College sports have been about academia for about 75 years. They’re about money. Making it for the college. As for high school players, honestly why not? We let high school students get jobs. Why not let student athletes have a job of being in a commercial for the local burger joint other high school students are working at.
In how many states is the highest-paid government employee a College head football coach?
Right - but there was still the pretense that this was about academia and advanced studies instead of the equivalent of a career center for sports.