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But it is not secondary to education and was not for years. It is primary thing they do and if they fail at sports, they loose education entirely.

Only difference is that money don't go to athletes.

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I might be misunderstanding you, but if athletes fail at sports, they do not loose the education. Once a scholarship is given to a player, it is not allowed to be taken away for performance. If a player is kicked off the team (barring something like discipline issues), they still get the scholarship.

You can loose athletic scholarship for performance or injury. There are some exceptions where athlete gets to keep them for four years. But generally, coach has a lot of power to not renew scholarship the next year.

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