In Dramatic Shift, Public Thinks All Student Athletes in Revenue Producing Sports Should Be Compensated Beyond Scholarships
South Orange NJ, March 16, 2021 – By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Americans believe that student athletes should be allowed to profit from the use of their name, image or likeness (NIL), according to a national poll conducted March 13-15 by the Seton Hall Sports Poll. This result is consistent with the poll’s findings from 2019.
Fifty-six percent of the general population favored compensation, with 25 percent opposed and 19 percent undecided. Under NCAA rules, such compensation has never been permitted among colleges in the US.
The trend is relatively steady from when the question was first asked in an October 2019 Seton Hall Sports Poll, where slightly less than a 2-to-1 margin favored NIL compensation for student athletes. In that poll, however, the number in favor of compensation was larger (60 percent) ) but so was the number opposed (32 percent compared to just 25 percent in this most recent poll). In 2019 the number of undecided was just eight percent; in 2021 the undecided on the issue totaled 19 percent.
The margin of error for this week’s poll is 3.2 percent; in 2019 it was 3.8 percent. A total of 1,538 people participated in the current poll, geographically spread across the country.
Sports Fans in Favor, 10 pt. Net Shift Up
Among those who consider themselves to be “avid fans,” 74 percent favored NIL compensation, and only 16 percent did not. Among all those who describe themselves as “sports fans,” the margin was 64-26 percent in favor of compensation. Those who said they were not fans at all still favored compensation for use of name, image and likeness by 46-25 percent.
The results among sports fans was consistent with the poll’s findings in 2019, where 60 percent of those who followed sports were in favor of NIL compensation and 32 percent were not. The current results for sports fans show a small increase of those in favor (4 pts.) as well as a larger decline (6 pts.) in those opposed, equaling a 10 point favorable shift in total since 2019.
“Given the differences in the margin of error between the two polls, the relative novelty of the question and the similarities in the results, it’s fair to say that the two polls show a consistency of thought on the issue – with the general public favoring NIL compensation by at least a 2-to-1 margin if not more,” said Seton Hall Professor of Marketing and Poll Methodologist Daniel Ladik. “That’s a sizable margin in polling, And for sport fans, it’s even greater.”
Who Decides?
Asked “who should decide” the question of NIL compensation for student athletes, 44 percent said a “court of law,” and 25 percent said the NCAA. This result is a dramatic shift from 2019 when 59 percent said it should be the NCAA. Thirty percent said they did not know or had no opinion on the question in the current poll.
Should All Student Athletes in Revenue Generating Sports Be Financially Compensated? A Dramatic Shift in Favor
Respondents were also asked whether student athletes should be financially compensated beyond scholarships and a cost of attendance stipend for participating in revenue-producing sports such as basketball and football. Here there is a far more dramatic trend: only 31 percent said “no,” compared to 60 percent in 2017 and 71 percent when the question was asked in 2013.
“Unlike NIL, overall compensation for student athletes is not a novel question and the answer is even clearer,” said Professor Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management within the Stillman School of Business, which oversees the Seton Hall Sports Poll. “Opposition to these athletes sharing in the bounty of this multi-billion dollar business that we refer to as ‘amateur athletics’ has fallen away dramatically over the last decade.” Grantham, the former executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, further observed “One has to believe that as this ‘amateur’ business model has grown exponentially lucrative, so has the perception of exploitation. We remedied this in the pro model through revenue sharing with the athletes. It would seem as though the public, and especially sports fans, are looking for a viable and equitable solution for student athletes. Revenue sharing could do that.”
In the current poll, 49 percent said yes they should receive compensation, with “avid fans” saying yes by a 68-26 percent margin, “sports fans” yes by a 58-31 percent margin, and “casual fans” saying yes by a 53-33 percent margin. Non-fans were closer – the yes margin was 37-33 percent, with 30 percent saying they did not know or had no opinion.
# # #
Questions and charted breakdowns below.
ABOUT THE POLL
The Seton Hall Sports Poll, conducted regularly since 2006, is performed by the Sharkey Institute within the Stillman School of Business. This poll was conducted online by YouGov Plc. using a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S residents. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been chosen for inclusion in iPoll by Cornell’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and its findings have been published everywhere from USA Today, ESPN, The New York Times, Washington Post, AP, and Reuters to CNBC, NPR, Yahoo Finance, Fox News and many points in between.
