E60’s ‘Paid to Play’ offers different perspectives on college sports’ new era

Throughout the ESPN E60 special, Paid to Play: Understanding College Sports in 2025, Jeremy Schaap asks: Is amateurism dead?

It’s, of course, a rhetorical question. Amateurism entered hospice long before name, image, and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal. The moment big media rights money started filling the NCAA coffers in the 1980s, amateurism was terminally ill. The pertinent question was how long it would take for the landscape of college sports to shift in seismic ways.

Few ever complained about highly paid coaches and administrators hogging all the money or breaking contracts to jump to other schools. But now that student-athletes have the power and the paychecks, suddenly it’s an issue. These are uncertain times in tradition-rich sports, and college athletics has rarely handled rapid change well.

In Paid to Play, which debuts on Dec. 28 at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, Schaap’s reporting doesn’t offer easy answers. The documentary is more of a how-did-we-get-here examination of the status of college sports. However, it provides differing perspectives from players, coaches, and administrators on how the NIL/transfer portal eras have impacted them. To ESPN’s credit, it shows positive and negative outcomes for players and coaches. Too often, you see older coaches just ripping the current system.

The NIL/transfer era highlights how college sports are evolving from amateurism to capitalism. They will be success stories and failures. Paid to Play showcases both. Texas Tech, thanks to billionaire booster and former Red Raiders player Cody Campbell, has taken advantage of the new system. Texas Tech is in the College Football Playoff for the first time and will play Oregon in the quarterfinals. The Red Raiders also made pitcher NiJaree Canady a $1 million softball player. Canady, who transferred from Stanford, led the program to its first appearance in the College World Series.

Of course, not everyone is making big money. And some coaches and student-athletes have had negative experiences. Last year, the Northern Illinois football team had the most significant victory in program history when it upset a Notre Dame squad that finished the season as the national runner-up. In Paid to Play, coach Thomas Hammock said that success came at a cost, as several players left via the transfer portal. The E60 episode also interviews Morehead State tight end Christian Pedersen, who had a less-than-ideal transfer portal experience, going from the University of Louisville to Florida International to Morehead State.

As expected, NCAA President Charlie Baker makes an appearance in Paid to Play to represent his constituents. The NCAA, which has had a disastrous time in court, is pushing for the SCORE Act, which would set federal guidelines for compensation and prevent student-athletes from being classified as employees. However, there hasn’t been enough support, and the SCORE Act has its critics.

While many complain about the current landscape of college sports, this might be necessary to get the NCAA closer to negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with its athletes. We’re not there yet. But as Paid to Play demonstrates, the old ways of doing business are dead.

Times are changing, and everyone must accept that.

Paid to Play airs on Dec. 28 at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and will be available for streaming on the ESPN app after the television debut.