Like Paul the concept of American college and for that matter High School sports is alien to me. The seriousness with which it is taken is quite frankly vulgar. It effectively imposes professional level pressure and activity on these players, and yes fame/notoriety/privilege, but gives them nothing in return.
Oh I know, they get a degree and in the USA that's worth a fortune, but how many of those players actually get a degree worth anything? Some will take the opportunity and push themselves to breaking making it work, but they all know they are there to play football, not to be educated. It is a fallacy designed to pretend something worthwhile is happening, rather than young sportspeople being milked for cash.
Yes, some will make it to the NFL or CFL, yes some will get a degree that is actually worth something. But the rest will give 4 years of their prime athletic life for nothing more than a bit of fame and glory, food and board, and a piece of paper, and that would be fine...if the colleges weren't raking in shitloads of cash on the back of it. And lets be honest, this is all about money.
These players aren't kids, they are adults, 18-22 years old, they fill stadiums with 50-80k people every week of the season, they sell craptons of merchandise both for colleges and for whatever companies gear they wear. If they are good enough to do all that, they are professional in everything but name, and should be paid for it. Throw in that the NFL is trying to also cover college football under it's concussion settlement and who knows what other settlements, effectively giving colleges a clean slate, and no wonder players want to be represented.
The player who peaks early, 18-22 (often peak years in many sports), gives all he has on the training field for 2 years, gets injured or concussed in his next year of college...walks away with nothing but memories. Blocked from going pro due to the rules of the game, blocked (in spirit) from being paid by the college for his games when he was playing...it's just perverse.
