This paper indicts the NCAA for its failure to regulate NIL, protect competitive parity, safeguard student-athletes, and sustain women’s and Olympic sports, concluding the association is no longer a legitimate or functional governing body.
Key points:
- Legal defeats in O’Bannon and Alston dismantled the NCAA’s amateurism defense, leaving the association without credible regulatory power.
- The NCAA’s failure to create a national NIL framework triggered a state-by-state scramble, eroding institutional parity and centralized governance.
- NIL compensation disparities and escalating donor involvement have entrenched a system favoring elite programs, marginalizing mid-tier and smaller institutions.
- Financial instability, inequitable NIL access, and the absence of clear safety policies have endangered the future of non-revenue sports and female athletes.
- The NCAA’s abdication of leadership has rendered it incapable of safeguarding collegiate athletics, necessitating the development of a new national governance structure.