The NCAA by-laws include a clause about amateurism and the athletes forfeiting their right to wages; tracking stocks may be a way around it.
The unfairness of the lack of compensation of NCAA athletes has been well documented. Potentially the biggest issue amongst collegiate sports is the fact that universities consistently reap in enormous sums of profit from their sports teams while nothing is given to the athletes, who are largely responsible for the on-field product.
Despite being a long-standing problem, the O’Bannon v. NCAA antitrust class action lawsuit filed in 2009 brought the issue to the forefront of the nation’s mindset.