We’ve Monetized College Sports. We’ve Lost the Real Mission.

OPENING STATEMENTS

This has long been one of my favorite times of year. Across the country, college teams are gearing up for fall tournaments. Field hockey, cross country, soccer, with football and volleyball still to come.

But beneath the excitement is a discontent like we’ve never seen. What most people view as championship season, we’ve started to refer to as the “Auction Block,” the stretch from mid-November through early January when fall sports seasons end and scorched earth takes flight. Unhappy players, discontented coaches, each blaming the other. The transfer portal swings open. Athletes shopping themselves. Coaches shopping for jobs. Programs shopping for talent.

The root of it all stems not from NIL, eligibility, buyouts, or portals, but that college athletics has lost its sense of purpose. And that failure starts at the top.

Leaders have allowed a system designed to educate and develop young people to morph into a marketplace with no shared mission. Along with that transformation came a shift in power. Parents and athletes now hold the leverage, while athletic directors take direction from presidents.

Too often, the conversations I’m having now with prospective clients aren’t about growth or education but about leverage. A player’s family calls an administrator instead of their coach. A coach consults lawyers instead of their team. A team talks to the media instead of the ones in charge. There’s too much noise, too many intermediaries, too many escape routes. And, because of that, not enough learning.

The result is a landscape where the lessons that once defined college athletics - resilience, discipline, accountability, perseverance - are being crowded out by transaction and expedience. The notion of learning from failure and accepting (and respecting) criticism – all once central to the experience – has nearly vanished. College athletics was supposed to teach what classrooms alone could not: how to endure difficulty, process disappointment, work with others different from you, and emerge stronger. That takes time. It takes trust. It takes sitting with discomfort long enough to understand it. Yet the system that’s evolved encourages movement over growth, reaction over reflection.

The calls for reform are everywhere, but too often, they aim at the wrong targets. Debates center on who gets paid, how long someone can play, or whether investors should own a piece of a conference. But those fixes won’t matter until reform starts with reclaiming purpose, restoring the educational and developmental mission that once justified the entire enterprise.

And to be clear, some of the disruption was looooong overdue. Athletes needed power and agency. They needed protection. They deserved recognition and a fair share of the value they create. NIL and the House settlement have brought real progress.

But in that rightful shift, leadership lost control of the narrative. They protect revenue streams instead of values. They pursue television contracts instead of educational outcomes. They let the system evolve without asking the most basic question: What is college athletics actually for?

Coaches tell us they’re not angry about paying players. Rather, they’re grieving the loss of influence, the ability to guide and teach. Athletes tell us they’re not driven by greed. Rather, they’re exhausted by the churn, the pressure to maximize every moment, the realization that the relationships meant to ground them no longer hold.

The interest in college sports has never been higher. But its objective has never been more uncertain. College athletics is a business. But if it still claims to be part of higher education, then its leaders must act like it. That means stability, mentorship, accountability, and the courage to let people struggle and grow.

Right now, they’re trying to have it both ways: all the commercialization, with none of the professional protections or educational commitments. And it’s tearing at the human core of the enterprise. The system failed its purpose. Leadership let it happen. And the people inside are paying the price.

Until college athletics answers that one fundamental question - what is it actually for? - the conversations we should be having won’t happen. And the people caught in the middle, trying to teach and learn, grow and find meaning, will keep calling us instead of each other.

That’s the human cost of the Auction Block.

EXHIBIT A

I always find it so interesting that those who champion free markets often abandon that principle when it comes to college athletes. President Trump’s call for salary caps in college sports this week, while claiming “even rich colleges are going to go bust,” ignores that NFL players collectively bargained for their caps. Caps are fine, but only when workers have a seat at the table to negotiate them. The hypocrisy is always striking. 

EXHIBIT B

We’re all a Husky this week. Because what’s happening in Seattle isn’t just about soccer, but about love, courage, and the power of a team to carry one of their own. Washington’s run to the Big Ten title, just days after senior goalkeeper Mia Hamant lost her battle with a rare form of kidney cancer, was such a teary inspiration. They’ll carry on her memory tonight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Until then, take a moment to read John Canzano’s fantastic story. Just have a few tissues with you.

ON THE DOCKET

I see many more Title IX lawsuits on the horizon after Judge Wilken once again denied objections to the House v. NCAA settlement’s injunctive relief provisions. Wilken reaffirmed that she cannot rewrite a settlement agreement, noting that any Title IX claims should be brought directly against individual schools. While this is an unsurprising development, it’s still early: the ruling came at the district court level. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will review the settlement over the next year, meaning the legal landscape for college sports could shift yet again.

FOOTNOTES

$87.5M. 

The amount of NIL deals processed since June (College Sports Commission).

ADDENDUM

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