A few weeks back, during Big Ten meetings in Chicago, there was discussion of a proposal that would help student-athletes with costs of living beyond the costs of their scholarships. Nothing was ratified, no rule changes were made, but the fact it was discussed shows a shift in thinking in the Big Ten for the better.

College sports is a business. It’s not the history of the sport or the legacy of a university program or the “purity” of amateur athletes on a fall afternoon, no matter what the advertisers say. And Big Ten sports is a highly successful business with a television deal with the Big Ten Network and CBS that was worth $252 million in 2010, according to the SportsBusiness Journal. That’s $21 million for all 12 Big Ten universities.

So, like any business, college sports must begin to pay its employees, the people that engineer and create the products the business distributes. Because without the employees (student-athletes), there’s no business (college sports), and without the business, there’s no money. Now, let me be clear: I’m not saying every student-athlete on campus should be driving a Lexus. But I am saying they deserve some compensation for the revenue they create for the school.

We’ve seen the result of universities not paying student-athletes. Some — not all — take money from agents or booster clubs. Some sell memorabilia for money. Both of these are NCAA violations that cast the school in a negative light and cost the university money on (hopefully) thorough internal investigations. As we recently have seen with the resignation of former Ohio State football head coach Jim Tressel, violations force a university to put out an inferior product, one in which fans are less likely to invest.

Paying student-athletes benefits the university and the student. If students receive a stipend or other form of compensation, they have less motivation to leave school early and chase a professional dream (and the money that comes with it). When the student-athlete doesn’t leave early, he or she also continues taking classes and learning. Retaining student-athletes also improves team cohesion by giving players time to become familiar with each other, resulting in a higher-quality product for the university to sell and for fans to purchase.

But not every conference is the Big Ten; not every college has $21 million in revenue from TV deals to give its athletics. So, if some method of paying student-athletes was introduced, how would those conferences and universities compete for top-notch student-athletes?

Short answer: They wouldn’t.

But not every university has top-of-the-line research facilities. Not every university has brand new athletic facilities. Not every university has a Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. There already are imbalances in the nationwide competition for students.

Yet all universities admit students every year, and college sports remains relatively competitive for all universities. The ideas of a college securing top athletic talent with the promise of payment and securing a top scientific talent with the promise of research facilities and grants aren’t all that different. Imbalances in recruiting have been — and will continue to be — overcome.

Maybe the solution lies in stipends that come from outside the university. For example, during the Southeastern Conference’s meetings last week, South Carolina football head coach Steve Spurrier proposed $300-a-game salary for players out of his own pocket, with the backing of other SEC football head coaches.

Although all head coaches don’t have the ability to give $300 a game to players, the idea of a private donation directly to support programs is a good one. Perhaps by legitimizing booster donations, the NCAA can regulate them with more frequency.

All university athletes deserve to get paid. Although it’s widely accepted at most universities that football and basketball pay all the bills, that doesn’t make football and basketball players more deserving than other student-athletes. Every student-athlete equally is deserving of a stipend.
Every university sport has a budget; some university sport bring in revenue for the school. The athletes that bring in revenue deserve a stipend.

Each segment of a business helps that business bring in revenue. College sports, as an extremely profitable business, is no different.

Lazarus Jackson is the State News opinion writer. Reach him at jacks920@msu.edu.