Athletics

The gap between the haves and have-nots in big-time college athletics has widened dramatically, according to a new report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity analyzing institutional subsidy of sports programs.

The landscape of college athletics could shift dramatically in the coming weeks, as the Big Ten and Pacific-10 Conferences consider expanding their membership. While the exact shape of the realignment is unclear, it will likely make geography even less meaningful as an organizing principle than it has been since previous rounds of conference expansion in the 1990s and 2000s, and further consolidate power in a small number of conferences. Watchdogs of college sports caution that this is a losing prospect for higher education, both athletically and academically.

For the second year in a row, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has temporarily banned at least one team from postseason play because of its athletes’ poor academic performance.

It may take a while for the Men of Troy to “fight on” after the crushing blow they received Thursday.

In a long-awaited decision, the National Collegiate Athletic Association severely punished the high-profile football and men’s basketball teams at the University of Southern California for improper commercial dealings involving Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush and basketball standout O.J. Mayo.

Before he leaves to head the nation’s premier sports governing body, Mark Emmert may have a showdown with the world’s leading athletics apparel provider.

WASHINGTON – In the wake of conference expansions largely predicated on lucrative television contracts, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics called Thursday for a new set of financial reforms in big-time college sports.

With no economic recovery in sight, some community college administrators are wondering what else on their campuses they can reasonably cut while fulfilling their educational missions. For some, the answer is athletics.

In the years since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a private right to action for retaliatory discrimination under Title IX in 2005, numerous athletics officials have brought cases against their institutions, arguing that they were either let go or mistreated because they raised concerns about gender equity on behalf of students or coaches.

Four months after deciding to suspend six sports teams at Diablo Valley College for budgetary reasons, the Contra Costa Community College District has agreed to reinstate the squads to resolve federal gender bias complaints filed against the district.

The academic benchmarks the National Collegiate Athletic Association uses to determine whether teams’ athletes are progressing toward graduation no longer mean what they used to.