as compensation through promotional materials such as brand deals, product endorsements and sports events. However, NIL deals only started to get legalized in 2019 after decades of debate. California, which was the first state to legalize NIL deals for college students, also allowed high schoolers to benefit from NIL with a bill signed in July 2021. Although paying high school athletes is unnecessary and shouldn't be allowed, college athletes should be able to get paid via NIL and sponsorships.
Art by Audrey Straus
Some athletes have to choose between NIL money and playing the sport itself. The NCAA gave the YouTuber known as “Deestroying” an ultimatum: stop playing football and continue his dream of content creation, or stop creating videos and commit to football full-time. Donald De La Haye, also known as “Deestroying,” was a kicker who played for the University Of Central Florida. De La Haye stopped playing football in college due to the NCAA not allowing NIL deals at the time and not liking the profit he gained off his Name and Likeness on his fast-growing YouTube channel. NIL deals were later approved for athletes in Florida in mid 2021, but this was just the beginning of a massive debate concerning the amount of money athletes receive getting recruited under NIL deals.
Some high school students who are being recruited for sports by colleges can go visit the campus free of charge via an “official visit.” This is where the school sees that someone is good enough at whatever they are doing and invites them to tour the school, take pictures in school uniforms and meet the coaches. This is one of the first steps in the process of recruiting when colleges can offer athletes money through financial aid or scholarships to commit to the school under the National Letter of Intent. While these rules apply to rising collegiate players, deals like these should not be given out to athletes still in high school. Wyatt Brown (’26), quarterback of Samo’s Varsity Football team, agrees that money should not be a factor in high school sports.
“I don’t think high school athletes should get paid, but college is different,” Brown said. “Most high school athletes should focus more on their academics because if people get money things will be crazy.”
Although paying high school athletes is unfair, college athletes should be able to get paid via NIL and sponsorships. Their games are broadcast worldwide and have almost the same amount of viewers as the NFL. Additionally, college athletes should be able to get paid because of the amount of work they have to deal with on top of sports. Not only do they have a hard schedule with sports, but they still have to attend daily classes like high school. In high school, you just have to go to a certain period dedicated to your sport, but in college it's all day. Additionally, most of the time students in high school have practice until the end of the day and do most of their film-watching on their own. Film-watching is when you watch another team play against another team, and you study their tendencies or strengths. In college, they use a certain room to watch their film with the entire team, while in high school you use a website and have to watch it by yourself. This makes it harder because of the tough 24/7 schedule and waking up earlier than others would in high school.
The recruiting process is intense for most student-athletes, whether sending game film to hundreds of coaches around the nation or going to paid camps and performing at the highest level in front of hundreds of college coaches. After this process, if athletes hold multiple offers from different colleges, colleges will try to give them the most that they can to get the athlete to attend their school. This could include college gear and possibly a NIL deal under the table. Recruiting is one of the most important parts of high school sports, and maybe the most controversial. Recruiting brings in a lot of false visits and a lot of commitment flips. Recently, the NCAA prohibited the action of taking school pictures of recruits on an unofficial visit to reduce the rate of unofficial visits. Jayden Montanez (’24) explains his personal experience on the recruiting process.
“Well I mean it’s a lot of pressure. You gotta go out there and play your ass off, hope the colleges like what they see. For me personally, it was tough getting attention when you’re not winning games but we put it together this season and college coaches are watching,” Montanez said.