Feldman at Forefront of Debate on Future of College Sports

Professor Gabe Feldman, director of the Tulane Sports Law Program and Tulane University's Associate Provost for NCAA compliance, was a featured speaker at a special Aspen Institute program May 1 debating “The Future of College Sports.”

Feldman was a panelist alongside John Thompson III, former basketball coach for Georgetown University; Dan Radakovich, Athletic Director of Clemson University; Andy Schwarz, a sports economist and chief strategist for the Historical Basketball League; Bernadette McGlade, Atlantic 10 Conference Commissioner, former Georgia Tech women’s basketball coach; and Nigel Hayes, former Wisconsin player who sued the NCAA challenging its ban on compensation for college athletes.   The panel discussion was particularly timely as the nation debates whether college athletes should profit from their fame beyond university scholarships and educational stipends. And, intensifying the discussion was a controversial exemption by the NCAA to allow a University of Notre Dame women’s basketball player to participate on Dancing With the Stars while remaining eligible to compete at the college level. The Aspen panel was predictably split among those who feel the NCAA ban on college athlete compensation is outdated and those who believe the players should retain amateur status.

Feldman, one of the leading voices nationally in sports law, has been a sought-after expert in a number of publications recently on the subject of the NCAA’s efforts to reform amateur rules after reports of widespread corruption.  He was quoted in a story in The New York Times last week on a report by an NCAA Commission, led by former U.S. Secretary of State and current Stanford University Provost Condoleezza Rice, proposing a series of reforms focused on fairness and transparency.

Feldman has long advocated lifting some of the restrictions on college athletes’ ability to receive compensation from their celebrity, and his 2016 white paper on the subject has been widely quoted.