The Revolution in College Sports

It may seem like a blink of the eye, but college sports in America has radically changed in the last decade. A genuine REVOLUTION! Every norm of 20th century college sports, from governance and administration, organisation of conferences, player movement and compensation has been turned upside down. Alice in Wonderland stuff! Most of the changes that have taken place were not on the radar screen of the American college sports fan in 2000. We are in the middle of the CFP and March Madness is approaching so is timely to chronicle the nature of the changes and make some interim judgements on whether the new operating principles have been beneficial for sport and society. The structures have changed and those changes reflect a significant value shift. A modern case study on the evolution of American culture.

College football has captured America’s imagination for a century. Pro football did not surpass it in popularity until the 1960’s. College football players and coaches were some of the first national sports icons and legends. A cool and surprising group of characters. The first great coach was Alonzo Amos Stagg and the first Heisman Trophy winner (awarded to the player of year) Jay Berwanger were both from the University of Chicago, hardly an athletic powerhouse today. Knute Rockne, Notre Dame, George Gipp, the Four Horseman, Jim Thorpe, great Army teams, Red Grange, Tom Harmon were all highly publicised household names. College basketball also carved out a niche and the NIT and then the NCAA have featured great stars, coaches and national champions. George Mikan, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson were college superstars who made the mark in the NBA. There were also college swimming and track and field programs which were the feeder systems to our Olympic teams. Sports became an integral element in university life and the success of sports programs helped define many institutions.

How was the spectacular rise in popularity of college sports managed, organised and governed? What were the rules and who made them? The NCAA (the National Collegiate Athletic Organisation) was created in the 1920’s and by the 1950’s had assumed total control over the administration of college sports. All universities with sports programs became members and agreed to comply with the rules and regulations established by the NCAA. The NCAA leadership was independent and not subject to the direction of College Presidents. The regional sports conferences, including the Big Ten, the SEC, the Big Eight, the Pac 10, the ACC, the Big East- all operated under NCAA standards. Walter Byers was NCAA Commissioner for 30 years and he ran the organisation with an iron fist. The best analogy for the scope of his control was Avery Brundage at the US Olympic Committee. They were not democratically inclined or committee friendly! They were dictators. Journalists, coaches, university administrators familiar with the system described Byers as “power mad”, “a petty tyrant”, “secretive”, “despotic", “ruthless”, and “stubborn.” Byers and his successors created the rules for eligibility of student athletes and reserved all powers and enforcement to the NCAA.

The rules regarding benefits and compensation for student athletes were STRICT! The operating principle was that all student athletes were amateurs. They could not receive benefits under the terms of their athletic scholarship beyond tuition, room and board. They could not enter into service contracts with entities or clubs outside the University. They could not enter agreements with agents or earn any salary or monetary compensation for sports related activities. They needed to qualify for an athletic scholarship by meeting minimum high school academic standards as defined by GPA and test scores. To retain eligibility, they would need to maintain certain GPA levels. These standards were often ignored or abused but they did exist and the threat of sanctions was always there if a school became totally outrageous in its behaviour. Student athletes were not allowed to transfer from one institution to another-accepting the scholarship was a 4 year commitment. The NCAA had monolithic control over student athlete benefits and movement.

The NCAA also controlled the conferences. The key was the NCAA’s absolute control over the negotiation of TV rights for game broadcasts. They contracted with the networks, received the revenue under the contracts and then distributed the profits to the universities under a formula. For ages, university controlled sports revenue was limited to ticket sales and stadium concessions. The NCAA system was compared to a “cartel” or a “feudal” system of owners and serfs. The players were “slaves” or “indentured servants.” The educational institutions were not independent agents, but cogs in a system. Not surprisingly, many smart and ambitious people found fault with this mode of operation. As with all contested issues in America, the system and structure became the subject of legal action- lawsuits everywhere- particularly as the amount of money at stake became increasingly evident. Money and power struggles always end up in the courts. The NCAA suffered a series of major legal reversals. First, in 1984, the US Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA’s complete control of television rights violated the basic tenets of antitrust law. It was a monopoly and a restraint of trade. The court ruled that conferences and individual universities had the right to make their own direct contracts with the networks. Bingo, all the major power conferences and Notre Dame entered into lucrative TV rights deals with a wide variety of networks. ESPN, CBS, ABC, NBC, TNT all jumped into the game. All of the sudden, there were non stop games on Saturday. The change in revenue flow totally changed the dynamic. College sports, particularly football, became a major profit centre for the university. Football revenues supported less profitable sports like lacrosse, volleyball, swimming, etc. College football ratings are high, the stadiums are full and the money is magnetic.

Should we feel sorry for the NCAA? NO!! In one sense, they have been totally defanged- their unilateral power is gone. However, they still manage 90 championships and generated 1.3 billion in revenue. The remaining jewel in the crown is the NCAA College Basketball championship tournament. They still control March Madness and revenues from the tournament will exceed 1 billion dollars in 2025. Interestingly, college football is a different model. The NCAA has never conducted a national tournament for football and the current CFP is run by an independent organization formed by the power conferences and Notre Dame. The NCAA is still classified as a tax exempt-non profit organisation. Their power is reduced, but they will be with us for awhile.

