Steve Spurrier thinks revenue-generating athletes should get paid

To pay, or not to pay college athletes? It’s a debate we may never get resolved, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t talk about it.

College football Hall of Famer Steve Spurrier may not have the answer on how the NCAA could pay college athletes, but he certainly thinks that it needs to happen. With the salaries that college football coaches have, Spurrier doesn’t see a reason as to why the athletes shouldn’t profit off of it. At least, for the sports that are bringing in the most revenue.

“If you pay football and basketball players, then they say well how come you can’t give it to the women sports and the other sports,” Spurrier told FanSided. “I don’t really have the answer for that, I just always think whoever is responsible for bringing in the most money should get a little bit more than the other people.”

This has been the central focus of this argument since the conversation on paying college athletes began. What does the pay scale look like for all sports? Some, like Spurrier, believe football and men’s basketball — the sports that generate millions of dollars for their universities — should be getting paid the most. Others think that if all sports cannot be equally accommodated, then no one should profit. It’s a double-edged sword that the NCAA doesn’t want to deal with or even try to figure out.

In 2017 there were 27 schools who raked in over $100 million from their athletics department, with the top spot belonging to the University of Texas, generating $182.1 million, $120.5 million from the football program alone.

For Spurrier, who while coaching at South Carolina helped spearhead the effort to get college football players more money for schooling, paying college athletes seems like a no brainer.

“The money is so big and head coaches are making so much money you would think the performers would get a little bit bigger piece of the pie,” Spurrier said. “However they can work that out fairly is what we need to do.”