I do not like the disruption that Fox Sports and ESPN have caused, especially to West Coast college athletics. It is an exercise of too much power in the hands of too few.
Though a lifelong Oregon fan, I feel particularly bad for storied programs like Oregon State and Washington State, who will apparently find themselves in the have-nots column. These schools produced the Andros Giant Killers, many bowl teams, and a lot of great competition while able to support nonrevenue sports for their student athletes.
What now? I suggest that Congress enact a surcharge on NFL and NBA ticket sales and television revenue. That money should go to schools below a certain income threshold to help balance the scales and keep non-revenue sport opportunities available throughout the nation.
I don’t see such a charge as unfair. College football and basketball function as de facto farm systems for the pro levels anyway. Baseball has its own farm system so carries its own weight. Require the NFL and NBA to do likewise, and start giving back some of the massive subsidy that college sports supporters and publicly supported universities now provide indirectly to the NFL and NBA. Until something like that happens I can only say a heartfelt “Go Beavers” and “Go Cougars.”
