The Sports Law Institute (SLI) at Vermont Law School will present "Is Amateurism Dead and Professionalism Inevitable? Envisioning the Future of College Sports," a panel discussion from 12:45 to 2 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in Chase Community Center at VLS. The panel is free and open to the public and press.
Moderated by VLS Professor Brian Porto, director of the SLI, the panel will include members of The Drake Group, established in 1999 to "defend academic integrity in higher education from the corrosive aspects of commercialized college sports." A recent Washington Post column highlights The Drake Group's lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.
"The major problem is that the financial rewards to some universities for being successful in athletics are so great that there is a powerful temptation to professionalize college sports," Porto said. "This creates a dismal situation when only 2 to 3 percent of college athletes become pro athletes. Most former college athletes are going to have to find some other way to earn a living. Also, because the college sports system operates in this way, players are starting to ask, 'When do we get paid? Our coaches and athletic directors get paid well.' Things need to change."
Porto will be joined by Drake Group members Donna Lopiano, president of Sports Management Resources and former executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation, and Allen Sack, professor at the College of Business, University of New Haven, and author of "Counterfeit Amateurs: An Athlete's Journey Through the Sixties to the Age of Academic Capitalism" (Penn State University Press, 2008).
Beyond the issue of professionalization, Porto said that he and his colleagues fear the college sports scene is becoming less and less about education.
"We want to keep the 'college' in college sports," he said.
For more information about the college sports panel and other Vermont Law School events open to the public, visit www.vermontlaw.edu/news-and-events. For more information about the Sports Law Institute at Vermont Law School, visit www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/centers-and-programs/sports-law-institute, email Deputy Director Brian Porto at bporto@vermontlaw.edu, or call 802-831-1144.