That's not a claim I make. It's not a claim the colleges make. No one claims that. It's a claim that you have to make. They bring them into play football. That in no way means they have to pay them or owe them anything at all.

Lesson in how the world works for those who seem to have missed it: if I am an employer (I am), I go to someone and offer to pay them X amount to do Y job. If they accept it, we have then engaged in a mutually agreeable arrangement (as long as it is at least minimum wage). This is how the world works. If that someone is able to get more, they should. If they can't, oh well. It may make them sore. They may be angry at the world. But this is hardly my fault as the employer nor am I obliged in any way to correct for this person's failure to make him or herself more marketable.

Here's how that works for the college football player: college offers scholarship, per diems, so on and so forth, in exchange for playing football on the team. Player either voluntarily agrees or does not. The same goes for kids with academic scholarships etc. The main difference is that they are not employees. They are students and required, without exception, to be students in the university's definition of that word. If the player doesn't like the terms, he can just walk away. Coal miners who were indebted to the shop could not - legally they could not walk away. Slaves could not walk away.

Sorry if they don't get to pursue their dreams. I wanted to be a famous actor. Oh well. Again, take it up with the NFL.