Another historic phase of college football conference realignment occurred in 2023. The Big 12, Big Ten, and Atlantic Coast Conference all embarked on another round of expansion that destroyed the 108-year-old Pac-12 Conference. Two new super-conferences were created in the South and Midwest. The new national map of college football will exist for the foreseeable … Read more
Universities must not only focus on their own Title IX compliance obligations to provide male and female athletes with equal participation opportunities, athletics scholarship support, and equal treatment and benefits (including promotion, publicity, and recruiting), they must also require the third parties they establish, control, assist, or benefit from — conferences, national governing organizations, businesses, … Read more
A regular feature of The Drake Group Webinar Series — Critical Issues in Collegiate Athletics is “Follow-Up Questions and Answers” which provides answers to questions from the audience that panelists did not have the time to address. See Webinar #1 Follow-Up Q&As (PDF) See Webinar #1 recording (PDF)
The Drake Group believes that the commercialization of intercollegiate athletic programs has not only challenged the academic integrity of higher education but resulted in a predominantly White community of higher education administrators, athletic department administrators, coaches, and staff turning a blind eye to the racism underlying the economic, education and other forms of exploitation harming … Read more
The Drake Group commends lead sponsors Representatives Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), for the reintroduction of their bipartisan bill, the Student Athlete Level Playing Field Act, in the 117th Congress that prohibits the NCAA and other national or conference governance organizations or their member institutions from declaring college athletes ineligible for participation because … Read more
The Moran Bill permits intercollegiate athletes to monetize their names, images, and likenesses (NILs), and at its core is similar to recent proposals put forth by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CN). The bill also mirrors many of The Drake Group’s proposals, including broad NIL rights for college athletes … Read more
The Drake Group reviewed the Collegiate Athlete Compensation Rights Act introduced by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R)-Mississippi on December 10, 2020. The stated purpose of Senator Wicker’s bill is to protect the rights of college athletes, to provide for transparency and accountability with respect to college athlete name, image, and likeness (NIL) agreements, and to … Read more
The Drake Group, a national organization of college faculty and others whose mission is to defend educational integrity in higher education from the corrosive aspects of commercialized college sports, applauds the ‘Intentional Discrimination’ class action lawsuit (“Manassa vs the NCAA”) recently filed in the Southern District of Indiana. This lawsuit alleges that the NCAA’s academic … Read more
On December 3, 2020, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics issued a formal report, “Transforming the NCAA D-I Model: Recommendation for Change” in which the Knight Commission called for a “reset” of college athletics, urging Presidents and Chancellors to play their rightful leadership role in demanding such reform. Unfortunately, The Drake Group believes the proposed … Read more
On November 16, 2020, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) issued its proposed bylaws to be considered at its January 12-15, 2021 Convention. Included therein are the long-awaited new bylaws that would allow NCAA athletes to be compensated for the commercial use of their own Names, Images, and Likenesses (NILs), subject to certain restrictions. If adopted, … Read more