Compensation for student-athletes in college has been something that has been talked about for years. For years, athletes who went to big-name schools were left unpaid while their name was being promoted and used to bring in more money. Well-known athletes like Johnny Manzel (aka Johnny Football) took matters into their own hands but almost cost him his career. 

Johnny Manziel was a quarterback for the Texas A&M Aggies. His freshman season with the Aggies was a record-breaking season for not only him but for the school and he led the team to a national championship. After winning the Heisman trophy as a freshman, which is rare for that award, his fame continued to spike even more than it already had. So much so that the school started to sell his jersey in the school store and would sell other merchandise with his autograph on it. It got to the point of frustration where he and his best friend decided to do their own thing. They sold thousands of autographs to hungry fans; Manziel has even claimed to have made over $33,000 dollars in profit. All was well for Manziel until he was caught and put on trial by the NCAA for violating the rule that prevented student-athletes from benefitting from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). While he got away with a “made-up” story and only had to serve a ½ game suspension, before he returned to signing and selling his own autographs, again violating the NCAA rule. 

Here at Green Level, we are not short on the talent side of athletics. We have multiple student-athletes committed to playing their sport in college. Isaac Ericksen is one of them. Ericksen has been a star on the men’s basketball team since his freshman year and his work definitely paid off as he is now committed to playing at Illinois State. But going to a big-name college brings up the possibility of NIL deals. 

“I think student-athletes should be able to make money off of their name, image, likeness, and what they do on the court.” shares Ericksen when asked about his stance on the topic. 

Now Johnny Manziel’s story was rare, but the idea that student-athletes wanted compensation for their publicity was not shocking. It wasn’t until 2021 that the Supreme Court finally struck down that rule that limited college athletes to compensation. This opened up a lot of doors for college athletes as they could finally make the money that they deserved. According to NBC New York, “The Opendorse platform said average annual compensation for an athlete in NCAA Divisions I-III combined is $3,438 (through May 31).” The ability to accept NIL deals also led to the ability for big-name colleges to persuade athletes to come to their schools through actions like paying them sums of money.

Almost anyone who was offered a large sum of money to play their sport at a big school would take it. This puts a lot of “smaller schools” in trouble of getting the top-of-the-line athletes for the incoming freshman. Instead of the classic commitments, it is turning almost into a professional draft and a competition of who can pay more money for athletes. So while the money is nice, what we really need to think about is are the athletes are truly happy at the schools or if they are just happy because they are getting money.