Should College Athletes Be Allowed to Be Paid? A Public Opinion Analysis

Abstract

Traditionally, public opinions have largely opposed further compensation for U.S. college athletes, beyond the costs of going to school. This study uses new data from the National Sports and Society Survey (N = 3,993) to assess recent public opinions about allowing college athletes to be paid more than it costs them to go to school. The authors found that a majority of U.S. adults now support, rather than oppose, allowing college athletes to be paid. Also, the authors found that White adults are especially unlikely, and Black adults are especially likely, to support allowing payment. Furthermore, recognition of racial/ethnic discrimination is positively, and indicators of traditionalism are negatively, associated with support for allowing college athletes to be paid.

Sexuality, Sports-Related Mistreatment, and U.S. Adults’ Sports Involvement

“…Indeed, being involved with sports (e.g., playing, watching, conversing about them) is a dominant form of leisure. Also, sport structures, cultures, and patterns of social interactions have the capacity to offer both positive and negative sports-related experiences and to both encourage and discourage sports involvementwith implications for social justice as well as individuals' health and well-being (Allison & Knoester, 2020;Knoester & Ridpath, 2020;Silk et al, 2017). Although sport has long been recognized as a particularly heteronormative and patriarchal institution, it has also offered valuable sources of community, identity, and feelings of well-being for individuals with diverse sexual and gender identities.…”

Public Opinions About Paying College Athletes and Athletes Protesting During the National Anthem

“…What often seem to be apolitical sports-related issues have become cultural touchstones that symbolize and bring to light racialized and politicized experiences and worldviews (Knoester and Ridpath, 2020;Knoester et al, 2021;Thorson and Serazio, 2018). That is, mirroring racial/ethnic and political divides in public sentiment on a range of social issues, substantial racial/ethnic and political partisanship gaps have become apparent in public opinions about current events in sports (Druckman et al, 2016;Intravia et al, 2020;Knoester and Ridpath, 2020).…”

“…Yet beyond merely reflecting existing patterns of political polarization, sport is also a uniquely powerful racialized and politicized social setting that is particularly meaningful to the many who play or follow. Still, it is characterized by the simultaneous salience of and disavowal of race and politics (Hartmann 2016;Knoester and Ridpath, 2020;Knoester et al, 2021).…”

“…Despite the popular mythology that situates sport in the less "serious" realm of entertainment, sport is a fundamentally social and political institution, a site where systems of racial/ethnic and political meaning, interaction, and social organization are understood, constructed, and challenged, and where events are frequently understood through the lenses of race/ethnicity and politics-even if they appear to be race-neutral or apolitical (Carrington 2013;Edwards 2017;Hartmann 2000;Thorson and Serazio, 2018). The co-opting of the racialization and politicization of sports has become particularly common and apparently strategic since the election of Donald Trump in November of 2016, and a great deal of research has focused on these recent dynamics (Knoester and Ridpath, 2020;Montez de Oca and Suh, 2020;Park et al, 2020). Yet less attention has been paid to the racialization and politicization of sports and their links to public opinions just prior to Trump's election.…”

“…Public opinion also symbolizes individual and cultural values and can offer knowledge about the framing and negotiation of important issues. In fact, sports-related public opinions may be especially revealing because individuals seem to be at least partly unaware of the broader implications of their attitudes about sports (Knoester and Ridpath, 2020;Knoester et al, 2021;Mondello et al, 2013;Wallsten et al, 2017). Nonetheless, research on race and public opinions about sports-related issues is underdeveloped.…”