Intercollegiate Athletics: Unregulated Pro Sports

Credit: Pete Ryan for Virginia Magazine

I was recently quoted in Virginia Magazine’s article, a whole New Ballgame, a story about the rise and initial challenges of the NIL and how UVA is adapting its strategy in this new era of collegiate athletics. In a great example of how the playing field is being leveled, on 9/25/25, UVA Football upset FSU in football. That UVA announced this past Fall a huge investment in football is not a coincidence.

In the article, I noted that after a string of legal setbacks and consistent with their past (in)action, the NCAA hasn’t provided the necessary oversight as the NIL system was launched, just when supervision and leadership were needed the most. The power vacuum allowed for some of the more outlandish schemes to take hold (i.e., private equity “buying” college teams comes to mind) and the perception that collegiate athletics had become the wild west.

I’ve written about the commercial challenges facing collegiate athletics before, and have noted that now is the time for real leadership in the space. In 2022, right in the thick of the NIL’s emergence, I wrote about the negative impact it was having on the traditional student athlete experience. As of this writing, little has been done to set regulations and enforce the rules.

In addition to NIL and player compensation, the 6,000-pound elephant in the room continues to be the transfer portal with many coaches complaining that from year-to-year, rosters are unpredictable with athletes having no allegiance to any school – just the one who pays the most.  

With no oversight on the horizon, this enterprise has little to no relation to the institution’s mission and yet, for the entertainment of the alumni and profits of many others, it will continue to spin out of control. What’s ahead is anyone’s guess, but this writer hopes these teams spin out of the institution and college sports leagues into a separate pro league with no relationship to the academy. Let’s call it what it is and move on.