And x0x0 is right: it sounds like a major reason is that then we'd have to pay them. I did work in my field(s) of study as an undergraduate, and I was paid for

And x0x0 is right: it sounds like a major reason is that then we'd have to pay them. I did work in my field(s) of study as an undergraduate, and I was paid for it. That's how jobs go. You produce something of real value, outside the classroom, and the university pays you money for it. Presumably, if football players were doing professional-level work in their official field of study, they would be able to insist on earning a paycheck from it, too. And there's a lot of money in football. (Well, not at my university -- the team was not especially good, and the tickets were all free -- but at many others.)