The answer is that sports in college will still exist. What will change is that players will be paid X amount but they will no longer get scholarships. Magically the amout paid will be exactly equal to the amout they would be given as a scholarship. You see the shell game? Nothing will change initially.College football realignment news: Notre Dame on deck; Pac-12, Big 12 could merge; SEC vs. Big Ten playoff?
Realignment may cool off for the holiday, but it's about to pick up again any day nowwww.cbssports.com
“If football and basketball players are paid directly, that will run straight into Title IX concerns. Title IX is the 1973 federal law that mandates equal opportunities for an underrepresented gender at institutions that receive federal money. That discriminated gender has mostly referred to women. Simply put, the market value of Young and a women's cross-country athlete are different.
By the letter of the law, each should get an equal salary.
The Knight Commission suggested solution in December 2020: The FBS would break away as a separate entity and be funded by the CFP.”
Paying these athletes is going to happen. Also these colleges can’t afford to pay non revenue generating athletes let alone pay them equally. Not sure how this will exactly develop but big changes are coming and I can guess who will be on the losing side.
What will blow things up is when college sports players unionize + bring in agents.