the BigAmateurism monologues

As the NCAA picks up the pieces of its failed Congressional and legal campaign to achieve the Iron Throne of college sports regulation, Division I legislative bodies scramble to offer “guidance” on name, image, and likeness compensation. The NCAA issued a press release on Monday, June 28th, in which it transferred to individual member institutions control over the application and enforcement of the principle of amateurism in the context of NIL. The NCAA has essentially abandoned its central purpose in college sports regulation: enforcing its collusive national cap on the cost of revenue-producing athlete labor. The NCAA has set the clock back to the first half of the 20th century when college sports was governed through “home rule.” During the “home rule” era, individual schools (and some conferences) defined, applied, and regulated principles of amateurism. The NCAA’s return to home rule is an act of desperation to buy time in the face of its inaction and incompetence on NIL. The NCAA hopes that its self-inflicted chaos will give new energy to protective federal legislation. The NCAA is running out of options, time, and, most importantly, credibility.