License College Sports and Let Universities Teach: A Blueprint for Ending Mission Creep

Why College Sports No Longer Fit the Classroom

When the Big Ten sealed a seven-year, $7 billion media pact, university presidents hailed it as an “academic win.” In truth, the agreement chains campuses to longer football seasons, mid-week basketball tip-offs, and pricey stadium upgrades. The public sees tuition climbing while athletic departments tout revenues higher than many NBA franchises. The contradiction exposes a hard fact: big-time college sports have outgrown the educational mission they claim to support.

The Financial Tipping Point

A proposed antitrust settlement in House v. NCAA is poised to let schools pay athletes roughly 22 percent of athletics revenue, about $20 million a year at power-conference programs. Athletic directors openly discuss collective bargaining, conceding that the amateur model is dead. What remains is a multibillion-dollar entertainment industry welded onto institutions that exist to educate, conduct research, and serve the public.

Mission Creep, Hidden Subsidies, and Academic Cost

Presidents still insist that sports “build community” and “raise visibility,” yet peer-reviewed studies show no lasting link between winning seasons and research donations. Admissions offices quietly relax standards for recruits; non-athletes pay higher fees to subsidize scholarships; and faculty senates are ignored whenever a coach demands a new practice facility. At some campuses athletics budgets exceed entire academic colleges. The promised educational dividend has evaporated.

Licensing: A Clean Structural Solution

Instead of patching name-image-likeness rules, universities should license their mascots, colors, and stadium leases to independently owned professional franchises. A “University City Football Club” would pay a negotiated royalty, say 10 percent of gross revenue, for the right to use campus branding. The school could revoke the license if the franchise violated academic-integrity standards.  Even better, perhaps disentangle licensed sports from any academic requirements, ending the fiction of student-athletes in major sports programs. Everything else, player salaries, health insurance, media contracts, labor disputes, would live off the university ledger.

Benefits of Separation

Academic leaders could redirect time and money from locker rooms to lecture halls. Coaches would stop topping public-employee salary charts. Independent franchises would publish GAAP statements and pay taxes, ending the fog that now clouds athletic finances. Athletes would become employees with collective-bargaining rights and long-term medical coverage. Compliance headaches would shrink: Title IX would govern genuine school teams, while professional clubs would follow labor law.

Real-World Precedents

English universities gave birth to football clubs that spun off and eventually filled Premier League stadiums. American hospitals long ago separated teaching missions from their profit-seeking medical centers. No one doubts UCLA’s academic standing because its hospital bills insurers; likewise, a “UCLA Bruins FC” paying star quarterbacks would not diminish the chemistry department.

Governors weary of subsidizing athletics would welcome royalty checks in place of bailout requests. Legislators preaching fiscal discipline could justify tuition relief funded by licensing revenue. Even the NCAA might survive as a rulebook provider and postseason tournament organizer, relieved of labor-law exposure.

Addressing Fan and Athlete Concerns

Would alumni still show up? Viewers tune in for tradition and rivalry, not for bylaws on amateurism. The Iron Bowl still kicks off Thanksgiving weekend whether or not players receive paychecks. Non-revenue sports could stay in house as genuine educational programs, funded by a slice of licensing royalties, or partner with local clubs. Athletes who want degrees could negotiate tuition waivers, similar to corporate tuition programs, turning education into a benefit rather than an eligibility requirement.

A Road Map for Implementation

State legislatures or Congress could authorize universities to charter licensed athletic entities and exempt royalty income from unrelated-business-income tax, provided the funds offset tuition or student debt. The Department of Education would revise the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act to track licensed teams separately, ensuring transparency. Within five years, the balance between laboratories and luxury boxes would realign with core educational priorities.

Conclusion: Let Universities Be Universities
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College sports once balanced civics and spectacle. That equilibrium collapsed the moment television networks dangled billion-dollar contracts and courts affirmed athletes’ commercial rights. Persisting with the old façade now threatens both fiscal sanity and academic credibility. Licensing offers a principled exit: universities maintain colors and chants, athletes gain professional status, taxpayers see clearer ledgers, and students reclaim mission-driven campuses. Refusing to act means stumbling from lawsuit to scandal while pretending the circus still serves scholarship. The marketplace already knows college athletics is a business; it’s time higher education admits the same and lets the enterprise stand on its own.