Scott Miller

Last week’s discussion about college athletics has prompted a follow-up on the impact of gambling on sports, income inequality, and our society in general.

Although there are plenty of ways to approach this topic, here’s a link to get us started:

• Who gains from gaming/gambling? Who loses?
• Is gambling a “tax” (statistically speaking) on low-income people?
• If so, should something be done to address that, or should individuals be free to pursue their own vices?
• Are gaming revenues/taxes too tempting for politicians to refuse?
• Does the ability gamble on sports activities taint the underlying sport?
  • How to avoid the temptation to “fix” matches?
  • Is there a difference (from a gambling perspective) between professional and amateur sports?
• How do other societies that have been more open to gambling dealt with these potential issues?

With the college football season well underway, we’ll take up one of the “sports topics of the year.” Not Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes, but the question of how/whether “amateur” college athletes should be compensated and educated.

Here are a handful of articles and other resources to get the discussion started:

• The 2021 NCAA v. Alston Supreme Court decision (unanimous, written by N. Gorsuch) that allows college athletes to receive certain forms of compensation. See also B. Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion (at the end of the same document).
• Calling Foul on Big-time College Sports (The American Mind)
• The Only Way College Sports Can Begin to Make Sense Again (NY Times opinion by a University of Michigan regent) (if you have a NYT subscription, click this link for the source article with a cute GIF take-off of “Rich Uncle Pennybags“)
• A NCAA Dashboard of “Finances of Intercollegiate Athletics” (“DI FBS Autonomy” schools are the ones in the big national conferences). See the glossary for other definitions.

Starter questions:

• Should college athletes be amateurs or paid for their performances?
• How should education be prioritized for college athletes?
• What limits to types of compensation should be applied to college athletes? Where on the spectrum from “can be compensated for washing dishes in the college cafeteria” (unrelated to athletics) to “can be compensated for performance on the athletic field” (directly related)?
• How can/should third party (i.e., booster group) interactions with athletes be regulated?