It's a tough issue with many angles. Football and Basketball make tons of money for the schools and/or athletic programs. However, that helps pay for all of the other sports that aren't profitable at all.
What is really sad is the low graduation rates for many of the "top" schools. When students get their education paid ofr by playing of the team, and actually come out with a useful degree - Great! When athletes don't graduate though, or are allowed to take "phony" courses and majors, it's really of no benefit to them.
One solution that I've heard that would help solve the problem is to give students 2 years of scholarship for every year they play on a team. That would allow athletes who play 4 years go back another four years to earn a real degree.
Another part of the problem in NCAA football is that the biggest games of the year that pull in the biggest revenues, don't really have anything to do with the NCAA itself. The BCS, is not affiliated with the NCAA at all - and thus, there is no portion of the revenue that goes to the NCAA at all. Div 1 NCAA football, now "FBS", does not have any "NCAA champion." If you go to the NCAA head office, they have the current champions in all sports displayed on the walls - except for FBS football - because they don't have a champion.
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