You could go the route of European universties....no support of the sports business. If you want amateur sports....you go to the local town itself. But then you’d drain the cash flow to the present system.
A couple reasons why that won't happen:
Firstly, college sports generates a substantial profit for the truly major programs that have legions of fans (and these two conferences have lucrative TV contracts).
Secondly, the sports programs at a lot of these schools keep the alumni engaged with their alma maters in a way you simply do not see in any other country. Look at the level of contributions by alumni to their schools. You don't see that anywhere else. These universities have endowments worth billions of dollars each because of it. Kill of the sports and you will kill off the marching bands, the cheerleaders, the mascots, the fight songs.....the fierce loyalty of literally millions of people....and ultimately the donations to these universities. Nobody wants that - not the alumni and not the universities themselves.
Euro style I like, my kids went to university in France, no sports, no greek society, just school. Cost about 1/2 what it is in the US and they stayed at home. A dang good education, no woke crap for the most part.
I agree. That’s the way it should be. Go professional or play club sports. I’m beginning to think that’s the way high schools should be too. There are so many “club” sports in high school that many times the athletes put more emphasis on their club team than they do their high school team. Separate academics and athletics totally.