The upcoming Arizona Board of Regents meeting will consider the controversial Knight Report, which recommends radical changes in NCAA sports oversight and corporate sponsorship.
The original report, published by the Knight Foundation in 1991, recommended an overall reform of college athletics, citing low graduation ratios for college athletes and a growing “financial arms race” in college programs to secure high profile players.
A new report published June 26 by the Knight Foundation states that, “While the NCAA and individual schools have made considerable progress, the problems of big-time college sports have grown rather than diminished.”
The ABOR meeting will be held Sept. 25-26 on the ASU campus and is open to the public.
ABOR spokesman Matt Ortega said, “I think that it’s important for the state of college athletics to examine these kinds of questions, such as student graduation rates and the commercialization of athletics programs.”
The Knight report recommends barring teams that do not graduate at least 50 percent of their players from conference or post-season play, prohibiting athletes from wearing corporate logos, banning legal gambling on collegiate athletics and the formation of a watchdog group to monitor high-profile college sports.
Arizona has had its share of NCAA violations and subsequent penalties. In 1996 ASU’s athletic program was placed on probation for two years. In 1999 Northern Arizona University was placed on probation for three years.
ASU was cited for providing airline tickets and rental cars to some athletes. NAU was cited for using a football player who was academically ineligible to play.
Betsy Mosher, senior assistant director of athletics at ASU, had reservations about the report's suggestions to limit corporate sponsorship of college athletic programs and monies used to support them.
“On the fiscal side of the arms race, I think it’s important to see how the money is spent rather that just how much is spent,” Mosher said. “I’m not sure we can get away without some commercial involvement.”
Mosher indicated that quality programs require financial investment. Acquiring a good coaching staff with incentives like high salaries needs to be left to the school’s discretion, she said.
Reach Victor Allen at victordallen@cs.com.
