The National Collegiate Athletic Association has had a rough few years in the courtroom, and as the college sports landscape continues to change there could be more headaches in store for the longstanding organization.
As college football season nears its conclusion and college basketball begins, here is where many of the hot-button issues facing the NCAA are and where they could be headed in the near future.
Name, image, and likeness of athletes
The 2021 Supreme Court ruling that paved the way for athletes to earn money based on their name, image, and likeness is causing an earthquake in the collegiate sports world.
The NCAA was facing a lawsuit about NIL and revenue sharing between schools and athletes, but a $2.78 billion settlement agreed to in May averted a court trial in the case.
A federal judge gave preliminary approval to the settlement, which will provide student-athletes from as far back as 2016 a piece of the settlement as compensation for the NIL money they had missed out on. Going forward, the settlement establishes a revenue-sharing plan between the schools and the athletes. The case will have a final hearing in April.
Several questions around NIL remain unanswered following the monumental settlement, including questions about whether athletes are employees of the schools or questions of if the NCAA itself violates antitrust laws.
The settlement solved multiple antitrust claims levied against the NCAA, but some concerns still remain as the sports association will likely look to Congress for clarity in the uncertain and fast-changing landscape.
A June report from the Washington Post said that the NCAA was lobbying Congress to give them antitrust protections, with the settlement as an example of why clarity is needed through legislation.
“The settlement has only served to further reinforce why Congress needs to act. We need them to help codify the provisions of the settlement into law, securing them in perpetuity so this isn’t a moment in time,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips told the outlet.
An incident with NIL last month offered a glimpse at what the future of college sports could look like when UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka said he would sit out of the rest of the season and transfer for next season, after alleging he didn’t receive NIL bonuses he claims he was promised. The bizarre episode caused several to call for Congress to act and regulate college sports in the new era of NIL
Sports betting
The legalization of online sports betting across the country over the past several years has changed the sports world beyond collegiate athletics, but earlier this year, the NCAA outlined one key concern with the rise in sports gambling.
Proposition bets, better known as prop bets, are placed on how an individual athlete will perform, such as betting a player will score more than 12 points or if something will occur during a game, and have grown in popularity alongside traditional betting on game results. With the increase in these bets has also come increased threats and harassment toward college athletes, according to NCAA President Charlie Baker.
In March, Baker called on states to ban prop bets on college players.
“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competitions and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed,” Baker said in a statement at the time. “The NCAA has been working with states to deal with these threats and many are responding by banning college prop betting.”
Of the 38 states where sports betting is legal, along with the District of Columbia, a dozen have banned prop bets on college athletes, while another seven have banned it for college athletes within that state.
As the sports world, both professional and amateur, continues to navigate the emerging world of widespread legalized gambling, more restrictions could be in store from states and Congress.
Conference realignment
Powered largely by college football, the realignment of conferences has caused more problems for the NCAA as teams shift around the country and others on the verge of collapse. It could be another prime spot for issues again.
The ongoing lawsuits by Clemson University and Florida State University against their current conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference, could bring further instability to the current major conference setup in college sports.
The ACC is reportedly trying to update its revenue structure to keep the two universities from bolting to a competing conference, according to a Yahoo Sports report from September, but there is still uncertainty about whether the conference will be able to keep two of its marquee members.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Pac-12 is fighting to stay recognized as a conference and has garnered agreements from various schools to rebuild after all but Oregon State and Washington State universities left for other conferences.
The implications of realignment are playing out currently with some unusual conference matchups in football and basketball, and is the most visible change to the NCAA in recent years — but it is far from the only change to college sports.