Looking to the Olympic model for compensating athletes, Representative Mickey Dollens has introduced a bill that would pave the way for college athletes in Oklahoma to get paid for the use of their image or likeness.
Dollens calls it the “Fair Pay to Play” bill.
“The Olympic model would allow the NCAA to keep up the spirit of amateurism,” said Dollens who participated as both a Division 1 football player and as a member of the U.S. bobsled team. “It would also allow college student-athletes an opportunity to get paid at no additional cost to the school.”
The bill has the support of Representative Monroe Nichols, who played Division 1 football and has introduced similar legislation.
“There may have been a time that a scholarship was adequate compensation for the revenue a student-athlete brings an institution,” Nichols said. “That time has passed. College athletics is a multi-billion dollar industry built on the work and sacrifice of student-athletes. If we in Oklahoma believe collegiate athletes have the right to participate in the free market, then we need to pass a bill in the legislature that embodies the Olympic model.”
