Nobody likes a good deal. At least that's what I've heard people say in the past...
The big problem here is people have been fed a lot of disinformation to the point that they think there's money here that really isn't.
Athletic departments are not profitable, they are subsidized. Billions of dollars are being spent, it's going into hundreds of millions in facilities per school, around 100K per student athlete per year, etc... So the underlying finances are misunderstood generally. They schools aren't taking money from the athletes and blowing it on random things, they're taking it from the athletes and spending it on the athletes, and then they are taking money from the boosters and the government and spending it on the athletes as well. The NCAA game settlement produced peanuts, a completely insignificant amount, because the money really wasn't there. Just going back to the XFL thing, these guys are making under 30K base pay, and if they don't get hurt or get cut they're going to get about 55K. Just don't show that to the washed up college football player griping about how little his scholarship was worth...
Aside from inducements to play for teams, there's really not much money to be made. Just look at former Alabama stars, what do they get for the most part? AJ does some local ads for dealerships, he's not getting big money. What we're talking about here is either a way for boosters to buy players for teams, or if it isn't that, it will be almost meaningless for almost every single college athlete. Even in the Tuscaloosa area, who is going to have big money to offer endorsement deals to athletes? Nick Saban's Mercedes dealership?
To give an example, the local college football team here, South Alabama... I don't know a single player by name. Not one. I don't think most people in the city do. Even the coach barely does any commercials, so who is going to be signing their players to legitimate endorsement deals? No one is. The only deals they'd ever be offered was a deal from some overzealous booster or someone wishing to influence the player in some way. So, no matter what deal comes out of this, there's going to be a lot of disappointed South Alabama football players when they realized the rules have changed but nothing improved for them.
A professional player has years to build his brand, to become a household name. Most college football players are unknown to the average household. Heck, my wife found a stack of autographed Senior Bowl cards. I'm a college football fan, they are some of the best college football players in the nation... I still didn't know a lot of their names. Almost all of them are nearly worthless. Unless you're on a Heisman Watch list or something, you would be of very little value for a legitimate endorsement deal.
So, either what we end up with is just an easier way for boosters to buy players, a system to influence the players, or we have something that means nothing for 99% of the athletes. Either way, there's going to be a lot of people unhappy about that. The other option, I guess I might as well address that, would be revenue collected and distributed in such a manner that all it amounts to is a slightly larger stipend. If so many people aren't happy with the stipend now I doubt a little bit more is going to change their minds.
I've said it before, but this endorsements route is one of the worst ways to go about this in my opinion.