Published in The Hill on Nov. 10 and titled Intercollegiate athletics just got a two-minute warning, the essay was co-authored by Glenn C. Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.
The authors point to key facts related to the issue:
- “the United States is the only country in the world in which a billion-dollar entertainment industry is owned, organized, and operated by colleges and universities,” and
- “fewer than two percent of the 500,000 NCAA athletes become professionals, the majority of them football or basketball players.”
Addressing the possible unintended consequences of student athlete compensation, they suggest possible inequities that such a decision might present including:
- “inconsistent regulations across jurisdictions,
- inequities within teams, across sports, and between men’s and women’s programs, and
- recruiting abuses driven by competition for star players.”
They propose that “a national commission composed of NCAA officials, college and university presidents, athletic directors, faculty, former players, media and corporate executives, licensing organizations, and elected officials is more likely to design a solution to the issues around compensation facing intercollegiate athletics.”
