Nearly two-thirds of Americans continue to oppose the idea of paying big-time college athletes, though a majority support providing health insurance to student-athletes after they graduate, according to an HBO Real Sports/Marist poll released on Wednesday. But support for payment was supported by a majority of African-Americans.



By a nearly two-to-one margin – 65% to 33% – Americans believe top college football and men’s basketball players should not receive monetary compensation beyond the value of a scholarship and opportunity to earn a degree (2% of respondents said they were unsure). The findings represent a slight increase in support for payment from this time last year, when 29% backed the idea.

But 56% of respondents, including 21% who strongly agreed, believe student-athletes should be provided health insurance for long-term medical problems that are a result of injuries they got from playing college sports. The NCAA currently does not require colleges to provide such coverage, except in the most extreme circumstances.

The poll found black Americans are overwhelmingly more supportive of reform than white Americans.

Blacks are far more likely than whites to say that top college football and men’s basketball players should be paid (59% to 26%), that they ‘strongly support’ extending long-term health care to former athletes (49% to 15%) and that they ‘strongly support’ allowing college athletes to major and receive a degree in the sport they play (37% to 9%).

The findings were released one day after a report on HBO’s Real Sports comprehensively detailed the physical, financial and psychological hardships many former college athletes face after graduation.

Adrian Arrington, a former Eastern Illinois football player, explains his emergency room bills.

“The public’s view on post-collegiate health insurance and the ability to even major in sports recognizes that top college athletes are making real sacrifices of time and even physical wellness,” said Dr Keith Strudler, director of the Marist College Center for Sports Communication, which sponsored the poll in partnership with the HBO newsmagazine. “It also suggests the public largely sees value in college sports as an academic enterprise. That’s a contrast to the common stereotype of the privileged college athlete.”

Respondents were divided on whether college athletes should be permitted to major in and receive a degree in the sport they play, with 49% in support in 45% in opposition.



Opinions on many of the questions differed by age as well as race.



While majorities across all generations oppose the payment of college athletes for their time and effort, Americans under 30 years old – 41%, up from 34% last year – are most likely to favor it.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted 1 to 4 March with 1,253 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.8%.

The poll also addressed the hot-button issue of sexual assault on college campuses and whether college athletes are judged by a different standard. In all, 58% of Americans believe athletes are treated differently: 36% say they’re treated less harshly, while 22% believe they’re held to a tougher standard.

Nonetheless, 46% do not think college athletes are more likely to commit or be accused of sexual assault relative to non-athletes, while only 15% believe athletes are more likely than their college-age counterparts to be involved in such incidents.

