4. Direct pay or revenue sharing with players
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Insiders (sourced entries)
Supporters
Steve Spurrier (2011, $300 a game from coaches); Johnny Manziel (2014, 2018); Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett (2015; Bennett proposed deferred pay); Ed O'Bannon (2015, 2018); Joe Burrow (2017); Caleb Williams (2022); Desmond Howard (2022); Jim Harbaugh (2023–24); Archie Manning (2023, fine with pay but wants limits); Sedona Prince and Kardell Thomas (2025); Swinney (2025, revenue sharing with a cap); Travis Hunter (2025, free market).
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
At SEC spring meetings, Spurrier proposed that head coaches pay each of the 70 players in their traveling party $300 per game out of their own pockets. Seven SEC coaches, including Nick Saban, Les Miles, Will Muschamp and Dan Mullen, signed on.
“Then there are [players] walking out with an $800 scholarship check a month.”
Defending suspended Georgia RB Todd Gurley, Manziel said college players who build a brand should be able to profit from it, and contrasted the billions flowing to schools, networks and the SEC with players' monthly scholarship checks.
“And people are upset that student-athletes need a little cash. I tell you from experience that one time I had negative 40 bucks in my account.”
At Super Bowl week, Sherman argued athletes' schedules leave no real time to use the 'free education', and recalled having negative bank balances in college; defended athletes needing 'a little cash.'
“I think the NCAA is one of the biggest scams in America.”
Called the NCAA a scam; proposed paying players about $60,000 per year of college held in a 401(k)-style account until a certain age; criticized medical care for injured players.
“I've said a million times that players aren't asking for millions of dollars a year.”
The lead plaintiff in the NCAA likeness case said his view had evolved: beyond likeness rights, paying athletes as employees was now a strong possibility 'within reason,' meaning modest pay rather than millions.
“Our team is worth 1.5 BILLION dollars but it wouldn't be fair to other students if we get a free hamburger.”
Responding to a Wall Street Journal valuation of Ohio State football at $1.5 billion, Burrow tweeted a jab at NCAA rules that barred players from even small benefits.
“I think that's a distraction. There are smart enough people at these universities to figure it out.”
O'Bannon said claims that paying athletes is too complicated are a distraction. His proposal was to open the books and share revenue with athletes in all sports, while letting stars earn outside endorsement money.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
After reports of the NCAA's roughly $1.1 billion in revenue, Manziel tweeted that the NCAA needed to 'PAY UP,' sharing his 2013 TIME cover titled 'It's time to pay college athletes.'
“To not be able to get paid for something like that, I say it's kind of crazy.”
Early in the NIL era, Williams defended athletes getting paid because their days are longer than most people's. He called transferring to run from competition 'a little weak-minded' but said coaching changes uproot players.
“They should get paid; they should be able to transfer. Coaches do it all the time.”
Backed NIL pay and free transfer ('if coaches can do it, players should'), but said the lack of rules turned it into the wild, wild west.
“Right now, the current status quo is unacceptable and won't survive.”
Harbaugh opened his weekly press conference with a monologue calling for a revenue-sharing system with athletes, calling the status quo unacceptable and saying schools that capitalize on talent should pay the talent.
“If you want to go to a college, it should be because you want to play football there, not because somebody pays you more than the other guy”
Said he has no problem with players earning money but NIL arrived without limits or uniformity; the portal erodes team bonds; called college football 'kind of upside down'.
“We're all robbing the same train here.”
At CFP national championship media day, Harbaugh proposed that everyone profiting from athletes (coaches, administrators, conferences, universities, the NCAA) take 5 to 10% less, plus a 10% tax on TV money, all pooled for athletes in every sport.
“The thing I would change about college football is to let the talent share in the ever-increasing revenues.”
The morning after winning the national title, Harbaugh said the one thing he would change is letting players share in revenues, and called unionization the next step if institutions won't do it themselves.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
Swinney has backed revenue sharing because it comes with a salary cap and promised regulation of third-party NIL, but he opposes the House settlement's 105-man football roster limit because it squeezes out walk-ons.
“There shouldn't be no regulations. You earned it. Free market.”
Reacting on his podcast to reports of huge NIL deals for transfer QBs, Hunter said college players should get whatever the market will pay, without regulation, because they have almost no time off.
“Historically, over and over, time and time again, unless you force their hand to make a change, they're not going to do it by themselves”
Said leaders won't change unless forced, and urged schools to max out House revenue sharing, 'because if you don't pay your student-athletes, you're not going to have student-athletes.'
“I feel like if I could've had NIL in my third year, I could've bought my dad a kidney, and maybe he wouldn't have died”
A four-school portal veteran, said the system rather than the schools failed him; his father died of kidney disease before NIL could help.
Opponents or skeptics
Myles Brand (2008); Swinney (2014); Tim Tebow (2019; softened in 2022); Bo Jackson (2026).
“We want to maximize the number of students who learn these skills, not cut programs in order to pay salaries to a few.”
In a HuffPost column, Brand rejected the 'capitalism' argument for pay-for-play. He said most athletic programs don't generate enough revenue to pay players, and that paying a few would mean cutting sports that benefit many students.
“But as far as paying players, professionalizing college athletics, that's where you lose me.”
Asked about the Northwestern players' union push, Swinney said he opposed paying players and professionalizing college athletics, and suggested that any improvements, such as a post-graduation annuity or stipend, should be tied to education and graduation.
“And that's just not where I feel like where college football needs to go. There's an opportunity in the NFL, but not in college football.”
On ESPN's First Take, opposed California's NIL bill, saying college football is about team and school and that paying players feeds a 'selfish culture'.
“I also think that it's important we also kind of put up guardrails in place for the teams and the coaches and everyone to understand the do's and don'ts of it.”
Softened on NIL, calling parts of it 'really cool' but urging guardrails; predicted realignment would settle into at least three major conferences.
“To be honest, I think it's teaching young kids how to run away from their problems. Number two, it's ruining college sports.”
On The Big Podcast with Shaq, said NIL plus the portal teaches kids to run from problems and is 'ruining college sports'.
Alternative
Donald Trump (2026) floated equal, modest pay for every player.
“With every player, maybe the quarterback and the third-string lineman making the same.”
At the roundtable he convened, Trump floated returning to a scholarship-based system with modest, equal pay for every player. He said he would pursue an executive order while Congress works on the SCORE Act.
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