Jim Draudt

College Sports are broken, and those who first made the mess and profit handsomely from the status quo do not want to fix it. Without meaningful change, opportunities for thousands and thousands of talented student athletes will disappear and women’s and Olympics sports programs will be canceled. A disjointed and disorganized revenue generation system is the root cause, and everybody in college sports knows it - including many members of the Big 10 and SEC, who have recently reported staggering and unsustainable athletic deficits and debts. Ironically, at least one of these two commissioners, who argue that the status quo is “just fine”, have simultaneously pursued onerous private equity and debt deals to paper over the overwhelming deficits many of their member institutions face. The situation is even more dire in the lower-revenue conferences, as is well known. Our primary objective is to provide athletic programs, both big and small, the tools they need to achieve financial sustainability and preserve all of their programs, scholarships, and roster spots. We want to grow the financial pie, and make it work for everybody - doing so in a way that doesn’t not punish or take revenue away from the “big boys”. Not only is this the right thing to do, it is also consistent with the President’s “Saving College Sports” Executive Order, that was issued last summer. The posture of these two commissioners indicates that they do not care about the fate of the other conferences or smaller schools, nor do they care about the life-changing opportunity provided to women and to athletes in our Olympic sports. It seems they have chosen to disregard the directives of the President and the will of the American people. Change is difficult, I get that, especially when it means dismantling a long-held, broken, backwards system. My sincere hope is that, instead of throwing up roadblocks to our congressional momentum, we can work together on solutions that put the student athletes first and preserves the viability of the great American institution of college sports.