The debate about paying National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I student-athletes is nothing new. The argument in support of paying such student-athletes, however, has gained substantial momentum over the past decade or so. As the NCAA agrees to billion-dollar extensions of media rights deals, allows its football coaches to collect seven figure salaries, and its revenues continue to increase—current and former Division I athletes recount nights going to bed hungry as well as struggles to keep up with schoolwork on top of the rigorous team demands. Multiple highly publicized antitrust lawsuits have been filed against the NCAA regarding its compensation rules in the last decade or so.
