John Thelin published an op-ed in the Lexington Herald Leader on November 8, 2009, relating to the financial issues facing intercollegiate athletics. Thelin is a University of Kentucky professor in the Educational Policy Studies Department. His opinion is below: “National Collegiate Athletics Association’s big sports are in big trouble. That’s the sobering news from the…
Knight Commission co-chair William “Brit” Kirwan, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, was interviewed by FoxBusiness.com in relation to the unsustainable cost of college sports. Link here to watch the interview.
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The Knight Commission released the results of a presidential survey on the costs and benefits of intercollegiate athletics. An interactive, Web-based report, College Sports 101, that provides an overview of the business and economic landscape of college sports was also released. Potential solutions as well as an assessment of whether the current structure is equipped to address the mounting challenges were discussed with experts.
In an article published by USA Today, the paper reported about the tension between academic and athletics as a result of significant state funding cuts to the University of California (UC) system. The UC system is facing $813 million in cuts, including $150 million at the UC-Berkley campus, while at the same time more than…
“There is no correlation between spending more on athletics and winning more . . . [and] increased spending on coaches’ salaries has no significant relationship to success or increased revenue.” Athletics events, where students, faculty, administrators and alumni gather, are the “front porch” for a university. Winning teams don’t engender lasting increases in applications or…
In preparation for the 20th Anniversary meeting on October 26, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics created a commemorative video highlighting different perspectives about the Commission’s contributions to college sports. Multimedia Links: 20th Anniversary Video History of the Knight Commission See Past Meeting Highlights
On October 2, 2009, the NCAA reported that spending on academic support for student-athletes remained steady or increased at nearly 92 percent of Division I institutions since 2007, despite the national economic downturn. The study found that most schools experienced between a 1 to 20 percent increase in total spending on academic programs over the…
KNIGHT COMMISSION TO RELEASE MAJOR FINDINGS OF UNIVERSITY-PRESIDENT SURVEY ON FINANCIAL STATE OF COLLEGE ATHLETICS AT 20th ANNIVERSARY MEETING First-of-Its-Kind Study and Related Reform Issues to Be Examined by Commission at October Meeting in Miami WHO: The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics co-chaired by William E. “Brit” Kirwan, Chancellor, University System of Maryland, and R.…
An article in the New York Times discusses the future direction of the NCAA after the death last month of its president, Myles Brand. The Times focuses on ethical challenges within intercollegiate athletics that result in the tension between athletics and academia: commercialism, escalating salaries, Title IX, and the length of playing seasons. In comparison…