Most people greatly underestimate the true compensation college football players receive at D1 schools.
College football players get
- free all expenses paid trips to the college during recruiting
- preferential treatment and lower standards when applying to the college
- tuition
- meals
- books and supplies
- tutors
- personal nutritionists
- personal trainers
- access to state of the art training facilities
- access to players only lounges/game rooms
- world class medical care
- group basic medical insurance provided by the NCAA
- catastrophic injury insurance provided by the NCAA
- Exceptional Student-Athlete Disability Insurance Program provided by the NCAA
- access to a variety of well trained and highly paid coaches to help them hone their skills (position coach, coordinator, head coach, etc.)
- access to TV and other media exposure to help advertise their skills to potential employers
- access to the NCAA Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund which will pay for the misc. expenses of an athlete such as street clothes (many schools allot athletes $500 to buy clothes anywhere they want)
- travel expenses to visit home
- parents travel expenses to events where an athlete is honored
- a laptop or any other equipment they may need as a student and much more through access to the NCAA Special Assistance Funds which will pay for even more misc. expenses if an athlete is deemed to be in financial need
- free on campus housing or an off campus housing stipend (the stipend allows athletes to legally pocket thousands in cash to spend any way they want)
- away game stipends which can be in excess of $45 per day
- bowl goody packages worth thousands of $
- daily per diem in excess of $45 per day on any day an athlete is required to go to practice, banquet or any other event
- the new true cost of scholarship stipend
....and the list goes on.
USA Today did a study that valued the average basketball D1 scholarship at $120,000 per year. That did not factor in much of what is listed above.
The vast majority of 17 year olds coming out of high school are not ready for the NFL. How much would they have to pay to be coached and break down film with Saban or Meyer 20 hours a week? How much would it cost to get 3 hours of TV time every Saturday in the Fall to advertise their skills?
The true value of the compensation package they are receiving is fairly close to priceless.