Is College Sports Quietly Cutting Pathways to the Olympics
OPENING STATEMENTS
I love the spectacle of the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. I can’t wait for tonight to see the flags, the uniforms and the music, the proud faces of every Olympian and the ever-more elaborate lighting of the flame. I love how our whole country walks in together, all part of one team. My connection to the Opening Ceremonies runs deep since I had the privilege of being a torch bearer during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and was a member of the team that passed the torch to Muhammed Ali who so valiantly opened the Olympics during that historic flame lighting. It was one of the greatest moments and honors of my life.
But here’s the thing we don’t say out loud. Team USA is not built in one place. It’s built in a thousand places. And a lot of them are college campuses. It’s a patchwork system that has been fraying for some time - and may be at great risk as the revolution in college athletics pushes forward.
It’s important to ground this in the important role that college athletics plays in Olympic preparation. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, 75% of U.S. Olympians and 53% of Paralympians came through college sports. For most athletes in most sports, college is not a nice extra. It is THE pipeline. While it may be more the case for Summer Olympics athletes, it’s not exclusive.
College sports often provide athletes the everyday coaching needed to excel at the very peak. It gives them access to training rooms, strength coaches, teammates, events, travel, a schedule, and often a scholarship that makes it possible to keep going. When a college team goes away, that whole support system goes away with it.
But college sports now are in a money race, one that may put some of these programs in peril. Schools are looking to generate athletics revenue at faster and faster clips, including through private equity arrangements, but not necessarily with these “Olympic athletes” as beneficiaries. They’re funding revenue-sharing payments and NIL agreements, which flow in large part to football and basketball. They’re supporting rising expenses and rising expectations from fan bases. And they’re supporting significant losses at schools like Rutgers, Colorado and Florida State - which may just be the tip of the iceberg.
So schools look for somewhere else to cut. And the easiest place to cut is often the sports that don’t make money. Front Office Sports reported last summer that since the House settlement was introduced, dozens of Division I Olympic sports programs have been cut or consolidated.
Even when a team isn’t cut, the squeeze can show up in roster limits. For instance, cross-country teams that once carried 30 athletes must now squeeze into 17 spots. We shouldn’t just look at those sports as “extras.” Rather, they could be late bloomers, walk-ons, some who develop at 20, not 17. They are also the athletes who become Olympians when nobody saw it coming.
That’s how you end up with a system that says, “We love the Olympics,” while quietly shrinking the college teams that build Olympians.
Ross Stevens should be lauded for addressing the situation. His plan to give $200,000 to every U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athlete, starting with the Milan Cortina Games that open tonight, is generous. It’s a real act of support. But it does not replace a college roster spot. It does not replace a college coach. It does not replace four years of daily training support.
And the money is structured for later. Reports describe it as paid in two parts, with $100,000 available 20 years after an athlete’s first Olympic appearance (or at age 45, whichever comes later), plus a $100,000 family benefit after death. That’s help for the “after.” What college sports has always provided is help for the “during.”
As you watch tonight’s Opening Ceremonies, or as you get pulled in by the heartwarming stories over the next two weeks, remember that the next Olympics will be shaped by what’s happening right now in college athletics and that we must allow for a seat at the table for all Olympians. That means we must work toward spreading the wealth.
EXHIBIT A
Speaking of private equity, Congress sent a warning shot this week. The House Committee on Education and Workforce asked University of Utah President Taylor Randall for a briefing on Utah’s private equity deal tied to Otro Capital. It wrote: “The information and briefing requested will assist the committee in determining whether legislative action may be necessary to protect students, schools and the integrity of college athletics.” For years, schools have treated “new money” as the solution. But private equity is no donation and expects a return on investment. And once investors are in the room, the pressure to chase revenue only grows. The Committee also pointed to the costs behind such and wants to know how Utah will protect athletes (including Title IX) and avoid shifting costs to students through fees.
EXHIBIT B
NCAA President Charlie Baker weighed in this week on the flood of eligibility cases that each seems to move the bar. He told Sports Illustrated that schools backing lawsuits to put professional players back in college uniforms are “saying they don’t want to play by the same rules everyone else is.” Baker’s bigger point is about what happens when a few cases reshape the whole system. “The rules are clear here. The lines are drawn. Ninety percent of the membership supports and plays by the rules,” he said, warning that “a relatively small number of folks… can create a lot of confusion.” It’s a fight that goes to the heart of the NCAA’s power. If the organization can’t set and enforce the central rules around who gets to play and who doesn’t, it’s hard to see how it governs anything else.
ON THE DOCKET
I’m focused on what happens Tuesday in Johnson v. NCAA, as it may have a significant impact on the relationship between athletes and schools, as Michael McCann detailed for Sportico. At its core the case, which began in 2019, asks a simple question: are some college athletes really employees of their schools? Last year, the Third Circuit made clear the NCAA can’t just wave an “amateur” flag and end the discussion. Courts have to look at the real facts and the real money. Now the judge wants the parties to spell out their “efforts” to reach a settlement by Tuesday.
FOOTNOTES
$535 million
Athletics department debt at Penn State for its 2025 fiscal year, reportedly the highest in the country
