Student athletes should be compensated for their performances at the collegiate level.

For years, college athletes have proven themselves to be great enough players to play in professional sports. Unfortunately, only a small percentage actually get drafted by professional teams where they make a lot of money.

With the Fair Pay to Play Act signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 30, California college athletes will be able to make money through their own name, image and likeness. The bill will take effect January 2023.

A huge part of a school’s popularity results from the likeness and image of big name players.

In professional sports, athletes get paid through sponsorships, endorsements and contracts. From a team owners perspective, in order to have those things, you need to be a better player and get drafted into the pros.

The problem I could see with this type of thinking is the fact that college players getting drafted into the pros is a rare thing. It seems more harmful than good to athletes because not everyone makes it past the collegiate level.

It’s almost like free labor from athletes for these colleges. Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green, even compared the NCAA to a dictatorship in a press conference saying, “You spend so much time in college broke, with no money, and yet everybody else was living very well.”

Some students who get a scholarship to go a university come from poor backgrounds. Many student athletes still struggle to afford clothes, food and a place to live. In the end, they can only afford an image.

Of course I feel the more star power an athlete has, there should also be a decent payout for them as well, or just enough to get by. I feel like that will still keep athletes striving to do better, and keep things stable for students at the same time.