You are wrong. Mike Peluso, Curtis Glencross, Jay Beagle have had very successful careers in the NHL, and are only 3 examples,  and many others have played professional basketball and hockey in Europe for higher pay than the typical college grad receives during early career years. 

As for skiing,  the US has become very competitive internationally recently in XC,  you just have not been paying attention. Plus, so-called fringe sports like skiing have been growing in popularity  as people want an alternative to the big three sports.

There are two types of scholarships available,  academic and athletic. As is often the case,  many elite-level athletes are also excellent students. One type does not necessarily take away from the other.

Sorry the benefits of College athletics eludes you,  but Society is better off with people who are disciplined in their daily lives including athletes.