I think because it is a fundamental shift in what people have been supporting for years. Amateur athletics. How many times after a bad game where a player is being ripped on does someone bring up an argument about how these kids are student athletes and not professionals. Now they are professionals. Maybe some requirement of them is going to class or whatever, but these are now paid players who will make more than some nfl players.
Maybe college athletics has been a sham for a long time, but this has pulled back the curtain. I agree that players should be able to sell tshirts and have jobs, but this is directly pay to play, where the people who lose are the fans. The ncaa makes billions and the fans are the ones who have to pay the players. Whole thing just is off putting. The disconnect between the school and the player grows even further. Athletes already get free food, clothes, special housing (at some schools), schooling, free tutoring, special workout centers. Allowed to cheat in classes, even fake classes altogether at some schools like unc , and now they get 100s of thousands of dollars on top of all that to be "amateur" student athletes. All so schools can make more money. They are school employees who can't be paid by the school so fans are asked to shell out.
Might as well just pay to have a pro team throw our logo on their jersey as their corporate sponsor and skip all the student athlete ********.