By Sam Lawler ’19, Sports Editor

In September, four assistant coaches of major college basketball programs were indicted by the FBI in an unprecedented move by the bureau. Coaches from Oklahoma State, Arizona, USC, and Auburn were accused of accepting bribes in order to steer players to attend their schools, or to convince players to maintain certain financial advisors or managers.

This is not perceived as an isolated scandal to many people inside the college basketball sphere. Coaching legends like Kentucky’s John Calipari and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski have been accused of recruiting violations for decades, although the accusations they have faced aren’t nearly as serious. The FBI had never been involved in any NCAA investigation until September. Calipari and Krzyzewski have had powerhouse teams for years, and many of their star players have left after just one year at the school, surrendering their chance of a college education for the NBA. Clearly, college is not a necessity for these players. However, these kids are perceived to be an economic necessity for some colleges: as an example, per Business Insider, Texas A&M University makes $192.6 million off of their sports teams.

All of this raises the question: why aren’t college athletes getting paid? After all, many schools like Texas A&M are earning huge sums from athletics, and in 39 of the 50 U.S. states, a college football or basketball coach is the highest-paid public employee. Shouldn’t the players earn some of that dough?

Some NA students seem to think so. Junior Rahul Bendre feels strongly that the athletes, especially from the top sports schools, should be paid, saying, “The amount of money and publicity these athletes bring to the school…far outweighs the value of the education they are getting.” On the other hand, future Division-I athlete and current NA student Matt Ciccone thinks that going to school for free or for a lower price is enough, and that student athletes should not get paid.

But paying student athletes isn’t as easy as it sounds. The same Business Insider report that reported Texas A&M making nearly $200 million in athletic revenue also showed that of the 231 Division-I schools studied, 76% generate less than $50 million from sports, and 44% earn less than $20 million. That gap creates a huge obstacle to paying these athletes. While a powerhouse school like Texas A&M would have no problem dishing out cash to players from each team, a smaller school that earns just $20 million would have a harder time paying participants of the teams that don’t deliver as much economic value to the school.

Not only that, but paying players could potentially lead to college sports becoming too much of a business, leading to the unintended consequence of smaller D-I programs getting cut. The schools like Texas A&M that could afford to pay the best recruits the highest salaries would win all of the top players, leaving smaller schools with two choices: break the rules, or have no chance of winning. The corrupt recruiting culture of college sports would only become more rampant. Soon, the smaller D-I programs would be extinct, and kids who want both a strong education and a rewarding (but not necessarily top-notch) athletic experience would be faced with few options. My co-editor Sam Keller ‘19 believes that collegiate sports are about “enjoyment of the sport more than playing because you have to,” adding that “once athletes are paid to play, it becomes a job.”

Some argue that being a college athlete is already equivalent to holding down a job. Lifting weights, watching film, attending class, and actually performing on the field can be a lot to juggle. While sports are technically extracurricular activities, they require more work and are more time-consuming than nearly any other on-campus activity. Having no compensation for this work may upset some athletes, but Sam adds that if college athletes were to be paid, it would “put them on a pedestal in comparison to other students at their college and could create a negative environment.”

The decision on whether or not to pay college athletes is a tough one, based on all the aforementioned factors. As of now, the athletes are still amateurs, and this FBI recruiting investigation could have devastating consequences for the NCAA, legal and otherwise. Lavar Ball, known as not only the ultimate obnoxious basketball dad but also a sneaker company executive, has created the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), which would allow top high school prospects to play professional ball instead of college hoops. The logistics are shaky, but the initiative is there. If the NCAA continues to be under fire for recruiting violations, high school athletes could take a different path, causing a massive shift in the way colleges recruit athletes.