Calling all the intricacies and complexities associated with this a "hot mess" would be a ridiculous understatement. All of this is so super-massive that it makes me wonder if searching for the simplest solution would be best. What seems to be the biggest issue here? Schools are making tons of money off the backs of poor student athletes and most feel that isn't okay. It wasn't always this way, right? So if the massive amounts of money can somehow be removed from the equation, it stands to reason that the problem would go away.
I am just thinking out loud here so this is all half-baked - at best. But when you start thinking about title IX, all the small sports vs football & basketball, scholarship limits, divisional status, private vs public institutions, how non-NCAA orgs and institutions play in to this, students taking "real" classes vs fake classes, liabilities, sponsors & agents preying on players and their families, the lobbies associated with alcohol, food and other sponsors and partners and about a billion other very real and significant pieces to this puzzle, does it even make good sense to TRY to navigate through all the complexities? I am not sure anyone can even comprehend at this point exactly how deep this rabbit hole will go. Or that fact that there are likely thousands of rabbit holes. Think about the massive machine this all is. The inertia of it all. Then consider all the inevitable legal challenges that will handcuff the "fix" for decades and I'm not sure there's a solid argument that this can all be solved in our life time. The show must and will go on, so that means everything has to be "fixed" WHILE it all continues to barrel down the interstate going 100 mph. Blowing it all up and starting from scratch isn't an option. Not without shutting all college athletics down for decades or more until all the bugs are ironed out.
I'm really just spouting off out of frustration, but the really big money has brought the fundamental problem on. I have no clue how the big money (not all of it because you'll need some) could be removed, but most of the issues being brought up could be mitigated if there wasn't this massive pile of money that everyone feels entitled to get a piece of. So maybe look into how we can remove the big money. I don't know. Maybe donate it to charity? I'm reminded of my mother taking an entire privilege away from us kids when we couldn't find a way to make it work for everyone. "You kids can't find a way to share? Then I'll just take it away from all of you." I am longing for some "mom" to come in and slap some sense into us like that. I am not a fan of the NCAA at all, but the problems associated with all of this can't be fixed by blowing up the NCAA. It's infinitely more complex than just the NCAA. Kill the NCAA and what is guaranteed to happen? Something else will swoop in and fill that void immediately. It'd be awfully presumptuous to assume that new entity will execute things in good faith and be virtuous to everyone involved. And it'd be wise for everyone to understand that before we take one step forward. I think it's human nature to want pin the blame on as few people as possible because that makes us feel like we can fix things quicker.