Johnny Manziel, one of my favorite college athletes and his reputation and overall career was shattered by rumors of him selling autographs. A person that gets thrown into that much national spotlight at such a young age (18) can be completely detrimental to your character building. I think one of the reasons why he has such a hard time with drugs and alcohol is because he didn’t know how to deal with the pressure from society to be perfect, something no human is but many college athletes are expected to be. I feel if Manziel could have been working for sponsors and making money he would not have had to turn to alcohol to have a good time, he would have could focus on football and a career. Johnny Manziel burst onto the scene his freshman year (2012), as the young electrifying quarterback of a resurgent Texas A&M football team, led by coach Kevin Sumlin. Manziel wasn’t supposed to be what he was, but progressively moved through the season shattering records and making play that left viewers saying “how” and “what.” Manziel received his national spotlight when he led A&M to a victory over #1 Alabama, a performance that included him for accounting for almost 83% of A&M’s offense. Manziel continued to flourish throughout his freshman season and was the freshman to ever win the Heisman trophy, college football’s biggest honor.

 Manziel was the next big thing, until he wasn’t, reports of him being a party animal and wild child began to circulate, all the while an NCAA investigation was being conducted into whether he signed autographs for money. Manziel entered his sophomore season on a one-half suspension and a new reputation as the wild child of college football. He still had success, but with a tainted reputation and low draft stock because of it, his career began to turn the wrong way. (Gregory, 2013) Johnny Manziel is just one of many college athletes that could have benefitted from being able to hire representation in the form of a legal agent, and have been set up with sponsorship deals that would command him to act in a professional and respectful manor. If Manziel were to have signed an immediate sponsorship deal with Nike, Jordan, or Adidas. The first offseason after he won the Heisman, he would have had much more at stake than simply a reputation. Money obviously is power, and they do say more money more problems. But teaching these kids who have bright futures in the national spotlight how to be a role model, rather than a party animal, could go a long way. 

The controversial issue of paying college athletes, or allowing them to obtain compensation for their efforts other than money for groceries and scholarship money etc. is an issue that has circulated through the world and the nation for a long time.  The issue its self is not only complex but well-argued from both sides, it creates a rift in the world of sports over whether these athletes, who granted do already receive a great deal of compensation deserve to be further compensated and by what means should they be provided with such compensation. The overall debate on this issue is whether to pay or whether not to pay, but from my research that issue its self is very surface level, it goes deeper. The debate overall I’m looking at is if they do decide to pay, how to the create a fair and just way to pay these athletes and make sure everyone is receiving the same or right amount of compensation. 

Most people agree that college athletes should receive some sort of compensation but where the real divide is on how, some people think that athletes themselves should be able to pursue sponsorship deals or can sell memorabilia of themselves, while others believe it is mainly up to the schools and the NCAA to decide how athletes should be compensated. Paying college athletes is an issue that has been on the cusp of national superiority and through personal accounts and statistical projections. I believe it is time for the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and the Power 5 conferences (the five most profitable and influential conferences)  to make the decision to install a program in which college athletes should be given the ability to obtain sponsorship deals and sell their own memorabilia, however I do not believe the NCAA, boosters or universities should directly pay athlete’s because it is unfathomably hard to create a compensation program that is not only equal but fair. 

Looking more at the financial side of things, most power 5 NCAA schools can pay stipends ranging from $2,000-$5,000 dollars. These stipends are for things like groceries, and toiletries. (NPR, 2012) This is one of the main reasons why I don’t think the NCAA or the university needs to be contractually obligated to pay their athletes. Also, I think just handing these young kids even more money is a recipe for disaster. The problem with giving a four or five figure contract to a young kid is that they simply won’t know what to do with the money, how to spend or how to save. Whereas if they were to hire an agent, and get a structured sponsorship deal, they would not only have a professional there to assist them, but a company who has experience and could aid until it becomes a well thought out and thorough routine. 

The fact of the matter is that the most elite athletes and best representations of their school will be able to obtain these sponsorship deals. But the second fold of my plan to give college athletes a slight boost to their funds, because after all one injury can end a career, is that athletes themselves can profit off their own name. They could sign autographs and create jerseys with player names on the back for sale in which they could profit from. EA sports could come back out with their popular NCAA video games, only this time with real player names and attributes, and the athletes would be compensated the game. They also could make public appearances for monetary gain. These are all ways not only to allow athletes to profit off themselves, but they are experiences and opportunities for them to be prepared for the next level. Whether in the athletic world or the professional world, these kids would now be able to take time out of a busy schedule to get real world next level experience. 

It seems that the arguments currently being presented are both on the extreme sides of the issue, people have decided there are only two options. A salary and full sponsorship rights or nothing at all. What many of these professionals are yet to consider is something in the middle, this is where I feel my proposal sits. Most of the time compromise is the best place to begin negotiations, but this proposal could be the start and finish of them all. Putting the responsibility of their own fate on the shoulders of the student athlete’s gives them the ability to not only learn how to be responsible with their own money but can stay in school and obtain lessons in the classroom for life beyond the athletic field. 

For these reasons and many more, it seems the most responsible and practical method for implementing a program in which student athletes can obtain monetary compensation for their partaking in a NCAA sport. From a sponsorship deal with Nike to a poster being sold by the school with a player’s likeness on it, it seems to me that this is the only option that is fair and just. Plus, it has a potential to not only be successful, but become a precedent for issues of this nature in the future. The NCAA has already taken great strides into the initiative of getting athletes to stay in school longer, whether they are promoting it as something of a maturation process for the body, the goal and overall result is that these kids are staying in school longer. The trend of student athletes staying in school or obtaining their degree early has increased an incredible amount in the past ten years. In recent statistics, form students who entered universities in 2007 around 84% of student-athletes are graduating within six years. (Hosick, 2014) This trend alone shows that if students can afford to stay in school, they will. So why not give them more incentive to do so. Everyone knows the statistics on how long professional sports careers last. For example, 3.3 years in the NFL and 4.8 years for the NBA, or look at the fact that only 1.1% of NCAA basketball players go to the NBA and 1.5% to the NFL. (NCAA, 2017) It is imperative that student-athletes are prepared for the world beyond their respective sport. 