Michael Oriard on NCAA Academic Reform: Academics Over Dollars

The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to Michael Oriard’s keynote address. The paper highlights the link between monies generated through intercollegiate athletics and calls for academic reforms. There is also need for examination of how increased participant diversity coincided and influenced these dynamics—a connection frequently overlooked

Complexity and Memory: Financial Related Issues Among HBCUs

The purpose of this paper is to offer a response to Johnson’s (2013) comments. The author offers a defense of the important role Historically Black Colleges and Universities have historically played and continue to do so today

Introduction

It didn\u27t seem so wrong. It seemed as though I worked my whole life to get where I am, and at the same time, when it was presented to me, it was like this was the time I could start to get back some of the fruits of my labor. 1 —Paul Palmer, former star college football running back, regarding cash payments of more than $5,000 he received while a college senior from sports agent Norby Walters. This epigraph has remained in our text through multiple editions. Its continued relevance is underscored by the irony that, in a recent court ruling, a judge pegged the minimum dollar figure for college athletes to received from licensing revenues at$5,000. This book, meanwhile, focuses on the evolving sports agent industry, the issues affecting it, and how to improve and regulate it. Key issues and problems associated with sports agents are visible at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Whatever the concerns that lie at the center of the sports agent storm, it is a business that captures the attention of many

New Concepts of Contract Liabilities in College Sports: Member Institutions v. the National Collegiate Athletic Association

Big time college sports are governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). This private association has the ability to make decisions that can have a devastating financial impact on member institutions. This Article examines the contractual relationship between the NCAA and member institutions and maintains that an award of punitive damages may be appropriate in certain contract breach situations

Merit, Ol\u27 Boy Networks, and the Black-Bottomed Pyramid

What will happen in this country when questions of merit no longer serve as barriers to the advancement of minorities, particularly African Americans, to top-level positions in American corporations and society? What will happen when merit questions are eliminated but minorities are still underrepresented in these powerful positions? Arguably, the critical issue for society then will be to determine why there remains an absence of minorities at the top. Further, if a society without merit differentiation develops and discrimination continues, should America\u27s much-beleaguered affirmative action programs be asserted in a newly aggressive manner? This Essay examines these issues by looking at the professional team sports industry in America. The focus here is not on the players on the field but on sports franchise front offices. Regarding these front office positions, African Americans have long had the merit that is questioned in other industries. Yet African Americans are still absent in representative numbers in the most powerful positions in sports. This Essay examines the use of network -focused affirmative action programs prior to moving to more aggressive strategies. The sports industry, seen by many as a societal microcosm, may provide some answers for the race problems in broader American society