The Shame of College Sports

The Atlantic has posted a voluminous article about the NCAA and college athletics. Though long, it is required reading on the topic. If it looks too long, read half of it. Read a quarter of it if you must, but do read some of it.

Suffice it to say, many of the present problems with college athletics predate the modern era of huge television contracts.

I have long been opposed to paying players, and this article tests that belief. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I think it is impossible to pay the players while keeping a college sports world that resembles the current one. There are major legal and institutional issues that make paying players within the current framework extremely complicated. The article highlights some of those issues that even I had not considered when it comes to athletes collectively negotiating with their schools to determine which players get what salary.

One solution would be to regress and embrace true amateurism: get rid of athletic scholarships, get the big money out of college athletics, and turn college football into glorified intramurals. Another solution would be to convert the college football programs into bona fide for profit businesses, either completely independent or under the organizational umbrella of their university.

Finally, I want to point out another elephant in the room: tax exempt status. For athletic departments, losing their tax exemption is a huge obstacle to major reform. If the athletic departments morph from their current state into true, for-profit club teams then they are likely to lose their tax exemption.