Why college football players deserve to get “paid in full”

September has arrived and with it comes football season and the excitement that it brings from Pee Wee leagues—to the NFL—for millions of fans across America.

Of all of the many team sports that we collectively love, including basketball, baseball, soccer, and hockey, none comes close to the wanton violence that football players inflict upon each other during practices and games five to six days per week. From deep cuts and bruises, to broken limbs and brain injuries resulting from crashing into another human being over and over and over again, the pleasure of this sport leaves a lifetime of pain for those players who titilate the masses with their gridiron talents.

While my own playing days ended in high school, I still bear some of the physical scars from my days on the 🏈 field. Like, the first time I came to understand the phrase “get your skin split to the white meat,” which happened my first year playing for the Jake Gaither Park Giants in 6th grade when I scraped my arm so badly during a tackling drill that my dark brown skin turned pasty white—before gushing blood everywhere.

Or, the time that I sprained my knee in 8th grade during a JV game against North Florida Christian and was carted off the field by Coach Lance Paul and teammate Mike Anderson.

Or, the time that I dislocated my left shoulder in preparation for the Panama City Christian jamboree game at Florida High School in 11th grade—only to continue playing while it throbbed uncontrollably. Or, later that season when my lung collapsed following a bitterly cold late October game against Wakulla High; I spent two weeks in the hospital and lost almost 20 pounds—all out of love for the game. 

To literally add insult to old football injuries, just last month, I dislocated that same left shoulder while lifting weights. And yet, as painful as last month’s injury and recovery have been, it pales in comparison to my many friends who blew their knees out, dislocated both shoulders, or are fighting CTE and other brain related illnesses right now due to their own days as gladiators on the football field from high school, to college, to the NFL.

I raise the issue of the health and welfare of football players, specifically, as a prelude to my analysis of one of the more controversial moves by the NCAA over the past five years, which was the passage of the “Name, Image, and Likeness” legislation that allows college athletes in all sports to receive some measure of compensation. Few areas have been as misconstrued as NIL, with many observers being led to believe that the same has taken all hints of amateurism away from collegiate athletics since the student-athletes are all becoming rich. 

Nothing could be further from the truth…

Yes, there are myriad articles about a few star athletes, like Alabama’s Heisman winning quarterback Bryce Young, making millions of dollars per year from NIL deals.

Or, even Jackson State quarterback Sheduer Sanders, son of Coach Deion Sanders, making six figures due to contracts with Beats by Dr. Dre, Tom Brady Brand Apparel, and Gatorade.

But the reality is that such deals, mostly relegated to the major Power Five schools in the SEC, Big 10, and the like, are statistical outliers. In fact, the average NIL deal for college football players is $3,390.95 per year. 

I repeat, the average grant to Power Five college football players is only $3,390.95.

So, if the players at Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and the like are only earning a tad over $3K per year in stipends, it doesn’t take an actuarial scientist to realize that players at HBCU’s are averaging far less—if anything at all.

By comparison, a college student who is on an Army ROTC scholarship earns approximately $3,600 dollars in stipend money per year that’s separate from the tuition plus room and board that the U.S. Army pays. Thus, NIL now allows college athletes to obtain a little less than their Army ROTC schoolmates. 

What’s interesting to note, however, is that the Army ROTC students do not beat their bodies into disrepair while earning their respective schools millions of dollars in revenue on the gridiron each week. Which is why I find it odd when football coaches like Nick Saban of Alabama, a man who earns well in excess of $10 million dollars each year, initially griped about “the good old days” when college football players were just happy to get a free education. While he has since softened this stance, folks of this mindset conveniently forget that in those “good old days,”that the head football coach made no more money than the English or History professor, always made less money than the college president, AND had to teach physical education or other courses that they were qualified to teach during the school year!

This last point exposes the hypocrisy of Power Five coaches and athletics directors who are growing filthy rich off of the backs of the players, while the average player can’t even afford to take his girlfriend out on a nice date!

The second misperception that I wish to clear up is that the schools are paying the players directly; NIL deals are set up by private donors in “collectives,” or by private businesses who sign select players to advertise for their companies. Ergo, the revenue that each team earns per game or via conference revenue sharing is not divided up among the players, but goes into the school’s general revenue fund.

One philosophical truism is that everything eventually changes, but one thing that has not changed in over a century is the violent nature of football.

So, when you watch your alma mater or favorite collegiate teams this weekend, take a moment to realize that not only will the majority of those players fail to make it to the professional football ranks, but that the blood, sweat, and tears that they expend to their school’s financial betterment (and their fans delight) often leave them physically and mentally scarred for many years to come—with no compensation or health care provided to assist them in their struggles!

Lest we forget…

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Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.