The other monetary legal shoe dropped when the courts confronted the charge that the NCAA rules were illegally restricting the earning power of student athletes by limiting their compensation to tuition, room and board. The NCAA, the conferences, the schools, the TV networks were making hundreds of millions of dollars and the athletes on the field were cut out of the financial pie. The Supreme Court, in 2021, held that Universities can provide student athletes with unlimited compensation as long there is some relationship between their activities and their education. The “amateurism” at the heart of the existing NCAA structure and value system was summary dismissed as unlawful. Again, the practical reaction was immediate. Universities endorsed a vehicle for compensation labelled “NIL”- students athletes can be compensated by third parties for permissible use of their Name, Image or Likeness. The universities with mega sports programs established “collectives” designed to raise money and sponsor athletes at their schools under the NIL aegis. Very creative. In 2024, it is estimated over 100 million dollars were paid out to student athletes under this program and the numbers will undoubtedly rise in the future. Ohio State led the way with 20 million in NIL player payments so perhaps not surprising they have qualified for the national championship game. High quality athletes will have recruitment and transfer leverage when they make their college choices- basically who can pay me the most. A long way from the gentleman amateur model combining sports participation and academic work at a genteel and pastoral educational institution. Big business personified.

The other revolutionary change is the policy reversal on player movement. Historically, the student athlete was trapped at his first choice school. Under pressure, the NCAA incrementally softened the “no movement” policy. First, you could transfer if the coach that recruited you left before you enrolled. Then, you were allowed to transfer, but had to sit out a full year. Then, you could transfer once and play immediately at your new school. Finally, you have unlimited transfer rights- multiple transfers are fine and you can take the field or court immediately. From no movement to complete freedom of movement in a flash. Transfer portals are established with defined transfer periods. Once a student athlete puts his name in the portal, programs may contact him or her about transferring to their school. It is a transparent process and the impact is enormous. Over 35 percent of football players and 30 percent of basketball players put their name in the portal last year. This creates a ton of movement. The impact is profound. Rosters change drastically and coaches now spend more time recruiting in the portal than they do at high schools. Lineups must be recreated annually. New players must be integrated with the existing roster. Plus, unlimited player movement combined with NIL compensation opportunities makes for bidding wars over players. Universities now hire people to manage the portal and assign economic value to particular athletes. It is chaotic. It creates many risks. The rich will get richer. Player loyalty is always suspect. The playing field will be unequal and an elite group of superteams at flush universities becomes more likely.

Is this revolution a good thing? Certain values are clearly honored- liberty and personal freedom associated with player movement rights. An element of economic fairness because players now have access to financial rewards for their athletic excellence. The individual student athlete has more control over their own destiny. If he has personality conflict with a coach or is languishing on the bench, he now has the ability to move to an institution that values him more and gives him an opportunity to fulfill his potential and achieve his dreams. This is all very libertarian and could almost be an American freedom hymnal.

Alas, there are clear negatives. First chaos. It becomes very difficult to build a successful and sustained program because there is no way to predict or guarantee a cohesive roster over multiple years. Individual flexibility creates team instability. Current players look over their shoulders as their coaches embrace the transfer portal. There is less teaching, less coaching. It is also guaranteed to be inequitable and corrupt. The NCAA structure was rigid, but there is significant doubt whether the current reforms will produce better outcomes. The TV revenue landscape has dictated super conferences grasping at the big dollars. Regional rivalries become less important. The NIL culture will create rosters where one player is being paid millions and this teammates a pittance- unhealthy for team chemistry. An oligarchy is being created based on the overwhelming relationship of wealth to success and opportunity. The top 25 college football programs generated over 150 million dollars each in revenue in 2023. Ohio State led the way with 290 million and there were 12 schools generating in excess of 200 million. Basketball is smaller, but Duke revenue now exceeds 50 million and the major schools in the Big Ten, ACC, SEC and Big 12 average between 30 to 40 million. The same institutions also have the richest “collectives” dedicated to NIL and these sponsorships will increase their monopoly over the top players. BIG BIG MONEY!! It is healthy that special student athletes have access to the wealthy portfolios but the incentive structure is worrying. Heck, it is just raw capitalism and Milton Friedman and Adam Smith guaranteed that all will be well in the end. But- this may be crony capitalism or awards for rent seekers, but we defer the philosophical discussion for another day.

My final observation relates to “quality” of the games being offered under the new system. Football may produce super rosters, but basketball is another matter. Today, constant transfers, one and done superstar freshman, some high schoolers opting out on college altogether and playing one year on club teams have undermined the construction of stable rosters and the building of quality teams. Coaches will become frustrated with the system. The master teams of prior eras, UCLA under Wooden, Indiana under Knight, North Carolina under Smith, Duke, Kansas, Georgetown and UNLV in the 80s had one common denominator, a stable roster. Yes, superstars- but also 4-5 man rotations that played together three plus years- 100 games together on the court. They grew as individual players and the teams improved with time. They had the opportunity to mesh and mature. This phenomena has left the building. It is impossible to create a great team if the roster changes almost completely each year. You can produce competitive and entertaining teams and the tournament will still be exciting and fun, but the quality of ball is lower than in years past. The system will not, with the occasional exception, possibly Connecticut the past two years, develop legendary teams. I guess we acknowledge the tradeoff and move on.