Survey: Fans Reluctant to Treat College Athletes as Paid Professionals

While many Americans are open to compensating college athletes in some form, more prefer to see colleges continue to treat athletes as amateurs who compete primarily for love of the sport and educational opportunities. That’s according to a new national survey by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute.

More than twice as many people say that the focus of college sports should be opportunities to participate (71 percent) than say that the focus should be producing the highest level of play possible (30 percent), the survey found.

Asked whether student-athletes should be compensated beyond scholarships, 50 percent of Americans say they should not be further compensated, while 32 percent say they should be. Of that minority who are open to further compensation, less than half (48 percent) said athletes should be paid a stipend. Ideas such as benefiting from merchandise sales (43 percent), being allowed to work for pay while on scholarship (42 percent), or licensing (40 percent) also registered support.

The public does not have much sympathy for college athletes who have run-ins with the law. Three-quarters of people (77 percent) say such athletes should be treated the same as everyone else in the eyes of the law, and 13 percent say they should face stricter punishment for infractions.

“The general public says that college athletes should be treated the same as everyone else when it comes to bad behavior. Whether or not that is actually happening is open to debate,” commented Fran Reidy, director of athletics at Saint Leo University.

For 29 percent of respondents, poor player behavior leads them to follow or view the team less often, while 34 percent admit that individual player behavior does not affect their support for the teams they follow.

Finally, as the new college football playoff system gets underway, nearly half of Americans-including 59 percent of men and 39 percent of women-say they are very or somewhat interested in the coming college football playoffs.

The full Saint Leo University Polling Institute national survey results on politics, Pope Francis favorability, charitable giving, and technology, can be found here: http://polls.saintleo.edu.