Congress ignoring need for sports reforms
My Jan. 21 letter, “College sports need federal intervention,” claimed that intervention by the federal government is the only way to bring about desperately needed reform to help constrain the uncontrolled growth of big-time football and men’s basketball programs with its potentially devastating impact on America’s colleges and universities.
However, my experience indicates that resolution of the problems brought on by the money-driven corruption in college sports will not come from government officials who seem to abide by their own version of the Hippocratic oath: Do nothing to harm your chances for re-election. Members of Congress have chosen to do nothing, apparently believing they would violate this “oath” by intervening in college sports. Education Secretary Arnie Duncan put it this way: “If any of us are looking for Congress to solve this, good luck.”
No matter how dire the need, those in Congress with the responsibility and authority to act will do nothing to provide corrective action. This, coupled with a palpable wall of silence that seems to surround members of Congress, prompted the following message to the chief tax counsels for the Senate Finance Committee: “Here’s my conclusion after more than eight years of effort aimed at engaging the federal government in college sports reform: Reform-minded individuals and organizations can only hope for meaningful corrective action via the courts. Without such action, college sports, like a runaway train, will continue to overwhelm everything in its way while the federal government continues to operate in a dysfunctional manner — looking the other way as it supports minor leagues for the NFL and NBA by allowing big-time college athletics to benefit from a lack of oversight, favorable tax policies, and unabashed pandering by its top officials.”
The courts need only follow the money.
Frank G. Splitt
Mount Prospect