College football and basketball has been a money first education fifth type of programs for about 30 years now. You are not putting that genie back in the bottle.
I have no problem with the players being paid as I believe they should be and always should have been paid. They are providing a service in the form of entertainment. If the tickets were free and there were no TV rights then sure the players shouldn't get paid then. I think that is the only way you could go back to where players don't get paid. I believe you would also need to shorten the season and limit travel also so the players are able to focus on school as much as they are required to focus on the sport.
The players have been treated like employees by the universities for some time now. It is only fair that they get paid like employees also.