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How do Scholarships Compare to Professional Salaries?

One big argument against paying student-athletes is scholarships are payment enough. So, based solely on the monetary value of a full scholarship, how does it measure up to the amount professional athletes are being paid? Below, the top 10 NFL teams in revenue from 2017 are compared to the top 10 colleges according to football revenue from the 2017-2018 season. The red bars represent the amount the NFL teams were paying for their roster in 2017 according to Over the Top and the amount colleges spend on the scholarships for all 85 players according to the scholarship values from College Simply. The grey bars represent the remaining revenue for each team after they have paid for their athletes. Click on a bar to toggle between dollar amounts and percentage.

Texas Cowboys

$733.8

84.93%

$130.2

15.07%

University of Texas

$136.6

96.88%

$4.4

3.12%

New England Patriots

$442.5

74.62%

$150.5

25.38%

University of Tennessee

$106.8

96.24%

$4.2

3.76%

New York Giants

$341.8

69.33%

$151.2

30.67%

University of Alabama

$104

96.32%

$4

3.68%

Washington Redskins

$334.7

68.17%

$156.3

31.83%

University of Michigan

$100.7

95.01%

$5.3

4.99%

San Francisco 49ers

$370.8

78.89%

$99.2

21.11%

University of Notre Dame

$91.1

93.92%

$5.9

6.08%

Houston Texans

$322.5

69.50%

$141.5

30.50%

University of Oklahoma

$92.3

96.13%

$3.7

3.87%

Philadelphia Eagles

$308.9

67.45%

$149.1

32.55%

University of Georgia

$89.2

95.89%

$3.8

4.11%

Atlanta Falcons

$295.3

65.48%

$155.7

34.52%

The Ohio State University

$88.3

96.01%

$3.7

3.99%

New York Jets

$323.6

73.05%

$119.4

26.95%

Florida State University

$86.1

95.64%

$3.9

4.36%

Green Bay Packers

$323.6

64.72%

$153.1

35.28%

Pennsylvania State University

$85.6

95.13%

$4.4

4.87%