By: Remi Trudel
As a marketing professor who studies consumer well-being and financial behavior, I’ve spent years examining how companies influence the way we spend, save, and perceive value. With the Big Ten and Big 12’s newly inked partnerships with PayPal and its consumer-facing app Venmo, we’re watching in real time as financial services entrench themselves in the core infrastructure of college sports.
Just to be clear, I believe college athletes should get paid. For years, they generated massive revenue for schools and conferences but received only scholarships and locker-room praise in return. The question that should be asked now is who really benefits from these new financial partnerships?
These deals are being sold as operational upgrades, as efficient ways to pay athletes now that new rules allow it. But there’s more going on than efficiently paying students; it’s the reframing of student compensation as a branded product. It’s the latest example of commercialization in a landscape where the NCAA, universities, and corporate sponsors have long pocketed billions, while players were left with peanuts.
At first glance, PayPal’s involvement makes sense. Students already use Venmo for casual peer-to-peer payments, and the platform offers a scalable way to distribute funds. But this deal goes beyond logistics. Venmo isn’t just handling payments, it’s embedding sponsorship into the payment process itself. Athletes are being folded into school and conference branding campaigns simply by getting paid. And without proper guidance or contract protections, they risk becoming unpaid brand ambassadors.
These companies can’t just show up, handle the payments, and call it a day. If they want to be seen as real partners and not just cashing in on college sports, they should offer more value to students. For example, they could embed financial literacy tools that help athletes manage, save, and grow their income, not just Venmo it away. Because if we’re honest, what’s happening isn’t just about compensation, it’s about control and exploitation. And unless we’re careful, it’ll be the same old story. Billions for the system, and crumbs for the student athletes.
