Another huge problem with the implementation of this is, the employer would be the athletics department, not individual sports. So every sport's expenses are pooled together, every sport's revenues are pooled together. All athletes would be employees, not just some. So if a football team makes a profit of $50,000 per player, that money goes to all sports, not just the one. 80 football players would equal $4M, but, assuming every other sport breaks even already, an athletics department of 400 student-athletes would make $10,000 each. Is that on top on a scholarship or in lieu of one?

 

Now you have to factor in minimum wage, how many hours they can work, etc. which may go against NCAA rules. So the NCAA has to adjust its rules on practice times per week/per year, because it is a business.

 

 

What if student-athletes are paid through the Federal Work Study program? This could be possible, I have never seen a campus job for students pay regular money, it is always set up through FWS. Everyone I know who has worked a FWS campus job had to qualify for it first, then were paid minimum wage, regardless of what the job entailed. You also couldn't work more than 25 hours per week. Each school can dictate how much money they will allow a student in the financial aid package, and it's not allowed to go beyond the cost of tuition. Most sports have partial scholarships, so the staff dictates how much athletic money you receive. If a school cost $20k, you could get $15k in athletic scholarship then $5k in FWS. I don't know how it would work for a football player at Division I level, because they receive a full scholarship or no scholarship. So either the NCAA would have to make D1 football like every other sport with partial scholarships, or no scholarships so athletes can be paid through FWS.

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