I am thrilled to announce my 224th Scorum Sports Cast! You can find me @thesportsguru and I will be giving you the best 5-10 minute sports rants here on Scorum every day. On today’s episode I will talk about my idea to get college athletes PAID!

It was over 5 years ago since this magazine cover was printed:

But yet, nothing has been done or changed.

The #1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft this summer is going to be Zion Williamson of Duke. He is the most sought after player since Lebron James was coming out of high school 16 years ago. Zion had an awful scare though a few weeks ago when he appeared to suffer from a knee injury. Although he has not played in a game since then, all reports are that he is completely fine and he is just resting out of precaution.

That got me thinking about the topic of paying college athletes. There are only a few sports at universities that produce much profit for the school. Football and Men’s Basketball. It is not really possible to pay all the athletes or even most of the athletes. Someone one the Row Team or Women’s Lacrosse simply does not produce money for the university like the quarterback does. It is just the facts.

So here is my idea….let the athletes market themselves with no restrictions or penalties . Let them sign endorsement deals with Nike or Under Armor or whoever wants to pay them. Local businesses on or near campuses would love to have their logo on the arms of a swimmer or a local restaurant would love to have the soccer team support their Taco Tuesdays. Of course the big money, like Nike, would go to the Zion Williamson’s of the world, but that is ok and well deserved.

Let them sign autographs for money and sell their uniforms or practice jerseys once they are done with them. Let them get paid to host events or EMCEE for a charity auction.

This way it is a free market and people will get paid what they are worth. The NCAA can keep all of their precious money so it won’t affect them one bit. No “laws” need to change. Nothing really needs to happen at all. Just allow the athletes to market themselves however they wish to. PROBLEM SOLVED…

I would love to tell you all about it in my new Scorum Sports Cast. To check out my 224th show just click the play button below. I look forward to hearing your input and comments. Cheers!