UofL Admins Call for Structural Reform to College Athletics in White Paper

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Just about everyone in collegiate athletics has tossed around their ideas as to how to "fix" the landscape in college sports, and now, it's the University of Louisville's turn.

On Monday, UofL published a white paper collaborated between president Dr. Gerry Bradley, athletic director Josh Heird and Board of Trustees chairman Dr. Laurence "Larry" Benz. In it, the trio called for three structural reforms to collegiate athletics: congressional action, a governing body "that can actually govern," and a "hard and enforceable" spending cap.

As far as congressional action goes, specifically, Bradley, Heird and Benz are advocating for the passage of the SCORE Act and SAFE Act. The latter is calling for an amendment to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which would grant an antitrust exemption and allow college to "would negotiate media rights as one unified entity."

On the governance front, Bradley, Heird and Benz criticize the collective oversight by the NCAA, CSC, individual conferences and states involving themselves in the governance of college sports. They suggest that the best solution is to "start from scratch" and create a "congressionally chartered governing body." If the NCAA is to stick around, the trio write that the organization "must be given the power to set and enforce a standard set of rules," and that everyone involved can "abide by these rules or be subject to strict and harsh penalties."

With the spending cap and enforcement of it, Bradley, Heird and Benz write that constantly infusing more and more resources into a department "will not solve the crisis if spending continues to escalate without restraint." Because of that, they suggest a salary cap model similar to one used by the NFL, saying that it "ensures competitive balance," prevents anyone from "spending its way to permanent dominance," and that there is a "defined share of revenue" between the players and the league.

Bradley, Heird and Benz argue for these reforms by using UofL as an example. They cited a recent independent valuation, which found that Louisville Athletics generated "nearly $3.84 billion in total economic impact," over the last three fiscal years.

But because of the current climate of collegiate athletics, their current athletic budget is operating at a deficit of $12.5 million, and that is "projected to widen significantly under the House v. NCAA settlement." The trio also provided budget shortfall examples at more notable national brands such as Ohio State, Penn State, Florida State, Texas, and Deion Sanders-led Colorado.

The white paper comes less than a week removed from the SEC and Big Ten penning their own joint white paper, where they opposed efforts to amend the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, basing their argument from research commissioned by FTI Consulting. Prior to releasing the full white paper, Bradley, Heird and Benz rebutted the SEC/Big Ten's white paper on social media.

"The FTI study reads like a sophisticated defense of the status quo by the parties who benefit most from it," Benz wrote on Twitter/X. "Its strongest arguments actually support smarter pooling rather than no pooling, its historical analogies are anachronistic, and it sidesteps the fundamental question: if centralized rights management is the proven model for every successful professional league in the world, why would college sports be the one exception?"

You can read the full white paper published by Bradley, Heird and Benz here.

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