Media: Michael Ricciardelli, Associate Director of Media Relations, Seton Hall University
michael.ricciardelli@shu.edu, 908-447-3034; Marty Appel, AppelPR@gmail.com
Results
This SHSP was conducted March 13th though March 15th and includes responses from 1,538 US adults with a margin of error of 3.2%. The sample mirrors the US Census percentages on age, gender, income, education, ethnicity, and region.
Q1. Which, if any, of the following statements best describes you?
- I am an avid sports fan 16%
- I am a sports fan 41%
- I am nota sports fan 43%
Within the rules of the NCAA (the National Collegiate Athletic Association), college athletes that represent their college/university have ‘amateur status’. ‘Amateur status’ college athletes are only compensated through their academic scholarships and college/university attendance stipend, and cannot receive any additional payment for participation in games, tournaments, nor any form of off-campus monetization (i.e., through the use of an athlete’s name, image, or likeness on sports media). Student athletes must also maintain their position on their college/university’s team to be able to receive compensation.
Last year the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). For the 2021 season, the teams selected to play must enter an “isolation bubble” in the city of Indianapolis in order to play. It was recently announced that approximately 3,000 fans will be allowed to attend the games at the indoor NCAA arenas.
Like numerous employees across America, many student athletes were required by their universities to sign Coronavirus (COVID-19) liability waivers in order to play their sport on campus. At the same time, regular students, including those with academic scholarships, were not required to sign waivers to take classes.
The following questions will ask about your opinions on the relationship between student athletes and the rules of the NCAA.
Q5a. Do you think it is fair to for student athletes to comply with the ‘isolation bubble’ requirement in order to play in games/tournaments, etc.?
| N=1,538
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 59% | 69% | 48% | 80% | 64% |
| No | 21% | 20% | 22% | 14% | 22% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 20% | 11% | 30% | 6% | 14% |
Q5b. Should a player be able to opt-out of the NCAA tournament without impacting their scholarship?
| N=1,538
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 61% | 68% | 52% | 77% | 65% |
| No | 19% | 19% | 18% | 14% | 21% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 20% | 13% | 30% | 9% | 14% |
Q5c. If like employees, student athletes are required to sign Coronavirus (COVID-19) liability waivers, should they be compensated beyond their scholarship?
| N=1,538
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 43% | 51% | 32% | 65% | 45% |
| No | 29% | 29% | 29% | 22% | 32% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 28% | 20% | 39% | 13% | 23% |
Q5d. Do you think student athletes should be allowed to profit from the use of their name, image, or likeness?
| N=1,538
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 56% | 64% | 46% | 74% | 60% |
| No | 25% | 26% | 25% | 16% | 30% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 19% | 10% | 29% | 10% | 10% |
Q5e. Do you think student athletes should be financially compensated, in addition to a scholarship and cost of attendance stipend, for participating in revenue producing sports, such as basketball and football?
| N=1,538
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 49% | 58% | 37% | 68% | 53% |
| No | 31% | 31% | 33% | 26% | 33% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 20% | 11% | 30% | 6% | 14% |
Q6. Who should decide if college athletes can profit from the use of their name, image, or likeness, a court of law, or the NCAA?
| N=1,538
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| A court of law should decide | 44% | 50% | 37% | 57% | 47% |
| The NCAA should decide | 25% | 31% | 19% | 29% | 31% |
| Don’t know/No opinion | 30% | 19% | 44% | 14% | 22% |
ABOUT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall has been showing the world what great minds can do since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous academic programs, Seton Hall’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek.
Seton Hall embraces students of all religions and prepares them to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, it has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth and an impressive 110-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. In the past decade, Seton Hall students and alumni have received more than 30 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors, including Boren Awards, Pickering Fellowships, Udall Scholarships and a Rhodes Scholarship. The University is also proud to be among the most diverse national Catholic universities in the country.
During the past five years, the University has invested more than $165 million in new campus buildings and renovations. And in 2015, Seton Hall launched a School of Medicine as well as a College of Communication and the Arts. The University’s beautiful main campus in suburban South Orange, N.J. is only 14 miles from New York City — offering students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. Seton Hall’s nationally recognized School of Law is located prominently in downtown Newark. The University’s Interprofessional Health Sciences (IHS) campus in Clifton and Nutley, N.J. opened in the summer of 2018. The IHS campus houses the University’s College of Nursing, School of Health and Medical Sciences and the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.
For more information, visit www.shu.edu.