The Disintegration of the NCAA: The Price of Rejecting National Governance
The Drake Gorup will hold provocative webinar on Wednesday, February 24, starting at 2 p.m. EST and lasting till 3:30 p.m. To register for the event, go here.
For details, see below.
“Since 1909, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been the primary voice and largest national athletics governance association for four-year colleges and universities in the United States. Following decades of enormous legal fees challenging rules restraining college athlete employment, facing hundreds of concussion-related lawsuits, and then suffering an adverse June 2022 Alston U.S. Supreme Court decision that eviscerated its college athlete eligibility system built on control through use of “amateur status” regulations, the organization appeared to freeze based on fear of future litigation. Within six months, the NCAA convened a “Constitution Committee” and at its January 2022 NCAA convention, members voted to move away from a national governance model of college sports and begin a transition to rule-making and enforcement by competitive division.
“The result will be a much different competitive and regulatory landscape. For all of us who are committed to continuing the good that college athletics does for athlete personal development and the excitement and pride it brings to campus, community, and alumni, there is a need to understand this new economic and governance structure. Will it be capable of solving issues including, academic integrity, athlete health, safety and well-being, gender inequities and other harms to participants and higher education?”
More about our panelists:
MODERATOR, B. DAVID RIDPATH, Associate Professor of Sports Business at Ohio University, College of Business; Past President, The Drake Group; research areas include intercollegiate athletics administration, governance, and rules compliance including ethics and components of the NCAA legislative, enforcement, and governance process.
MARQUITA ARMSTEAD – Executive Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator, University of Nebraska; member of the Big Ten Sport Management Council; oversees men’s basketball and volleyball, athletic medicine, sports psychology, the athletic performance lab, strength and conditioning, performance nutrition, Title IX and gender equity; formerly Senior Associate Director of Athletics /Senior Woman Administrator at the University of South Florida.
JASMINE ELLIS, Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Academic Services, University of Akron; oversees academic services team to ensure student-athlete eligibility, progress toward degree completion, and graduation; formerly Associate Director for Athletics for Compliance and Senior Woman Administrator at Central State University.
OLIVER LUCK, Former Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the XFL and NFL Europe; former Executive Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Strategic Partnerships of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); former Athletic Director, West Virginia University; currently a member of the National Football League Player Safety Advisory Panel.
JULIE SOMMER, Attorney with fifteen years of experience litigating civil, administrative and criminal matters at the administrative, trial, and appellate levels; member of The Drake Group Board of Directors; former NCAA All-American swimmer at the University of Texas at Austin, member of an NCAA National Championship team, USA Swimming National Team member and listed among the top ten in World Swim Rankings.