@CollegebaseballInsights posted:Not forgetting. And I agree.
They would need to share the gold, otherwise the players will at some point will do a mass protest and simply not play.
There are more players who need the scholarship and the opportunity than there are superstars who can dictate the terms of the market.
85 scholarship players a year. More will end up in sales than the NFL. The education is more important to most of the kids than the sport they play, even if they don't know it yet.
Football ≠ Basketball. Can't abandon the collegiate route and go straight pro, they need the 3+ years of development. As long as that remains the case, there is no alternative where they have it better. No investment group is going to come around and give 85+ kids $50k+ a year, provide top notch facilities, provide free health care, degree, food, housing, etc. x 133 FBS teams.
The players need the NCAA. If they want to protest and not play, they better find a career path that does not involve a degree, because the scholarships goes away as soon as they stop.