Kyler Murray's Baseball Contract and Earnings
Kyler Murray was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the ninth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft and signed a contract reported at around $4.66 million, including a $2.66 million signing bonus, with the Athletics paying him as a professional minor league player under standard MLB contract terms Forbes. Minor league contracts are not guaranteed for the full term, and Murray received a salary based on the league minimum plus bonuses tied to performance and service time, which allowed him to earn money from baseball while maintaining NCAA eligibility for college football.
MLB contracts for drafted players like Murray are structured with a guaranteed signing bonus and a salary schedule that increases as he advances through the minor league levels, and the Athletics organization controls his rights until he either reaches the majors, elects free agency, or is released MLB.com. Because his baseball earnings are paid by the team and not tied to his performance as a college athlete, the NCAA treats this as a pre-existing professional obligation rather than a violation of amateur status, provided he does not use football fame for direct baseball compensation.
NCAA Rules on Playing College Football While Earning from Baseball
The NCAA allows a drafted player to retain college eligibility if he does not sign a professional contract or participate in organized professional competition, and Murray was able to return to the Oklahoma Sooners for the 2018 college football season after signing his MLB deal because he did not join an active MLB roster or receive baseball pay based on football performance NCAA. The key distinction is that Murray's baseball salary was set by the Athletics organization under the collective bargaining agreement, not by any college football program, which keeps his college football participation separate from his baseball earnings.
Under NCAA Bylaw 12, a student-athlete loses eligibility if they accept pay for playing a sport or enter a written agreement with a professional team to play that sport, but Murray's situation was cleared because he was already under contract with the Athletics before his college return and did not receive additional baseball compensation linked to his football play NCAA. The NCAA also requires that the athlete not use his fame in one sport to market himself in another for pay, which means Murray could not promote baseball services through Oklahoma football appearances without risking eligibility.
How Kyler Murray Balances Baseball Pay and College Football
Murray's ability to get paid from baseball and still play college football relies on the fact that his MLB contract is a private agreement between him and the Athletics, and the NCAA treats pre-existing professional contracts as outside the scope of amateur football compensation as long as the athlete does not receive additional pay for football activities NCAA. This structure lets him collect his minor league salary and bonuses from the Athletics while practicing and playing for the Oklahoma Sooners, provided he follows NCAA rules on amateurism and does not leverage his football status for extra baseball income.
Murray later left the Athletics organization and entered the 2019 NFL Draft, where he was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the first round with the 11th overall pick