Oregon Poised To Pay College Players (I Missed Out)

By Cooper Banks

Boy, if I could have gotten paid as a college student-athlete…

I marvel at the thought.  Now, I’ll be honest, I was never likely to get paid for playing football in college.  For starters, I actually wasn’t even that good (lol),  Also, I played in an NCAA Division 2 program, which can count its die-hard fans in the hundreds and not the thousands (or millions).

So, it is unlikely I would ever have been able to land any big endorsement deals or name rights, etc.  However, I wonder how it might have changed my experience.

I wonder how just having the opportunity might have changed how I went about my sports business.

I found this great video from Vice News about the so-called “End Of Amateurism” in sports.

Check it out:

We’ve already seen California pave the way for student-athletes’ big payday and now Oregon lawmakers are poised to follow suit.

The Oregon state Senate passed a bill that would allow college student-athletes to obtain financial compensation for their effort.

Much like in California, the Oregon bill would allow student-athletes access to compensation by authorizing them to secure representation and endorsements.

It would also allow them to maintain ownership over their name, image, and likeness.

The bill passed with near-unanimous approval in the Senate chamber.

The bill now heads to the Oregon state House for consideration.