[Goose]

I wouldn't describe a young athlete voluntarily engaging in the sport he/she enjoys as "labor" but I understand that perspective.    Without the statistics in front of me I would guess the majority of students participating in college sports willingly do it for no financial compensation at all.

Obviously this is true, because they are in fact doing so right now. However, the legal basis for this arrangement has always been questionable. Few cared about that fact when there wasn't much money to be made. Now, with "big money" flowing to the conferences, more people care. There will have to be a "new" arrangement. What that will be is at present unclear. I fear that the congress will just hope the courts can cobble together something that will kind of work. At best this would involve some really questionable legal "decisions". More probably, it will result in serious damage to amateur athletics in general.

The world is headed in the direction you favor so eventually your viewpoint will prevail.  My viewpoint on the topic has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

I believe lots of the fans that follow college athletics do so because the participants are viewed as "regular" people who like to play a certain sport. We believe we can relate to them and that they are in some way laudable because they play for love of the game, not for money. While it is undoubtedly true nearly all of us have no idea what "kind of people" these athletes are, we support them as a positive good by the nature of what they are doing. It may not be true, but we think it is. They represent our University as we wish it was, even though in our saner moments we realize there is a lot of hyperbole there.
If and when athletes start getting paid any substantial money to compete, that is over, and college athletics will be over soon after that. Professional sports is already starting to suffer from an "identity" deficit. Fans are having trouble relating to players who are clearly motivated almost totally by money, have  little or no team loyalty, and who in many cases aren't particularly appealing individuals. The fans still watch sports, but they are not emotionally invested like they once were. They also are looking for other things to occupy their time. College sports will have the same problem, but the athletes aren't as good and the vast majority of them don't have the skills to play at a high level. What does Southern Utah State vs. Flagstaff have to offer the fan from Miami? Bad football from places you never heard of played by people you really don't care about?
I think that there are enough people who realize this is the case that possibly some legislation can be put together that will allow an actual amateur status to exist. While such an approach may not be "the wave of the future", I think there is enough attraction to the model that the desire to preserve it is substantial. That won't happen if all involved let nature take it's course, but hopefully a reasonable model can be created that will preserve what we like about amateur athletics.

[Goose]

I wouldn't describe a young athlete voluntarily engaging in the sport he/she enjoys as "labor" but I understand that perspective.    Without the statistics in front of me I would guess the majority of students participating in college sports willingly do it for no financial compensation at all.

Obviously this is true, because they are in fact doing so right now. However, the legal basis for this arrangement has always been questionable. Few cared about that fact when there wasn't much money to be made. Now, with "big money" flowing to the conferences, more people care. There will have to be a "new" arrangement. What that will be is at present unclear. I fear that the congress will just hope the courts can cobble together something that will kind of work. At best this would involve some really questionable legal "decisions". More probably, it will result in serious damage to amateur athletics in general.

The world is headed in the direction you favor so eventually your viewpoint will prevail.  My viewpoint on the topic has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

I believe lots of the fans that follow college athletics do so because the participants are viewed as "regular" people who like to play a certain sport. We believe we can relate to them and that they are in some way laudable because they play for love of the game, not for money. While it is undoubtedly true nearly all of us have no idea what "kind of people" these athletes are, we support them as a positive good by the nature of what they are doing. It may not be true, but we think it is. They represent our University as we wish it was, even though in our saner moments we realize there is a lot of hyperbole there.
If and when athletes start getting paid any substantial money to compete, that is over, and college athletics will be over soon after that. Professional sports is already starting to suffer from an "identity" deficit. Fans are having trouble relating to players who are clearly motivated almost totally by money, have  little or no team loyalty, and who in many cases aren't particularly appealing individuals. The fans still watch sports, but they are not emotionally invested like they once were. They also are looking for other things to occupy their time. College sports will have the same problem, but the athletes aren't as good and the vast majority of them don't have the skills to play at a high level. What does Southern Utah State vs. Flagstaff have to offer the fan from Miami? Bad football from places you never heard of played by people you really don't care about?
I think that there are enough people who realize this is the case that possibly some legislation can be put together that will allow an actual amateur status to exist. While such an approach may not be "the wave of the future", I think there is enough attraction to the model that the desire to preserve it is substantial. That won't happen if all involved let nature take it's course, but hopefully a reasonable model can be created that will preserve what we like about amateur athletics.