It is nonsensical that a fan pays for the privilege to be included in a club to get access to tickets that he also pays for — at a premium price — and is expected to pay for the very players who play the game that he bought the tickets for to begin with. What are the tickets for?

There shouldn't be double-paying. In the NFL, a fan pays for the tickets, maybe pay-per-view options, or other TV/Satellite options, but that is it. It is expected that that money from broadcasts and tickets will fund the whole program and pay the players.

But now in college football, fans are expected to pay for the privilege of buying tickets, then buying tickets, then contributing to a collective or some other institution to pay the players. What is the school doing with the ticket money? If fans are supposed to contribute to a collective to pay the players then shouldn't the ticket prices be much less?

Why is it that every collective at every school seems like a glorified gofundme campaign? I need a new car. Donate to my gofundme! College is expensive. Contribute to my gofundme! I need a new truck and some good lift tickets. Contribute to my gofundme!

This isn't to knock on any specific collective, but the very existence of them is way beyond fair and equitable. Why should athletes have a gofundme program but not other poor, hard-working students? The only way to make collectives more equitable under the current construct would be to have the university each players plays for contribute a significant portion of the broadcast and ticket sales to the collective for distribution to the players. But if that was going to be the case, they should just be university employees and collectives wouldn't even be needed anymore.

There are so many things that are just so wrong with NIL, but one thing that needs to be fixed right away is the idea that fans need to pay double to have a competitive team. If that is to continue, however, the cost for tickets, streaming services, pay-per-view, etc., should be going down not up.