I wonder if the student athletes on scholarship have really thought this through. When I was in college, I wasn't gifted enough to be a scholarship athlete and had to pay my own tuition, meals, room, and other expenses like books and medical treatment. I would have loved to have had the full ride at $26k/yr. And if I happened study hard, I could have graduated early (or if I red-shirted or had a medical injury) with the opportunity to add a graduate degree, making those last two years worth $50-60k. Every athlete who applies his or herself has a tremendous opportunity. If they need to pay athletes, one of two things will happen: either recruitment will be market driven by a limited athletic budget or union representation will cause other non-revenue producing athletic programs to be killed - maybe both. In the end, a few athletes will see increased benefit while most will be impacted by unintended consequences.

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