It is only vital in the sense that people have vested interests in it, but it's not to the benefit of the students.
Most college athletes will not play at the professional level. Their young adult connections and the values they develop as being part of a team to overcome great challenges in preparation and on game day are important to our society. The stress one feels for a final exam does not compare to the emotions one feels on a big game-day! Valuable mental models are developed from athletics. Lessons learned are applied to every industry. it’s important simulation.
To deduce it all to irrelevance is a mistake that many intelligent people with no team or sporting experience often make to no fault of their own.