Opinion

Five years into the NIL era, the question is no longer whether college athletes should be paid for the industry they have built. It is whether this diverse mix of commissioners, presidents, lawmakers, regulators, athletic departments, collectives, GMs and agencies will ever work from the same plan, ...

In January 2024, I wrote in response to the SBJ Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, noting a pervasive sense of pessimism and a lack of structural clarity across collegiate athletics. At the time, those concerns reflected an uneasy sentiment within the industry. Today, they reflect its reality.

Through my time at the NBA and my consulting practice, I have seen time and time again how important transparent and inclusive communication is to employee satisfaction, productivity and ultimately retention. In today’s world of hybrid or remote work arrangements, regular and effective communication...

“Every difficult time teaches a person to improve.”

In a previous article, I outlined the structural failures that have kept Indian football locked in a cycle of commercial growth without sporting progress: a fragmented development pyramid, an unstable top flight, and a governing body mired in legal paralysis that leaves one of the world’s largest fo...

More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek orator Isocrates observed that athletic festivals allowed people to set aside their conflicts, gather together and renew bonds to unite them. The ancient Greeks understood something: Sports have always been a form of diplomacy.

Six seconds on the clock. Down 64-63. The 2023 MEAC Championship is on the line. I’m standing at the free-throw line in Norfolk, Virginia, and the only thing between Howard University and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 31 years is two shots. The crowd is deafening. I step to the line, find...

Picture this conversation. A college athlete finishes eligibility having earned six figures or more through NIL deals and revenue sharing. He or she has been performing at a high level, managing his or her own brand and carrying professional expectations most people don’t develop until their 30s. Ho...

My uncle turned me on to Dr. J. It was the early 1970s, and Dr. Jim Ralph was the sports team doctor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. When my family would visit, or when he’d bring his four sons to see us in Manchester, Vermont, he spoke about this young man he got to know and clearly ...