Written by Charlie Baker, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
College sports deliver $4 billion in college aid annually to 500,000 student-athletes, serve as the premier U.S. stage for many women’s athletic competitions, and are America’s Olympic pipeline with 75 percent of 2022 Team USA attending NCAA schools. College sports are a uniquely American treasure, providing life lessons to its participants while contributing to society in so many ways.
But for too long, rules meant to govern and protect one generation of student-athletes have been broadly applied to a generation whose needs and priorities have shifted dramatically.
Putting student-athletes’ interests first, helping them fairly and securely capitalize on the economic opportunity associated with their name, image, and likeness (NIL), and enhancing protections for their physical, mental, and academic health are long overdue. At the NCAA, we have begun making those changes.
Over the last year, the NCAA has enacted a sweeping array of policy changes that represent the most concerted effort in at least a generation to update the rules and processes overseeing collegiate athletics. Chief among these changes, the NCAA recently created a student-athlete health insurance fund, which will help all…
