Advocates for the financial compensation of college athletes seem to have lost sight of the fact that playing a sport is an inherently enjoyable activity. Universities do not exploit their athletes; the universities themselves are exploited.
The NFL and the NBA, instead of funding minor leagues to develop young talent, use university football and basketball conferences as their de facto farm systems. The universities themselves do not receive compensation for being exploited in this way: University football and basketball programs demonstrate their allegiance to the NFL and the NBA, instead of to the university, by using their considerable revenues in order to make themselves bigger and more powerful and thus attract more pro prospects.
Let athletes who now play for universities be paid, but let them be paid by the NFL or the NBA as members of minor league professional teams. Universities should eliminate athletic scholarships, TV contracts, endorsement deals and other factors that make their athletic departments tools of the pro leagues. Only when college sports teams consist not of NFL and NBA prospects but of legitimate students who play sports in their spare time for fun will NCAA athletics cease to reek of hypocrisy and corruption.
