These are turbulent times for college sports. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an uncertain opening to the fall football season. Some conferences are playing, others have canceled. Some with fans, some without—nothing is normal. The revenue stream that sustains college athletic departments has slowed to a trickle, and for some institutions, dried up entirely. And all of this at a time when the National Collegiate Athletic Association and now Congress are navigating whether college athletes should be paid, an idea that has gained considerable momentum in recent years.

What to do? There is a solution, one that allows compensation for college athletes while protecting their amateur status, and affords colleges the opportunity to undam revenue sources, offering relief from fallow periods like the one we’re in now.