ELI5: Why do colleges accept students who excel in sports while having bad academic merits?

Money. College football and basketball generate a lot of money and donations from alumni. Especially if you have really wealthy alumni like T. Boone Pickens. He paid for a lot of new athletic buildings. There are lots of former college players with degrees that can barely read or write but were able to run fast with a ball. Several colleges have been busted for enrolling their athletes in phantom classes where they never had to show up and still earned A’s. My best friend’s cousin played football at a college in Texas and wouldn’t have to turn in assignments or take exams in most classes.

Explain Like I`m Five: good questions, best answers.