Compensation for College Athletes: The American Saga of Commercialization in Intercollegiate Sports

Abstract Between 2021 and 2025, national media gave attention to federal court cases and legislation that established new policies for increasing the compensation of college athletes. Foremost was “NIL,” acronym for the “Name-Image-Likeness” payment guidelines. Although NIL was hailed as a “whole new ball game” for students as paid athletes, our research tempers news coverage by drawing from historical findings about trends and traditions in college sports practices and policies. Compensation and commercialization in American intercollegiate athletics—and issues of the rights of college students and the governance of college sports—have been central to intercollegiate athletics from their founding to the present. An enduring legacy is an “American Dilemma” in the balancing of academic and business principles in the education of collegiate student athletes and conduct of varsity sports programs.