Jeans, he has you here. I spent the last 21 years working in the college sports business. If you think any team -- any team -- complies with the 20 per week rule (it's called countable athletically related activities) you're in a fairy land. Through the years, my own thoughts on this issue have evolved. There was a time when a full scholarship (tuition, room, board, books, fees) plus the adulation that comes to these kids was a fair trade for what they brought to the school.
That began to end in the late 80s and early 90s, as the effects of the landmark 1984 US Supreme Court ruling taking TV rights away from the NCAA and putting them back in the hands of the individual schools (ultimately, the conferences) were felt. That's when the TV money began to get huge and schools began raking in huge windfalls. Fast forward 20, 25, 30 years and you have facilities arms races and multi-multi-million dollar coaches, yet the kids -- the ones who generate all that money -- are still receiving tuition, room, board, books and fees (and some cost of full attendance $). I do not discount the full scholarship, especially at an expensive place like Stanford, for instance, but when you compare the money coming in to what the kids get, it is not much more than a pittance. They put easily 40 or more hours weekly into their craft, they get concussions and other physical ailments that may not show up for years and, bottom line, that coach would not be making 5 million, and that new building would not be built, if not for the money the kids are generating.
The US Supreme Court should rule on the Alston case as early as next month. There are also seven (I think 7) bills on this topic working their way through Congress, and some states have passed laws allowing kids to profit off their names, image and likeness that go into effect as soon as this summer. Will this fundamentally change college athletics? I believe it will, and I may not like all the changes that occur (we're seeing the effects of the more liberal transfer rules already). But these kids deserve a far bigger piece of the pie than what they've historically had, and they deserve some autonomy in the process. I say pay 'em