I don’t know what it is about the current zeitgeist but people with power seem quite happy to vocalize their discontent with what they perceive as “lower classes” making decent money. It’s like they don’t even pretend anymore.

Usually they try to obscure this state of affairs. When the veil breaks, their backup plan is enforcement, first through threats and then through laws and then, if necessary, through violence. We appear to be mostly in the "threats" stage.

I'm sure that commissioner, like any reasonable person calling for a return to those traditions, is also calling for the abolition of the NFL, all volunteer coaches, and gratis, advertising-free broadcasts of all the games, right? Right?!

For varying degrees of "amateur". A lot of nations employed their athletes to do nothing but train for the olympic and international competition.

The Soviet Union and other government-controlled-economy nations were sending essentially professional athletes to the Olympics while free-economy nations were sending amateurs. Removing the restriction allowed all nations to send their best athletes.

Ironically of course, there are some aristocratic motivations for why "amateur" was desirable in the first place that don't really align to modern sensibilities, but that's separate.

I think the concept of a student athlete is an oxymoron at this point.[1][2] Either the sport really serves no purpose and could exist as a club or the student is not really a student at all and should just be a paid university employee like the coaches. But this inbetween area is odd. I guess the facade of being a student is more endearing maybe because otherwise the university sports team people cheer for is just a bunch of paid professionals basically. Maybe that would ruin the fun for people idk. Not sure I even care. It isn't right to treat some students different than others.

[1]: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/365303-cold-hard-fact-st...

[2]: https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/us/unc-report-academic-fraud/...

I spent a term as an exchange student at the Catholic University of America, a smallish university with a completely unexceptional D3 football programme staffed with actual students. And they got two thousand people to their football games! Much of the campus! Alumni! People who lived in Brookland and fancied some live sport!

I mean, I knew how seriously people take high school football too. But even really good UK university sport can play to an audience of the players supportive romantic partners only. A different (and quite refreshing) world.

The coaches are usually actually all for paying the athletes. It is the university MBAs who are running a business off the back of them all -- and interested in maximizing profit -- that usually aren't.

Only difference is that money don't go to athletes.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/38005718/sec-...

I think it's a tricky situation. The previous NCAA rules were idiotic and unfair to players. The current situation is better for players, but I'm worried that we're moving towards a future where the best teams are just the ones with the deepest pockets (or whose boosters have the deepest pockets). Considering most teams are already unprofitable, it could further increase stratification between P5 and G5 teams.

Maybe CFB needs to implement a per-team salary cap.

Maybe schools should not be involved in professional sports in the first place, especially one that inherently causes brain damage.

Let the NFL owners pay for a minor league.

https://www.acronymfinder.com/Name%2c-Image%2c-and-Likeness-...

What I want to see is higher education have their tax free status stripped and their endowments taxed as a total percentage (like property tax).

Both for creating the student loan mess and for having this ridiculous sports system that uses athletes as chattel.

There is no shortage of people who want to play college football. Many would play even with out a scholarship. Division 2 and Division 3 teams less than half the team is on scholarship. They are almost never on TV and there is very little chance they will make the NFL.

That would be like a lower weight class boxer, say Canelo Álvarez taking on a fight with Tyson Fury (each in their respective class) for the "pay day", sure he may have a "puncher's chance" but few would consider it a fair fight.

the ones that are getting paid? There's exploitation going on, in a rotten system, and

Athletes aren't forced to play sports any more than people are forced to work at McDonald's or Walmart.

What's even the logic behind that? It's okay to mistreat people because they want to be an athlete over working at McDonald's?