re: $126,935 is the average annual cost of a Student-Athlete at Alabama.

It costs a minimum of $20 (probably closer to $50) just to tape a player up prior to football practice. About 15 years ago I knew a guy that was a trainer at one of the top SEC programs. He showed me how they tape ankles for practice, and we looked at what kinds of tape and how much was used. It was right at $20 back then, so certainly much higher now.

I would love to have the players become independent contractors or whatever. Then they can file to the IRS and get a statement from the team on benefits and so forth that they would have to claim as income, and cost of materials like getting taped. They'd rack up $1000 per month, just for tape and similar items, rather easily.

Then the players would stop whining.