EP 894 College Sports Governance and Economics Have Become the Wild, Wild West

 Can your star quarterback on a powerhouse Division 1 football program get paid as it stands today?  After the recent $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA, which enables universities to directly pay college athletes for their athletic participation, the answer is yes.  First came the NIL ruling in which college players could get paid for their ‘name, image and likeness’, then the transfer portal and now the floodgates are opening as legislative proposals in Congress would augur in a completely new way of looking at the college athlete.  In one proposed piece of legislation, they would be considered employees who can collectively bargain.  Another legislative proposal in the House of Representatives provides an alternative to this approach.  Nevertheless, the NCAA’s old guard the door approach suggests a very different future is barreling through.  What this will look like and its impact on many schools, women’s programs and niche sports is very uncertain.  Roger Noll, Stanford professor emeritus of economics, who is considered the ‘Godfather’ of sports economics (a title he eschews) joins us to discuss a very fluid situation.  There’s no one better in the country to explain it.

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