Great post.I suppose you don't care for the Olympics, either. One of the reasons why the US is so successful in Olympic sports is because of our college sports system. Of course, most of those sports are not revenue generating sports for colleges. So you say goodbye to most swim teams, track teams, women's sports, and more. Colleges provide opportunities for great athletes to perfect their skills while getting an education, and many of those athletes wouldn't be able to afford college or continue to train without scholarships. They'd have to give it up or get a job. Then Olympic sports become more like gymnastics and figure skating, where only those with parents who can afford to fund their kids on their own or put their kids into elite sports academies get a shot.
And I wouldn't call a free education unfair compensation, considering how much those who don't have scholarships have to pay. Oh, add to that the free room and board, where many athletes get special consideration on housing, free food (with much more food credit than the average student), free health care (which I had to pay for myself). Add in the future benefits in earning potential these players get from a college degree, compared to what those who don't have a degree make, and they have it quite good. Take that away and a lot of the players from low income backgrounds end up with a few years of minor league ball and a career in manual labor, or if they get injured, maybe a life on social security disability, because the NFL and NBA aren't going to pay for pensions for players who don't play in the NFL or NBA. If a college kid gets injured, they can at least finish their degree and have the potential to find a job where having blown out knees or a bad back isn't a liability.