Following decades of enormous legal fees challenging rules restraining college athlete employment, facing hundreds of concussion-related lawsuits, and then suffering an adverse June 2022 Alston U.S. Supreme Court decision that eviscerated its college athlete eligibility system built on control through use of “amateur status” regulations, the organization appeared to freeze based on fear of future litigation. Within six months, the NCAA convened a “Constitution Committee” and at its January 2022 NCAA convention, members voted to move away from a national governance model of college sports and begin a transition to rule-making and enforcement by competitive division. The result will be a much different competitive and regulatory landscape. For all of us who are committed to continuing the good that college athletics does for athlete personal development and the excitement and pride it brings to campus, community, and alumni, there is a need to understand this new economic and governance structure. Will it be capable of solving issues including, academic integrity, athlete health, safety and well-being, gender inequities and other harms to participants and higher education?
PANELISTS: B. DAVID RIDPATH (Moderator), Associate Professor of Sports Business at Ohio University, College of Business; MARQUITA ARMSTEAD, Executive Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator, University of Nebraska; JASMINE ELLIS, Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athletes Academic Services, University of Akron; OLIVER LUCK, Former Chief Executive Officer and Commissioners of the XFL and NFL Europe; JULIE SOMMER, Attorney, member of The Drake Group Board of Directors, former NCAA All-American swimmer; ANDREW ZIMBALIST, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, Smith College, President-Elect of The Drake Group.