Nobody is talking about giving them massive amounts of money. The general discussion is small stipends (like students on academic scholarships get), and no longer banning them from making money off their name. One of the great stupidities of the current system is that everybody but the college athlete can make money off his name, the college sells his jersey (maybe even autographed), the conference sells his jersey, the NCAA sells his jersey, but he gets so much as a free tattoo for signing a jersey he can be thrown off the team and declared ineligible never to play college sports again.
Yet the athlete is getting a free ride through school.