While paying college athletes sounds appealing on the surface, it is infeasible, unnecessary and will harm all but the largest schools – ultimately ruining our current system of collegiate athletics.

Student-athletes make incredible contributions to their institutions’ prestige and, for a select few powerhouse programs, their pocketbooks. Naturally, student-athletes’ financial struggles are raised as evidence of the need for them to receive an hourly wage. However, let’s consider their existing compensation, which takes a different and much larger form than just a weekly paycheck. Apart from their full-tuition scholarships, which cover the thousands of dollars in tuition costs other students meet through student loans, student-athletes enjoy boundless other benefits and opportunities.

They are provided housing – for free. They have access to literally the best meal plans and dietary regimens money can buy – for free. Athletes receive world-class healthcare – for free.  They travel around the country, frequently making trips to places non-athletes would love the opportunity to visit – for free.

Let’s not forget about the money athletes receive to cover expenses not associated with room and board. Back in 2015, The University of Alabama’s stipend for athletes’ additional expenses became one of the most generous in the nation, each semester doling out over $5,000 per athlete for out-of-state students and over $4,000 for in-state students.  

None of this minimizes the time and effort it takes to be an athlete at the University. They earn every benefit they receive, but we should be careful not to ignore the tremendous financial investments schools make in their athletes. At most colleges, athletic programs hemorrhage money on an annual basis, driving consistent budget deficits. This means that only the elite programs would be able to afford to pay hundreds of student-athletes, drastically shrinking the competitive pool of teams.  

And how will schools decide who to pay? While generating less revenue, members of the equestrian, dance, rowing and countless other teams devote tremendous time to their programs, and they do this without the opportunity to make millions of dollars in professional leagues upon graduation. Don’t they deserve some financial consideration, if not more?

One last benefit of being a UA athlete is the unparalleled publicity, connections and opportunity for personal branding – something other students can hardly imagine. But this raises the question, why are student-athletes barred from financially capitalizing on their name recognition? Great players like Tua Tagovailoa, Damien Harris and any other player who is good enough to be a household name should be able to profit from the personal brand they work so hard to develop while they’re in school. While finance students can use the knowledge they acquire in the classroom to land lucrative internships, football players are prevented from simply selling an autographed football to a fan who admires what their hard work has produced.  

Loosening some of the NCAA regulations that unfairly prevent exceptional athletes from enjoying the fruits of their labor in the form of sponsorships and signed memorabilia would help solve the issue of properly compensating athletes.  

Rather than transform student-athletes into professional athletes, doom smaller programs to extinction and open a Pandora’s box of ethical questions concerning equitable compensation, the NCAA should explore the option of allowing talented athletes to individually benefit from their contribution to collegiate athletics. College sports are more commercialized than ever before, and it’s time the NCAA allowed players to start reaping some of those commercial benefits.