The answer to that may seem obvious. If the players get paid straight up then it's obviously professional, but that's actually not what I'm talking about.

I'm also not here to advocate for a model that separates the players from the student body, I don't want to be misunderstood. What I am asking though is what sort of potential does college athletics have if they essentially become another avenue for professional athletes?

In other words, what if we're not worried about traditional eligibility standards.

1. Scholarship limits only serve a purpose if your goal is to create parity across a large body of programs. We're obviously moving away from a place where we're interested in creating parity outside the top echelon.

2. Do we really need to worry about players having 4 years of eligibility? As long as they're attending school maybe half time and passing all their classes, then you could make a strong argument these players are just professionals going after a degree in their spare time.

3. Perhaps most importantly, if these conferences and schools become more concerned with monetizing certain aspects then could see the economic impact rise to the level of a major professional sports league? I mean, college football is really only 2nd to the NFL when it comes to popularity. Then you add in the potential of keeping fans attention all year with basketball and baseball under the same roof? How long does it take before these entities stop trying to serve the academic mission and start taking full advantage of popularity to create a quasi-professional league in how they operate?

Again, I'm not saying I want a world where the academics don't matter. I think it's important for these kids and for these communities that we be more concerned with generating alumni than simply hiring athletes. With that said, I see some of these earth shaking changes as a means to capitalize on untapped markets.

The fan bases of college athletics are perfectly capable of supporting a more robust system. Who is to say that ALL the best players have to be in the NFL or the NBA or the MLB?

I mean, let's think about it. Most of these professional leagues in America exist because a long time ago people saw a business opportunity in utilizing athletes that were no longer eligible to compete at the college level. Of course, the MLB is an older league, but with minor league teams disappearing across the country and with MLB prices just being impractical...there's an opportunity even there for the colleges to capitalize on a fan demand.