Could College Athletes Soon Get Paid Like Workers?

College sports are a big deal in America. From basketball to football, these games draw in thousands of fans and make tons of money. In fact, just the big tournaments in college basketball and football bring in about $14 billion! 

The coaches of these teams get paid lots of money, too – they're often the highest-paid public workers in many states.

But what about the players? For a long time, they weren't allowed to get paid in cash. The NCAA, which is the group in charge of college sports, said players could only get scholarships and money for school stuff. But in 2019, some athletes said 'enough is enough' and went to court. They were fighting to at least get minimum wage for playing their sports.

There was a big court decision recently that might change things. The court said that college athletes might be considered employees of their schools. This goes against what the NCAA and the schools were saying – they wanted everyone to think of college sports as just for fun, not a job. 

But the court didn't agree and sent the case back for more review under a new set of rules. Now, courts have to look at things like whether the athletes' main purpose is to benefit the school, how much coaches control what they do, and if they are playing for some kind of payment.

If the athletes win their case, college players all over the country might start getting paid like regular employees.

Before this, the only way players could make money was through their name, image, and likeness (also called NIL). That means they could get paid for being in ads or video games, but not directly for playing sports. 

The courts and rules are changing, so now universities can help them make money through NIL deals, but they can’t pay players straight cash for playing games.

Even as things are shifting, the whole system is still shaky. Another case in play could let schools pay their players directly, but they're trying not to call them employees. They're also trying to keep the payments limited. If the players win the case, this whole plan could crash down, and schools would have to rethink how they pay their athletes.

In short, the argument about whether college athletes are just students playing a game or employees who should get paid is still ongoing. The decisions made in these court cases could really shake up college sports in a big way.

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