Jan 13, 2010 11:28:08 PM

ATLANTA – Smith College professor and economist Andrew Zimbalist became the latest to pine for an NCAA football playoff when he told an audience at yesterday's Scholarly Colloquium on College Sports that an eight-team tournament would help athletics programs reform their economic ways.

In a presentation on whether college sports can sustain its current financial model, Zimbalist cited the idea of a football playoff – along with reduced football rosters and an antitrust exemption to regulate coaches' salaries – as a possible antidote for intercollegiate athletics' current fiscal doldrums.

Zimbalist, the faculty athletics representative at Smith, said an NCAA-controlled Football Bowl Subdivision playoff would generate more revenue that would be more equitably distributed to all Division I FBS schools.

"Not only would this help narrow the growing divide between rich and poor athletics programs but it would blunt the incentives to pursue many of the expenditures we have seen over time," Zimbalist said, adding that a smaller payoff would result in a reduced investment in coaches, recruiting and facilities, thus slowing the so-called the arms race in big-time college sports.

Though he did not cite any momentum for such an idea among NCAA presidents or administrators, Zimbalist said a playoff would replace a "flawed" Bowl Championship Series that distributes its berths for BCS games and the revenue from them "prejudicially and unequally."

He also called for a 60-man roster instead of the current 85 scholarships in FBS football. Such a reduction, Zimbalist said, would save schools enough to fund the smaller sports being eliminated today.

And while he said college presidents are skeptical about obtaining an antritrust exemption to regulate salaries, Zimbalist said doing so would save athletics departments millions without detracting from the quality of coaching.

In one of two reaction papers to Zimbalist, though, former Ivy Group Executive Director Jeff Orleans said Zimbalist and others need to be careful what they wish for when asking Congress for anything. To seek a partial antitrust exemption, Orleans said, would be to invite reciprocally unwanted regulatory meddling.

Rather, Orleans said, institutions would be better off walking their own budgetary talk without having Congress intrude.

"It's not the absolute amounts of money or rates of increase that bother me but the fact that people are not holding themselves accountable for the budgets they set," Orleans said. "What we need is for schools to decide their investment in college sports and then be held accountable for meeting that budget, just as other departments are."

That might be a new way of thinking for many schools, Orleans said, but if there were to be public disclosure in spending, schools that do what they say could claim a significant off-the-field victory.

He also urged action to be taken quickly, lest the reformers of a decade ago who have since given up and call for the elimination of the enterprise "become revolutionaries."

"This also is a bad time to do noting," Orleans emphasized, noting that it would be far better for the NCAA to control its own reform rather than for someone else (the government, for example) to do so.

And finally, Orleans said, the greatest risk might be for the situation to spiral so far out of control that the people who believe in the notion that participation is integral to the educational experience change their minds.

Economic impact on diversity

Zimbalist's presentation was one of two on the second day of the NCAA's Scholarly Colloquium, which was established three years ago by the late NCAA President Myles Brand to encourage more scholarly research on intercollegiate athletics.

Preceding Zimbalist on the dais was Richard Lapchick, director of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida, who talked about how the economic slump affects diversity and inclusion in college athletics.

Lapchick, who has used NCAA data and other sources to release studies of demographic trends in college sports over the years, applauded the recent football hiring season that saw eight of 21 head-coaching vacancies go to minorities. Lapchick also praised NCAA President Brand for the attention he devoted to diversity as a cornerstone of athletics operations.

Lapchick also said the public nature of the Black Coaches and Administrators hiring report card and a barnstorming campaign on hiring from former NFL coach Tony Dungy contributed to the recent spate of minority hires in football.

But Lapchick said much more must be done in all sports, citing the need for something akin to the Rooney Rule in the NFL (Lapchick suggests an "Eddie Robinson" rule as the college version) and perhaps civil-rights action against schools under Title VII.

He also warned that the economic plight facing athletics could negatively impact diversity efforts if programs designed to raise awareness are slashed. In addition, the economy's effect on access to college may have a disparate impact on minorities, and in turn, minority student-athletes.

Speakers during Day One of the Colloquium on Tuesday focused on the sustainability of the financial model in college sports down recessionary times. Michigan professor Rodney Fort and Knight Commission co-chair Gerald Turner both pressed for leaders in athletics to adopt changes to reduce the financial pressures on college sports.

The Colloquium editorial and advisory board also announced a working theme for next year's event, also to be held in conjunction with the NCAA Convention in San Antonio January 11-12. Presenters will be asked to focus on the cultural challenges and social justice in intercollegiate athletics.