Sure, universities make money off college football, but let's not call this a "tragic exploitation system."
The players aren't forced to play. They 'love' football. That's why they're playing.
The far majority of college players (in all sports) know that they're not going to be playing professionally. But yet they still play. Because it's their dream to play.
It can be your dream to play, but in many cases it's about trading 5 years of "living the dream" for a reduced quality of life, for the rest of their lives. Job prospects, marketable skills, physical and even mental health. The current system offers kids the chance to live their dream, yeah, but in doing so it runs them through the mill and tosses them out the other side.
Not true in all cases or for all sports, but true in football far too often.
Football is by far the most dangerous sport but players know the risks before they go in.
I played high school football 15 years ago and the big issue back then was paralysis.
The first day of every season we were shown an extensive video about paralysis and the best way to avoid making risky tackles.
It was a scary video to watch. But players know the risks.
I truly enjoyed football and the friends I made playing it. I've played many other sports and IMO there's no other team sport like it: no room for ego, a lot of pain and a lot of perseverance and discipline required. But I got my bell rung a lot and I was just a "skill" player. Several times I walked back to the huddle after getting hit on an across-the-middle route, not really sure where I was. Injuries happened all the time. It's a fast and violent game.
I use to feel retrospective fear whenever I think about the things I did when I was that age... even knowing the risks.
American football is totally unknown to me, but in my country there's that bullfighting thing. People that likes it doesn't seem to realise that it will disappear anyway in less than fifty years, probably much less. So I've found the article very interesting because the similarity.