Fans in the student section hold up a BYU banner during a football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. | Ben B. Braun, Deseret News
When BYUtv hits the air at 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31, to begin its “GameDay” pregame show outside LaVell Edwards Stadium, it will do so with an army of student support. They are the best of the best — students from all over campus operating cameras, editing audio and video, producing graphics and running interference for the demanding two-hour production.
A student doesn’t have to be a broadcast major to work on the show, they just need to be good at what they do and, no matter if they are on scholarship or not, they are paid as a university employee in one form or another to do it.
Ten minutes into the broadcast, their peers on the football team will arrive to a thunderous roar as they prepare to face Southern Illinois. They, too, are students who are mostly on scholarship, and some have NIL benefits, but there is a big difference.
Despite their challenging job requirements, the 60,000-plus fans who paid top dollar to watch them, and the millions in revenue they will generate for BYU over the next four hours, none of these students can be compensated like the BYUtv crew.
Is there a difference between paying a student camera operator and a student linebacker participating in the same profitable event? That is the question the NCAA is answering for BYU and every other school with a resounding “No” — not anymore.
Paying student-athletes to play is on its way and despite some natural “old school” resistance, it is long overdue. What remains unsettled is how distribution will take place. Will the linebacker become a taxable university employee just like the camera operator is?
Negative stigma
Paying players makes people nervous.
There is no shortage…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/byu-future-requires-paradigm-shift-181500587.html
Author : Deseret News
Publish date : 2024-06-03 18:15:00
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