On January 7, the NCAA News reported on a statement from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics to Division II chancellors and presidents who have shepherded the division’s “Life in the Balance” package for this year’s NCAA Convention. The “Life in the Balance” proposals streamline seasons and reduce contests in 10 sports, in addition to…
Knight Commission co-chair William “Brit” Kirwan appeared on CNBC’s Street Signs on January 7, 2010, with Bob Beaudine, CEO of Eastman & Beaudine. The conversation was about the high compensation of major Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football coaches, including Nick Saban at the University of Alabama and Mack Brown at the University of…
On January 12, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics will encourage the NCAA to address the financial crisis in college sports in a presentation at the NCAA Scholarly Colloquium on Intercollegiate Athletics. The Commission will discuss the recent survey of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member presidents about the state of affairs in…
An article published on CBSSports.com discussed the recent vote by faculty at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in favor of a resolution which criticized the $5 million annual compensation awarded to its head football coach, Mack Brown. According to faculty senate chair, David Hills, “This out-of-control spending on football is crippling universities across…
A recent article published in the Austin American-Statesman questioned the nonprofit status of intercollegiate athletics, particularly after the University of Texas at Austin (UT) increased the compensation of its head football coach, Mack Brown, to over $5 million annually. The nonprofit status of higher education is based on their performing a social good, education, as…
Dr. Ted Leland, former athletic director at Stanford University, will be interviewed at 3 pm today (Tuesday, December 22) on ESPN’s Outside the Lines. Leland will speak about college sports television contracts and their impact on intercollegiate athletics. Leland is currently the Vice President for University Advancement at the University of the Pacific and also…
This opinion by Knight Commission co-chairs, William “Brit” Kirwan and R. Gerald Turner, was published in the December 19, 2009, edition of the Washington Post. The college football bowl season begins today, with 34 games scheduled from Dec. 19 to Jan. 7. We expect to hear renewed calls from journalists, fans and politicians for a…
Amy Perko of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics was interviewed on WUSB 90.1 FM Radio Show “Everything is Broken” with host Jim Lynch on December 15. The title of the program is “EDUCATION: Big-Time College Sports Programs.” Perko discussed the impact of athletics on universities that have committed to big-time athletics, and knowledge of…
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently published an article which investigated the myth that college athletic departments reap significant profits when their football teams are invited to high-profile bowl games, particularly Bowl Championship Series games. The paper notes that most BCS-affiliated conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big Twelve, Pacific 10, Southeastern) pool the payouts among…
An article published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette raised questions about whether the increasing costs for major athletics programs was justifiable with consideration of the challenges of the rest of the academic financial obligations at higher education institutions. The paper stated that the the costs were extremely high, particularly in a time of shrinking school endowments…