Trendspotting: Should Colleges Pay Student Athletes?

NewsWire: 3/19/22

• Americans are closely divided over whether colleges should pay their athletes. But they're widely divided by age: Most age 45 and under say they should; most over 45 say they shouldn't. (The New York Times)
  
• NH: According to a new survey by the Marist Poll, 46% of Americans believe colleges should pay their athletes. And 49% believe they shouldn’t.
• But opinions vary significantly by age, race, and gender. By age, the young are much more likely to agree than older adults: 70% of those ages 18-29  vs. 29% of those age 60+. By race/ethnicity, minorities agree more than whites: 69% of blacks and Latinos vs. 34% of whites. And by gender, 54% of men agree vs. 39% of women.

• An even larger share of Americans (74%) believe college athletes should be allowed to profit from their personal brand or N.I.L. (names, images, and likenesses). This includes benefiting from paid sponsorships and autographs. 
• It may seem contradictory that, by a small margin, more Americans are opposed to colleges paying athletes, but that they also support athletes making private deals by a larger margin. So what's going on? I suspect older Americans have very mixed feelings here. They sympathize with unpaid kids performing for college teams that are raking in billions. But they remain very uncomfortable with the growing commercialization of college sports.

Did You Know?

• Who’s Mad for March Madness? Just 29% of U.S. adults say they plan to watch at least some of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this year. That’s down slightly from 2021 and continues a years-long slide. Five years ago, 43% of respondents said that they were going to watch. The decline has been most pronounced among viewers age 45 and under. In 2017, just under half (48%) intended to watch, but that has fallen to 27% today. The share of Americans who plan to fill out a bracket has also declined. This said, although interest in college basketball appears to be waning, those who are still watching are probably more engaged than ever thanks to the rise of sports betting. According to the American Gaming Association, 17% of adults plan to wager an estimated $3.1B on the March Madness tournament this year, with the majority of those wagers being placed outside of brackets (76%, up from 55% in 2021).