College Athletes Getting Paid?
by: Braden Fogerson
In an attempt to create more revenue for Illinois, Senator Carson Latta and Representative Logan Kirk are sponsoring a bill to allow college athletes to receive endorsement deals. In addition, athletes in Illinois could also hire agents, all without penalty from the NCAA. If the athlete’s school tries to impede, that school would lose 5% of the revenue from that student’s sport. If the bill goes into effect on January 1st, 2023, it will be enforced by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
The bill’s authors added that they expect it to bring in more revenue for Illinois. Not only would this bill sway athletes toward Illinois schools because of this freedom, but also, fans could buy merchandise for these players. In addition, more people might buy tickets to see these athletes play. However, the goal of this bill isn’t to make these athletes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead, it is designed to help students pay off loans or have enough money to get by without another job in order to focus more time on their sport. As for the sports video game market, if more states open up to this idea, we could see college videogames back for the first time since 2014.
