Executive Briefing: Intercollegiate Athletics and Board Oversight

What Is It?

Athletics is much more than a cocurricular endeavor or source of school spirit; it is a fast-changing commercial enterprise shaped by conference realignment, media rights, athlete compensation, and transfer portals. The professionalization of college sports is here, but athletics still should be tied to the institution’s mission.

• Trustees should understand where athletics oversight sits in the board’s committee structure.
• For trustees of NCAA Division I and II institutions, the old business model is extinct, and even institutions outside nationally prominent athletic conferences face strategic questions about how athletics continues to advance their institution’s mission and goals.