
There Is No One Way to Fix the NCAA
A professor urges people to stop looking for a silver-bullet solution to the woes of college sports
Scandal stories of college athletes getting cash from boosters or special treatment from professors are a staple of the sports press. But the real scandal, argues Taylor Branch in the October issue of The Atlantic, is how student-athletes are being exploited by universities and the NCAA. He writes, “college sports, as overseen by the NCAA, is a system imposed by well-meaning paternalists and rationalized with hoary sentiments about caring for the well-being of the colonized. But it is, nonetheless unjust.” One solution to this unjust system, argues Branch, is to pay the athletes.
To assess the crisis in college sports, we’ve asked a range of experts – athletes, administrators, legal experts, and journalists – three questions about what’s wrong with the system and how to fix it. Join the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #FixTheNCAA.
A professor urges people to stop looking for a silver-bullet solution to the woes of college sports
A former college and professional basketball star makes the case for returning to the days of NCAA's "benevolent monopoly" over television rights
A sports economist says the NCAA needs to remove coaches' incentives to break the rules
A professor explains why we should abandon the notion of amateurism
The Deadspin editor offers an unorthodox plan for fixing college sports
The president of the National College Players Association explains how reform can happen
A Sports Illustrated senior contributor says NCAA athletes should not have to enroll in classes
The Deadspin editor explains his strong support for paying college athletes
The president of the National College Players Association outlines how pay-for-play can work
A sports economist argues against giving athletes paychecks, but in favor of extending them better treatment
A professor highlights the challenges of implementing a pay-for-play system
A professor explains why scholarships are not sufficient compensation for student athletes
A former college and professional basketball star makes the case for the end of amateurism
A sports economist explains why we have to be careful about how we talk about college athletics
The Deadspin editor explains why we should use strong rhetoric to describe the NCAA's corrupt system
A veteran basketball coach wonders how the NCAA came to have so much power
The president of the National College Players Association explains what makes the plight of student-athletes unique
A professor agrees that the NCAA is paternalistic, but won't go so far as to say it enslaves students
A former college and professional basketball star explains what will happen after players fight back against an unjust system
A professor details the ways college players are deprived of their rights