The point is that scholarship athletes are getting an education at a premier university at no cost to them. For them to then earn well over a million dollars in addition for nothing more than lending their NIL for strictly commercial purposes shows just how far our society has fallen with respect to values and principles.
Scholarship athletes work at least 40 hours a week at their sport and risk permanent, debilitating injuries doing so. There is certainly a cost to them. They do this in addition to what the rest of the student body ONLY does - go to classes, study, etc - be full-time students.
The B1G reported about $880 million in sports revenue in 2023, and the Daily Northwestern reported that NU football earned about $43 million (in 2022).
The idea that the players, who are heavily recruited and asked to come play in a sport that generates over $40 million a year, should settle for a pittance of the proceeds, generated by their labor, seems crazy to me.
You seem to be only seeing the University's side of the story. You said that without the University's stage, the players would go "completely unnoticed". I suggest you try a thought experiment and consider NU's football program after a few years without any players. And remember, these athletes aren't knocking on the door with hat in hand begging, they are heavily recruited to come play on the stage because the various Unis see potential profit from their labor. The truth is that college sports have always been a business, and we've reached the point where the employees are getting more than an extra lump of coal for winter.
I suggest this shift of athlete status from being cheap, disposable, and powerless labor to being moderately paid contributors shows just how far our society has risen with respect to values and principles. There is plenty of room to rise further, but it's a start.
