There have been a number of posts about covering health insurance and expense. If the players are considered employees, and they are injured in a game or practice, then they would be injured on the job. A typical group health policy would not cover this type of injury — it would be covered by workers comp insurance. Workers comp insurance operates under a system of rules, reimbursements and coverage that is different than group health and varies by state and policy.
I don’t know if this would make it easier or more difficult. But it would make it more complicated than simply paying for their health insurance, as this may not really get to the issue at hand (sports related injuries). There may also be issues around treating some employees differently than others with regards to certain benefits. That would also need to be considered to see how it impacts labor costs for the entire university.