SEC players set to collect cash in $60 million settlement with NCAA, EA Sports

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Dulfite said:

I just think you'll hear an uproar from other sport's players that don't get compensated because their sport isn't popular enough to have video games about it. Not that the argument is valid, but I still think it's going to be chaotic. And schools do make a lot off football, yes, but they are forced to take losses on pretty much every other sport other than basketball so shouldn't they have the right to make more money that will allow other people to play less lucrative sports with scholarships?

Other sports' players don't really have any right to complain though: whether the athletes' income comes from revenue sharing or publicity rights, the compensation is received from profits which are actually derived. This would be like an MLS player demanding that the MLB share a portion of its profits for the MLS player's salary.  This argument doesn't hold moral or legal weight. As long as every sports offers a similar set of rights, the uneven distribution is a problem for the player who picks fencing over football, not the college.

As for the second question, I would point out that even revenue sharing plans will leave plenty of profits for the universities: as the O'Bannon decision points out, colleges somehow find enough leftover revenue from college sports to make a football or basketball coach the highest paid public employee in 40 of 50 states, and to construct half-billion dollar+ athletic facilities. If Alabama can pay Saban $7 million per year - plus bonuses - it can afford to make a $5,000 annual trust fund for its football players. It can also negotiate revenue sharing plans with its athletes that are equitable for all sides. And letting popular athletes make money from their own fame via endorsements etc. - like it allows its coaches to do - costs the colleges nothing at all.