As we reflect on the 2024 Summer Olympics, we can look back recognizing that we were gifted the opportunity to see the best in the world compete against each other at the highest level. The 2024 Olympics reminded us that the Olympics are truly the purest form of competition—for the love of country and love of the sport.
This spirit of competition is one we are familiar with in the United States, as it resembles what we see in youth sports, high school sports, and especially in college sports. The Olympics also serve as a reminder of just how important college sports are to the success of Team USA, and frankly, many Olympians from outside the United States as well.
The logo of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is seen.
MATTHIEU DELATY/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
College athletics serve as a feeder program to United States Olympic teams, with 75 percent of Team USA having competed in college. The Olympic sports programs at universities from coast-to-coast help athletes hone their skills while training and competing against top-tier competition. In many cases, alumni return to their alma maters to train and receive coaching in preparation for the Olympics.
But many of these very sports programs that have trained some of the greatest Olympians of all time might soon be a relic of the past if Congress doesn’t step up and act to preserve college athletics.
The world of college athletics has been in the midst of foundational changes in recent years. While the recent House settlement helps provide a blueprint for the future, there are still issues that, if left unresolved, will pose an existential threat to some college sports programs–particularly female and Olympic sports.
The risk of student-athletes being labeled employees of their institutions is something student-athletes largely reject, but it is a policy that if pushed through could have a cataclysmic impact on female and Olympic sports. Scholarships or benefits like academic support, housing, nutrition, and a whole host of other benefits would now be taxable. There would likely be a transition away from specialized health care to institutional employee health care—all things that are now currently given tax-free to student-athletes. Not only would this potentially harm student-athletes, but it could result in athletic departments no longer supporting some women’s and Olympic sports due to new financial constraints that would come with deeming student-athletes as employees.
At most institutions, football and men’s basketball are the two primary revenue generating sports. This leaves female and Olympic sports most vulnerable to any potential cuts that would be required. If this were to happen, we would be at risk of losing many of the sports programs at universities that are responsible for training past, current, and most importantly future members of Team USA.
Additionally, competing state laws are resulting in confusion and disorganization among schools across all divisions of college sports, including schools competing within the same conference in some instances. The new blueprint coming from the recent settlement agreement provides a roadmap for Congress to follow that would help codify many of the positive changes we’ve seen in college athletics, and most importantly, secure opportunities for future student-athletes across female and Olympic sports.
Nothing unites Americans quite like rooting for the red, white, and blue on the world stage. Team USA has become the preeminent force in Olympics history and having a strong training ground for our next generation of student-athletes is vital to that continued dominance. We need Congress to take the necessary steps to secure these college sports programs and ensure our Olympic pipeline remains strong so we can keep hearing our national anthem play at medal ceremonies for future generations of Olympians.
Tommy Burleson was an All-American basketball player for North Carolina State University and the number three overall pick in the 1974 NBA draft. He was also a member of the 1972 United States Olympic basketball team.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
