Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics

This article observes that American society’s passion for intercollegiate sports competition is an extremely powerful, naturally evolved cultural force. The marketplace responds to cultural forces, and the commercialization of college sports directly reflects the marketplace realities of our society...

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Main Authors: Matthew J. Mitten, James L. Musselman, Bruce W. Burton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Kansas Libraries 2009-12-01
Series:Journal of Intercollegiate Sport
Online Access:https://journals.ku.edu/jis/article/view/10114
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author Matthew J. Mitten
James L. Musselman
Bruce W. Burton
author_facet Matthew J. Mitten
James L. Musselman
Bruce W. Burton
author_sort Matthew J. Mitten
collection DOAJ
description This article observes that American society’s passion for intercollegiate sports competition is an extremely powerful, naturally evolved cultural force. The marketplace responds to cultural forces, and the commercialization of college sports directly reflects the marketplace realities of our society. For example, colleges and universities rationally use their intercollegiate athletic programs, particularly NCAA Division 1 FBS football and basketball, as a means to achieve a wide range of legitimate objectives of higher education. Thus, the authors advocate that university athletic department revenues should continue to be exempt from federal taxation, specifically the unrelated business income tax (UBIT), despite the increasingly commercialized nature of intercollegiate sports. However, the commercialization of intercollegiate athletics creates the potential for conflict with a university’s academic mission and the risk that student-athletes may be exploited. The authors propose that Congress provide the NCAA and its member universities with a limited exemption from the federal antitrust laws conditioned upon targeted reforms that will 1) ensure that intercollegiate athletics are primarily an educational endeavor; 2) better enable student-athletes in revenue-generating sports to obtain the benefit of their bargain; and 3) protect and maintain student-athletes’ intercollegiate athletics participation opportunities in nonrevenue generating sports.
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spelling doaj.art-c783ee628e844a489794d7e25694fd562023-11-29T06:00:10ZengUniversity of Kansas LibrariesJournal of Intercollegiate Sport1941-63421941-417X2009-12-012210.1123/jis.2.2.202Commercialized Intercollegiate AthleticsMatthew J. Mitten0James L. Musselman1Bruce W. Burton2Marquette University Law SchoolSouth Texas College of LawCharlotte School of LawThis article observes that American society’s passion for intercollegiate sports competition is an extremely powerful, naturally evolved cultural force. The marketplace responds to cultural forces, and the commercialization of college sports directly reflects the marketplace realities of our society. For example, colleges and universities rationally use their intercollegiate athletic programs, particularly NCAA Division 1 FBS football and basketball, as a means to achieve a wide range of legitimate objectives of higher education. Thus, the authors advocate that university athletic department revenues should continue to be exempt from federal taxation, specifically the unrelated business income tax (UBIT), despite the increasingly commercialized nature of intercollegiate sports. However, the commercialization of intercollegiate athletics creates the potential for conflict with a university’s academic mission and the risk that student-athletes may be exploited. The authors propose that Congress provide the NCAA and its member universities with a limited exemption from the federal antitrust laws conditioned upon targeted reforms that will 1) ensure that intercollegiate athletics are primarily an educational endeavor; 2) better enable student-athletes in revenue-generating sports to obtain the benefit of their bargain; and 3) protect and maintain student-athletes’ intercollegiate athletics participation opportunities in nonrevenue generating sports.https://journals.ku.edu/jis/article/view/10114
spellingShingle Matthew J. Mitten
James L. Musselman
Bruce W. Burton
Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics
Journal of Intercollegiate Sport
title Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics
title_full Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics
title_fullStr Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics
title_full_unstemmed Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics
title_short Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics
title_sort commercialized intercollegiate athletics
url https://journals.ku.edu/jis/article/view/10114
work_keys_str_mv AT matthewjmitten commercializedintercollegiateathletics
AT jameslmusselman commercializedintercollegiateathletics
AT brucewburton commercializedintercollegiateathletics