From court losses to political pressure to questions about how – and if – athletes should be compensated, the NCAA and college sports have faced all sorts of potential existential threats for more than 100 years.
The difference in 2021 was volume. It was as if a century’s worth of issues fell on college sports all at once.
Lawmakers took aim at the NCAA, undercutting its ability to govern. The Supreme Court issued a scathing rebuke of the so-called collegiate model. Internally, a new era of athlete empowerment was clumsily ushered in with all sorts of unintended consequences. Another wave of conference realignment swept through college sports, causing disruptions and distrust among its leaders.
“I think it is unquestionably an unprecedented potential crisis the NCAA is facing today,” said Gabe Feldman, the director of Tulane University’s sports law program.
If 2021 was about upheaval in college sports, 2022 will be largely defined by reform. College sports leaders will attempt this year to redefine the NCAA. The goal is to shift power away from the national governing body to conferences and schools, all while still maintaining the association; to be more accommodating to the wide-ranging goals and needs of a wildly diverse membership, all while still remaining tethered through competition.