I don't totally blame the kids looking at the coaches and schools making millions of dollars and asking 'why am I not getting a cut?'. The list of demands is about money...let's not pretend it has anything to do with anything else. They threw some safety and social justice demands in there to be inline with the times, but it's about money.The sports footprint in society has grown too large and disordered. Too many involved have become too selfish and spoiled. They think they cant turn back into a pumpkin again. NFL is in process of making gambling central. They are adding sensors to players and equipment to aid in gambling (and there will be lounges in stadiums). NFL owners are invested in DraftKings and big data firms. Fantasy football opened the door. NFL doesn't care its the young guys who will get addicted to all this. A pox on all of them.
A few years ago people were mad about the mishandling of sports. Now they've grown cold and that's worse. The great adjustment is at hand. "Pride goes before a fall."
It isn't an unreasonable question for P5 football players to ask where their share of the profits are...and it seems like the schools are moving in the direction of giving these kids the right to profit off their image, etc. The schools brought this on themselves when they started paying coaches $5 million+ per season, invested in hundred million dollar football facilities, and sign billion dollar TV contracts.
The value of their scholarship, room and board, etc...is probably close to $75k per year or $300k over three years. Some kids are going to value the education, some will not.
I'm not sure how we get the genie back in the bottle, but I've long been a proponent of high school kids going straight to the NBA if they don't want to go to college or think they are ready. It makes a farce of 'student-athletes' to have a kid go to two classes in the Fall semester, play ball, then go the NBA the minute the NCAA Tournament ends. Better to have some of the top kids (football/basketball) not go to college, pursue their professional dreams full-time, and let college sports be about kids that want to get an education and represent their schools.