I have posted this thought before, and it usually gets shot down pretty quickly. If the BCS leagues are planning to break away from the NCAA, as I am entertaining here, this is a question they will have to consider. The idea of paid college players is not as horrible as many make it seem.

Never mind the systematic breach of contract our institutions of higher education make with our inner city youth who are told that athletic success can be their ticket to a higher education and a better life, only to have those scholarships and dreams stripped away after an unfortunate injury. That should almost be criminal when signed letters of intent are in play.

Back to paid players...

First you have the question of fair market value. The NFL minimum salary is $250,000. The average NCAA full ride scholarship has a value of roughly $40,000. That is a factor of 6 between what elite athletes could make in the NFL vs. the NCAA. If an independent league formed they could not pay what the NFL pays, but certainly could compete or exceed $40,000. Especially for the premium positions.

Simply put, several players are worth more than a full ride NCAA scholarship. Forcing these players into an NCAA mold  that presumes they should be prepared for some other discipline than sports fails to adequately prepare many for the high profile role model positions our society cast upon them.

I am not talking full time employees here. I am talking about letting the schools act as agents for thier student athletes when it comes to endorsment deals for the team and star athletes. The student athletes would receive a stipend from these revenue sources that increases after their endorements have covered the costs of their scholarships.

The NCAA already makes a killing off of video games licensing.

Student athletes would be taught how to present themselves in the public eye and the value of maintaining an image corperations desire to associate with their name. A lesson that could have served many former NFL players well.

Rather than tempting student athletes and boosters to tempt fate in under the table deals (the ones you want to ignore that you know your own school's boosters are guilty of that no one wants to really talk about), the process can be brough above the table and allowed to benifit all student athletes, not just the ones willing to let the rules sit on the sidelines while they do what they have to do.

Ok, you still don't like the idea of paying players? Ok fine. Let's at least set up a trust fund with the video game endorsement revenue to fund scholarships for those students with signed letters of intent who lose their athletic scholarships for reasons not related to academics.