College Athletes as Employees

[ECisGod]

Bernie Sanders and a couple of other far left members of Congress have proposed a bill that would make college athletes who get scholarships employees of the school.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-athletes-would-be-defined-as-employees-who-could-collectively-bargain-if-new-senate-bill-becomes-law/

I wonder if they have even considered the tax ramifications for the "employees".  The cost of their scholarship, room & board and anything else they get from the school would be considered compensation by the IRS.  Most athletes would have trouble coming up with the money to pay the taxes even with NIL money (which would also be taxed).  Most D1 football &  basketball players would probably earn enough through NIL, but how is the D2 gymnast going to find the money to pay his/her taxes?

 

[seaofred92]

This is both interesting and concerning at the same time.

I feel like basketball players could really really benefit from this. It’s pretty nuts how the elite HS level kids build followings as early as 8th grade (see Ball, LaMelo). Guy was already top 10 in IG engagements as a rookie 19 year old. Now think about when guys go to these schools and get the stage of say a Duke or Kentucky, or are NCAA Tournament stars like Max Abmas. They could build a legit following with content and profit off of that (which is great) but there needs to be someone within these schools educating the players on the positives and downsides/ramifications as well. 

At the end of the day, whatever allows for players to profit off their NIL I’m for. Imagine what Bryce & Trey McGowens could earn by leveraging their NIL’s & platform at NU?

 

[Nebraska55fan]

The mast majority of College athletes will make little to nothing from NIL. Out of 85 kids on scholarship for football- maybe 10-15 will make more than the taxes owed on their scholarships. Bernie has really never held a real job outside of government, so he rarely considers all the implications these types of things seem to create. The collective bargaining is so the players can start earning salaries on top of what they are already getting now.  Bernie doesnt realize only a handful of Universities actually generate a profit on their sports teams- Im guessing hes going to suggest they just print more money to cover the difference- his answer to everything it seems. 

NIL- will be great for big name players, starters in the skill positions and star players for schools with big fan bases in the major sports. Wrestlers, gymnasts- all the other sports with the exception of some of the basketball, baseball and volleyball players will all be at zero for NIL. 

 

[BigRedBuster]

People who advocate for stuff like this fail at two things:

1). Realizing the benefits that these athletes already are getting. 
 

2). Realizing the huge negative ramifications to the majority of programs and players. 
 

At this point though, I don’t see a way to put the rabbit back in the hat.  20 years from now college sports are going to be very very different. Time will tell if it’s actually better as a fan or not.