Lets Start Paying College Athletes

I read an article called " Lets Start Paying College Athletes", by Joe Nocera. Nocera describes how college basketball and football are huge money making business, yet the college athletes get paid nothing. Together the two college sports generate more than six billion dollars in annual revenue. The coaches of the sports are making hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. Recently signed Ohio State coach, Urban Meyer, signed a $24 million dollar contract. The biggest revenue making element of college sports is march madness. It costs billions of dollars for a TV company to get the rights to broadcast it. CBS just paid $10.8 billion to have the rights to televise march madness. Nocera believes that college athletes, especially football and basketball players, should be paid and he came up with a plan to do it. His plan involves 5 elements. First is that they take a free market approach when recruiting players. They will offer actual contracts to players and let the player decide which college and contract is most appealing. Second is a salary cap and minimum salary per player. He wants $3 million to be available for football team salaries and $650,000 for basketball. The minimum salary per player would be $25,000 dollars. Fourth each college player with receive lifetime health insurance. Fifth a union will be formed for both current and former college athletes.
Two economists named Andy Schwarz and Dan Rascher helped Nocera come up with his idea. They don't agree with the N.C.A.A.'s argument that college sports are amateur and that if it wasn't then it would lose the college brand and lose peoples interest. I agree with the idea of paying college players. I think they are putting way too much time and effort into the sports, to not get money out of it. Also many players could play without the intention to go pro, but the sports can interfere with their other classes and internships that would offer them job opportunities after college. The players getting paid would help with this. Also it could stop the ridiculous strict rules that don't let the players receive any present what soever. I'm not sure how I feel specifically about his 5 rules, but I agree with the general idea of paying the student athletes.