I recall the very earliest of conversations on the subject of paying college athletes.  Some athletes can legitimately not afford to buy three meals a day.  It's impossible to expect a college athlete to compete in a sport, be a student, AND hold down a part-time job.  Look at the obscene amounts of money in the industry, and how much big-time coaches and AD's are making.

All of the above was true.  And, the practical solution seemed to be headed towards paying all athletes a stipend to cover their expenses each semester.  But then that last point, exorbitant salaries for coaches and AD's, kept sticking out like a sore thumb.  You mean we're going to pay Coach X a 7 figure salary while the star player has to get by on $25,000?  How is that fair?  It probably wasn't, but like many things, the resulting solution could be regarded as an overreach.  For those who think otherwise, consider that:

a) For a US player with NBA aspirations, college basketball has leapfrogged over the G League and international ball as the best opportunity outside of the NBA, financially and otherwise.

b) GW73's LeBron example is an exception to the rule given how much money LeBron would realistically command in the open market if he wanted to play for the highest bidder.  Nevertheless, it's a factual example.  At least 18 college players will earn more playing basketball next season than LeBron (based solely on NBA salary). 

c) Even the newly adopted age/experience limit resolution is being challenged.  It is conceivable that maybe two dozen more players will be flocking to college teams in August or September, which of course assumes that a school has both the room and the inclination to bring players in at such a late date. 

So how would I go about fixing this?  Here are two sets of thoughts:

Thought 1 will be unpopular among GW fans who don't have a football team to split up an NIL pie with but how about a salary cap per sport?  This will not eliminate haves vs have nots (Duke would hit the cap every year while GW likely would not) but it would hinder the top 5-10 programs from attempting to buy championships knowing that plenty of other schools would also reach the cap.  I would say to those who feel that this is limiting the player's earning potential to pipe down.  If a player has to get by on $2 million per season, rather than $4 million, after historically earning nothing but alleged under-the-table payments, I just can't feel too badly for that player.

2) Transfer rules need to be revamped.  I'm OK with a one-time transfer without any penalties including having to sit out a season.  For a second transfer, a player again does not have to sit but their NIL money is split in half, with 50% being donated to charity.  For a third transfer, the player must sit out a year and 50% of the NIL funds are donated to charity.  This would all serve to do away with the "wild, wild west" nature of transfers in this day and age.