Could high school athletes get paid to play?
Jeremy Gray, an Alabama state representative has prefiled a bill in which student athletes can make money off their name, image, and likeness.
Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é spoke to Ben Mastin, head coach of Danville High School basketball, and Tim Bowens, head coach of Brooks High School football. They had similar messages.
They say high school sports is not about getting paid to play. It’s about the purity of the sport, and embracing the community in which you live and representing the school you attend.
“It really does scare me," said Mastin.
He believes money should not be the top priority when it comes to high school athletics.
“High school sports should totally be about playing for your high school, playing with your friends, representing your community. That’s solely what it should be about," said Mastin.
A proposed bill could change that. Gray’s bill would make sure any student athlete in the state could receive compensation for the use of his or her name, image, or likeness.
Bowens says this could put smaller schools at a disadvantage.
"It does affect your smaller schools. Because those tend to not have as much revenue like the ones that are bigger and have a lot bigger gates, more students, all those things that can kind of generate revenue," said Bowens.
He says bringing in money could also impact the purity of high school sports, something both coaches say is what makes it unique.
"The purity of it is kind of overshadowed by monetary reasons and that could just be destructive to teams, it can be destructive to high school kids. It could teach them a bad sense of reality of what it really is," said Mastin.
“I would rather see it not come to high school because of that passion...because there’s a lot of kids that will never leave this town or this city and they'll just only play high school football or high school athletics," said Bowens.
Neither coach is 100 percent against the proposal if state lawmakers pass it, but they hope the structure of the deals are well placed.
If the bill is passed, state lawmakers hope it will take effect in October 2024.
