As the Big Ten finalized its new billion-dollar television media rights deal on Thursday, Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud believes players should share in the conference’s broadcast revenue.
Stroud loves college football and the atmosphere that defines the sport. However, he knows that the game was built on amateurism and firmly believes the revenue should be shared.
“… I’m not 100% sure what our [Ohio State] tuition is, but I’m sure it’s not the worth of what we’re actually worth,” Stroud said, per The Columbus Dispatch. “My mom has always told me to know my worth.”
The conference’s seven-year media rights deal includes multiple broadcast networks and is worth more than $7 billion in total, sources told Sports Illustrated. With the agreement slated to start in ’23, Big Ten sports will be broadcast on six different platforms: Fox and its affiliates, FS1 and the Big Ten Network; CBS, and NBC and its direct-to-consumer streaming platform Peacock.
Name, image and likeness has altered the way players can make profit through endorsement deals with outside companies and generous donors leading booster-led collectives. However, athletes are still not paid directly by universities.
While athletes like Stroud receive the perks of tuition, room and board and stipends to handle living expenses through scholarships, he believes athletes put in a ton of time and energy into the sport that goes beyond what a scholarship provides.
“All the time that goes into it [football], it's definitely tough,” Stroud told the Dispatch. “Then you take time away from your family. I’m 2,000 miles away from home. I don’t want anybody to feel bad for me, but at the same time, it does take a lot of courage, it does take a lot of heart, to be here day in and day out.”
However, if Stroud and other Big Ten athletes are unable to earn a portion of the league's revenue, he is confident that NIL will be the equalizer.
“I definitely think it should be shared, but if not, at the end of the day we have the NIL space,” Stroud said, per the Dispatch. “We can do it that way. The new college world is turning around, and I’m here for it.”
In June, Stroud landed a $150,000 Bentley Bentayga in a NIL partnership with Sarchione Auto Gallery. In the deal, Stroud promotes the car dealership on social media as well as makes public appearances at the business. He became the first Ohio State player to partake in a partnership with the dealership since NIL deals with college athletes became official in July 2021.
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