American Olympic Success Fueled by the NCAA: Will the Athlete Pipeline between College and the Olympics End with the Major Changes in the NCAA System?

U.S. athletes made an impressive showing at the Paris Olympics, winning 126 medals to lead all other nations. Much of the credit has gone to the college sports system, which has given track and field, swimming, and gymnastics athletes the opportunity to work under elite coaches in first-class facilities. However, with the likelihood of student-athlete compensation, sports programs that favor Olympic sports may be adversely affected and it may decrease the medal results. Tune in to this edition of the Sports Business Podcast with Prof. C. to learn more.

Host: Mark Conrad Producer: Victoria Ilano Additional Production: Jeffrey Haynes Artwork: Pamela V. White Marketing: Michelle Miller Music: ”MarcusWay/Energetic Pop Punk/Tribe of Noise”

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Hello and welcome to the
Sports Business Podcastwith Prof C, the podcast that explores
the world of professional, collegiate,amateur, and Olympic sports.
I’m Mark Conrad, or Prof.
C from Fordham University’s Gabelli Schoolof Business, where I serve as Professor

(00:28):
of Law and Ethics and the Directorof the Sports Business Initiative.
U.S. athletes made an impressiveshowing at the Paris Olympics,
winning 126 Medalsto lead all other nations.
Of that total were 40 golds,
tying China for first place.

(00:50):
Track and Field athletes faredparticularly well winning 34
medals, far outpacing other nations.
Swimming,although not as dominant as in the past,
made a very respectable showing with 28.
A major reason for this year’s successes
has been the pipelinefrom college teams to the Olympics.

(01:14):
Because the U.S.
government does not fundthe Olympic movement, it has been left
to colleges and universities to fieldteams in track and field, swimming
and gymnastics under the NCAA system –
the system many of us have come to hate.
But the NCAA approach has workedwell because certain universities

(01:38):
have builtfirst-rate facilities, hired top coaches
and recruitedtalented athletes into their orbit.
A social contract of sorts is made- college athletes obtain first-rate
training for little or no cost in returnfor being student-athletes
and complyingwith what is left of the NCAA rules.

(02:02):
According to the Sports Business Journal,
of the USA’s 594-member team in Paris,
roughly 75% competed in college.
They came from 169 schools
across 45 conferences.
Current or former collegiate athletes
made up at least 80% of 21 total U.S.

(02:26):
teams, including 15 teams
that were entirely composedof collegiate athletes.
For the U.S.
Olympic team and its athletes, a win-win.
Less known is the fact that U.S.
collegeshave helped athletes from other nations.
Witness Léon Marchand,who won 4 gold medals for France

(02:49):
in swimming while a juniorat Arizona State University.
The result is that NCAA
schools sent more than 1,000
former, current and incomingstudent-athletes who represented
more than 100 different countriesto the Paris games.
Of these athletes, 272 of them

(03:11):
combined to win330 medals for 26 countries.
However, this success is threatenedby the seismic shifts
that are taking place in college sports.
As many of you know, the NCAA systemhas been under attack in the courts
with multiple lawsuits demandingrevenue-sharing for college athletes.

(03:36):
In addition,there are efforts to unionize college
athletesas employees under the labor laws.
The proposed settlement in what is known
as the Housecase outlines a revenue sharing formula
where students may be compensatedin amounts that reach billions of dollars.
This settlement, if approvedby the federal judge overseeing the case,

(04:01):
coupled with the unionizationefforts of a few college teams
would likely resultmany athletic department budget cuts.
The question becomeswhether such financial pressure
could require the cutting of sports teams,
particularly teamsthat were feeders to the Olympic movement?

(04:22):
U.S. Olympic officials are concernedabout this possibility.
While much of the student compensationgoals are laudable,
each of the stakeholders-- the schools, NCAA
and the Olympic governing bodieshave to deal with a hard reality
--sustaining that pipeline in the face

(04:42):
of financial pressures that threaten it.
The timing is not idealas the United States
will hostthe Summer games in Los Angeles in 2028
and the Winter gamesin Salt Lake City in 2034.
Continuing the Olympic feeder system
in an uncertain futurewill be the challenge, but a crucial one

(05:06):
for those who compete in trackand field and swimming.
If the system collapses,it would be a sad byproduct
of the college sports revolution.
Any thoughts?
Send them to me at [e-mail],and thank you for listening.
Until next time, this is Prof.
C for the GabelliSports Business Initiative.