And to paraphrase Sheldon Cooper "Boosters be crazy" When you have billionaires whose idea of fun is to spend $1 million on an athlete for their favorite school, just to hang a banner, no level of regulation will impede them. These are people used to wrangling with and beating the IRS/OSHA/EPA. The NCAA will be a minor speedbump for them. Sure we hear about donor fatigue, but as long as there is one donor at one school creative/crazy enough to try something, every other school has to play catchup. Making athletes employees won't stop boosters from paying the athletes outside the NCAA sanctioned structure. No penalty will stop them, short of the SMU nuclear option. The boosters love the dopamine rush of winning these daily battles way too much to give it up or to let anyone stop them.