Recent comments made by Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and reported by USA Today echoes calls made by the Knight Commission in its March 2001 report, A Call to Action, that urged the National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) “to develop minor leagues so that athletes not interested in undergraduate study are…
LINK HERE to download as a PDF MEMORANDUM To: Mark Emmert, President, National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA Division I Board of Directors From: William E. Kirwan and R. Gerald Turner, Co-Chairmen, Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics Subject: Recommendations on NCAA governance and related Division I issues Date: August 6, 2013 The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate…
Renee Schoof of McClatchy Newspapers reported on the August 6 memorandum from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The article has been published by the Kansas City Star and several other media outlets. Schoof’s article focused on the Commission’s recommendations and additional areas for further study to help…
According to research cited in a commentary by Richard Vedder in Bloomberg News, student fees to support athletics in the 2010-11 academic year totaled more than $2 billion to the 227 NCAA Division I public institutions. Research by Jeff Smith at the University of South Carolina Upstate, showed student fees, which can exceed $1,000 a…
An Associated Press report chronicled recent instances where sports have created “enormous problems” for several presidents of major research institutions and the opinion of outgoing University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp that “presidents should step aside and let athletic directors handle the job.” The article noted the Knight Commission’s role in establishing the…
A USA Today analysis of college athletics finances found an increased use of subsidies (financial support from student fees, school, or state government) to support college athletics programs, despite a climate of tight budgets throughout higher education. The report by USA Today found only 23 of 228 athletics departments at NCAA Division I public schools…
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and former University of Maryland All-American Tom McMillen co-wrote an opinion piece, published in USA Today, that criticizes the current compensation and incentive packages for football and basketball coaches and calls for “creating a healthier balance between academics and athletics in our universities.” Duncan and McMillen commend the NCAA for…
The Raleigh News and Observer published an editorial calling for changes in governance of college sports. The editorial questions whether the NCAA is up to the task given current trends in college football and basketball “toward expansion and the slide toward professionalism that weakens the sports’ collegiate appeal.” The piece references current efforts underway with…
A four-part series published by the Greensboro News-Record focused on the impact of massive amounts of revenue on the operation of major college sports programs. By noting the impact of a recent academic scandal, the series cautioned about potential issues when “athletics programs cause their schools to sacrifice some of their scruples for a chance…
An article published by Diverse Issues in Higher Education discussed the current economic landscape impacting decisions by leaders at NCAA Division I colleges and universities to change athletic conference affiliations. The article considered research presented at the last meeting of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics as a framework to understand why institutions search for…