College football is a billion dollar business that does everything it can to pretend it is anything other than that.
Men's College Basketball and Football makes millions of dollars in revenue for the big schools and, in many areas, are regional icons (anyone who has been to the southeastern US in the fall/winter can attest to this). These Northwestern athletes have, at the very least, taken a step to say that with all this money flying around, the athletes sacrificing their bodies aren't even given a voice when making determinations in the billion dollar industry. The phrase "Student Athlete" was invented to create a class of workers which has no rights and is essentially held captive by the employer. Specifically, the euphemism was created to get rid of the need for workers compensation after injury.
What other for-profit institution could break an employees leg, then claim that the employee should just be happy with his "opportunity"? Said employee is then laid off with no medical expenses covered for his injuries sustained while working, no severance pay after years of loyalty, and no (legal) pay. Often, the athlete is not even allowed to finish getting his degree after injury as he no longer has value on the plantation. The fact that his injuries may make his life harder for the rest of his days, and that the school benefited from his sacrifice, matters not.
On top of this is the de facto reality of payouts from boosters, Universities sacrificing their integrity for athletes (if you have a degree from, say, Miami or Auburn, don't be surprised if I chuckle when you bring up the academic challenges you faced), and an organization running the whole show that is so sleazy it makes the IOC look like angels.
If universities can't run Minor League Football in a way that protects their workers like other for-profit businesses do and still turn a profit themselves, then universities need to get out of the business of Minor League Football. With all the money flying around, I can only bear the excuses for so long before tuning out altogether.
One idea is that instead of pretending members of the University of Alabama football team, for example, belong anywhere on a campus of higher learning, instead create a University of Alabama Football Association which provides revenue to the school and legal economic rights for the players who either want to develop into a professional or are, as is the case with most 18-24 year old athletes, wanting to play the game but don't have a future professionally. The money could give them a stipend but mostly go into retirement funds they can choose to access when their 4 years of eligibility are up. Also, the revenues could create a Trust for the teams themselves, separating any burden from the University itself (in theory) and helping to fund athletic activities that aren't done as for-profit enterprises.
At least then we could watch NCAA Football and Basketball without the hypocrisy that is currently served alongside.
