NFL legend Emmitt Smith: College athletes deserve to be paid
NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith told FOX Business Monday that he supports paying players at the collegiate level.
“They're making a lot of revenue throughout the NCAA,” he told Stuart Varney, adding that “I was glued to my television on Saturday.”
His comments come as 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said college athletes should be paid because they are employees.
“I know the SEC network, I know the Big 12 Network and everybody got their network and all of these games and so forth. They have so many ballgames. They got the [Bowl Championship Series] playoff and they pay these universities $15 [million], $20 million dollars a year. Coaches are getting paid $6 [million], $7 [million], $8 [million], $9 million a year to coach these teams and they can leave whenever they want to. So yes, yes I do believe that players should get compensated,” Smith explained.