My thoughts have been similar but with a somewhat different focus.

I think we need to appeal to the NCAA and if they don't go along with us, do it without them through the Universities.

The idea is that what the NCAA has become is NOT 'college athletics'. It is a money-making proposition that is being subsidized at most places by student loans, fees and endowments. It is a bastardization of its origins where 'the whole person' was embraced in terms of education including arts. Athletics are a performance art.

If you want to get paid to be an athlete, by all means do so. If you want to attend college while doing it, by all means do so. You cannot though participate in a subsidized education based on your contributions to University athletics, and then also get paid directly. If a University wants to choose to embrace one rather than the other, that's fine as well. Let's end the façade of 'one and done' and 'eligibility' education plans where the goal is to maintain eligibility and not to get a meaningful degree. I think you would find a large amount of support within academia (at EVERY institution) to this sort of separation and especially in numerous President's offices.

The reality is that the top programs will get all the money... the amount of money paid to most of the rest of people will be vastly less than the value of a scholarship. We can look at the University managing some of these programs and 'paying' the players to 'work' (like a work-study sort of thing). We reduce your aid in other areas if you 'make too much' so why is it unfair to do so here?? Make it a 'full cost' amount, giving you spending money like you'd have if you had a part-time job after classes, but not something crazy.

I like your ideas above and do not have any specific issues with it, but I'd simply defer to college Presidents to make the next move. I'd actually pressure the NCAA to either support this or step aside in favor of another similar entity that governs college sponsored amateur, not professional athletics.

This idea of being paid to promote (as an example) a car dealership based on your athletic prowess as opposed to simply being paid for your athletic prowess is just silly, and makes a farce of 'amateur' athletics, not dissimilar to the cheating that took place in the 1980s. It's just alumni/companies/schools 'buying players' in the open rather than under the table.

Let's just decide what amateur athletics... a student-athlete model should look like.... and build around that. The 'we' I'm talking about there is Universities/President's offices. I think most of g5 would be part of this... and there would be pressure on places like UAB, UTSA and other 'secondary' Universities who lose money on athletics but still might want to try and double dip on their endowments. I think even a few p5 schools would get some pressure.