[Goose]

Why not? Money from rich granddad is somehow fine, but not from the 49ers or Lakers? It's all green.

Elegant in its simplicity. All that is necessary is to toss all those barnacle encrusted preconceptions.

There are two obvious differences. The money from the grandad comes without any legal obligation on the part of the student-athlete and the grandad presumably shares the student-athletes best interest. The money from the teams comes with whatever legal obligations are in the agreement they sign with the student-athlete and the teams are aligned with their own self-interest, not the interest of the student-athlete.
IMHO, these are significant and of very large proportions differences.

[Goose]

Why not? Money from rich granddad is somehow fine, but not from the 49ers or Lakers? It's all green.

Elegant in its simplicity. All that is necessary is to toss all those barnacle encrusted preconceptions.

There are two obvious differences. The money from the grandad comes without any legal obligation on the part of the student-athlete and the grandad presumably shares the student-athletes best interest. The money from the teams comes with whatever legal obligations are in the agreement they sign with the student-athlete and the teams are aligned with their own self-interest, not the interest of the student-athlete.
IMHO, these are significant and of very large proportions differences.