as far as a i can tell, the main argument against paying athletes is that the fans enjoy the sport the way it is and do not want it compromised.
It's not just how you are making it sound, with a "wahh we dont' want you to change our favorite thing!" kind of whining because of personal preference. It's because athletics within the education system were founded with a certain vision and ideals that we are going in a complete 180 in direction from. It's not just that fans get off on it being a certain way, it's that fans think, beyond personal preference, that if we keep going down this path, college athletics will lose all of their integrity.
which is a little disingenuous when no one seemed to upset that the bcs was nothing more than a cash grab (extremely corrupt, by the way)
Haha, you're kidding right? The BCS has been nothing if not controversial due to the decade and a half of coaches and officials and fans being nothing
but upset about it.
the main argument for paying athletes is that everyone involved with college football is making a ton of money except the athletes.
Either reference football players or reference athletes - it's important that we don't equate the two, because non-football athletes are a huge part of this discussion. But regardless, college football players are making a ton of money too, compared to their peers. Why are we comparing what they make to what coaches and AD officials make? That makes no sense. You don't compare what the mail sorters in the basement make to the CEO's to cry that it's unfair - you compare what the mail sorters in the basement make compared to the mail sorters at a different company, or compared to the janitors, or compared to the receptionists, or compared to the delivery drivers.
Is it fair that a coach or an athletic director makes millions and a student athlete doesn't? Depends on who you ask. But even if it's unfair, then that is a problem that is running throughout our entire country, not just college sports, and if that is a problem, then let's actually treat the problem instead of treating a small microcosm of a symptom of it.