In an op-ed published by the New York Times, the president and AD in South Bend beg Congress to fix a system which college sports have been screwing up for decades.
Andy Staples offered a concise translation of the op-ed at The Athletic (also owned by the NYT):
We don’t want to solve the issues we’ve created. So it would be super cool if all you guys solved our problems without us having to do any actual work. Thanks.
Oh yeah, they’re also begging the NFL to create a minor league and the NBA to remove any age restrictions.
The only thing in favor of the NCAA/Notre Dame argument is nostalgia. Good sense, and antitrust law, are lined up firmly against them. Many of the problems would be fixed if they finally admitted that athletes are actually employees and then acted accordingly, but there’s zero chance of that happening.
Andy’s commentary:
Notre Dame’s athletic revenue has more than doubled in the last 20 years, to $215 million according to their required yearly filing with the federal government. Has any of that money gone toward, say, offering more athletic opportunity by adding sports? You will no doubt be shocked to learn that the answer to that is no. ND hasn’t added a sport since 1997. But somehow paying their football players will endanger lacrosse and fencing and all the other Irish non-revenue sports. Riiiiiiiiight. Especially since that revenue is about to take another leap upward with the CFP and ND’s next TV deal with NBC.