Imagine a pro-league player demoting oneself to play in college sports. That’s what happened with an NFL tight end for the Cleveland Brows – Dae’Quan Wright. The legal and financial changes have transformed college sports in recent years. The line between ‘amateur’ and ‘professional’ seems to be blurring by the day. As schools are investing more and more in football and men’s basketball programs, the New York Yankees president has issued a blunt warning.

The concern is no longer about who wins the next championship, but whether the current system can survive at all.

“These colleges are going to go broke,” warned Randy Levine on Newsmax. “They are taking endowment money that should go to furthering the education of students and hiring professors and using it on paying athletes.”

Randy Levine is the vice chairman of the College Sports Roundtable, and also the Yankees’ president since 2000. It is a presidential committee created to design a uniform framework for college sports and athletes’ eligibility. The observations made by the committee have helped Senators Maria Cantwell, Ted Cruz, Eric Schmitt, and Chris Coons push forward the Protect College Sports Act.

Under the proposed act, there would be a standard federal name, image, and likeness compensation nationwide. The act reforms player transfer rules, allowing only one unrestricted transfer.

Students would have to sit out at least a year for a second one, except in exceptional cases.

The legislation also provides health and safety protections and safeguards non-revenue, Olympic, and women’s sports. Furthermore, a provision allows schools to spend almost $28 million on athlete retention.

Levine sees Wright’s return from NFL to college football as just the beginning of the madness, unless the legislation gets through the Senate and the House. Otherwise, more players would want to move back to their respective amateur levels.

“Colleges cannot sustain paying pro rates, and this will destroy the hope of 18- and 19-year-old freshman and sophomore student-athletes,” the Yankees president added.

“There is only one way to stop this madness and get one standard for all.”

According to Newsmax, the bill would establish “a five-year eligibility window beginning in the academic year after the earliest of an athlete’s enrollment in college, 19th birthday, high school graduation, or expected high school graduation.” 

The need for such legislation arose from the increasingly unsustainable practices that schools have adopted only to remain competitive.

They are siphoning funds meant for education, other non-revenue sports, and everyday operations so that football and men’s basketball can thrive. On Newsmax, Levine spoke about the consequences.

“And when they don’t have that money, they raise student fees,” noted Levine.

“They just start cutting Olympic and non-revenue sports. It’s been happening, and we are on the precipice. If we don’t pass this legislation in this Congress, I’m fearful to say the whole situation may just implode.”

Just this year, NBA reached a record revenue for the first time in history, surpassing MLB. This year, its profit bucks stand at $14.3 billion. Baseball comes just next, with an expected $11.8 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, NFL tops the list at $23 billion.

In the top 5 revenue-generating sports, Olympics is nowhere to be found, with NHL and MLS ranking 4th and 5th.

Looking at the IOC’s 2021-2024 Olympic quadrennial cycle, the committee generated a mere $7.6 billion. On an annualized equivalent basis, that is roughly $1.9 billion per year, putting total cycle revenue well below any single major American professional sports league’s yearly intake.

The data almost ascertains what Levine pointed out.

360 schools, every major conference, the NCAA, the USOPC, the United Negro College Fund, and multiple other organizations support the legislation. It passed the Senate Commerce Committee in June with a 19-9 vote. Now, the act is slated for a US Senate vote in September.

But how dire is the condition of college sports? One case has put everything into context.

The Dae’Quan Wright case in college sports

Players are banking on antitrust lawsuits and temporary restraining orders challenging the NCAA’s eligibility rules to return to college sports. The court orders block the NCAA from banning college athletes from a fifth year of eligibility or penalizing them for participating in professional training camps or signing pro contracts.

The loopholes in the law have enabled big-budget schools to bring in star players to their football and basketball teams. It has also allowed players to jump from school to school to make more money.

The opposition to the bipartisan Protect College Sports bill is a group of senators who argue that it may interfere with state laws prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports. However, the Dae’Quan Wright Case might bring an end to all opposition.

Wright is an undrafted tight end who was recently in training camp with the Cleveland Browns, per the NY Post. However, the rookie did not make the team. So he has decided to head back to college football. A reversal situation unheard of until now.

No federal rule can stop Wright from making this jump. According to the New York Post, he would likely play tight end for LSU under Lane Kiffin. Kiffin has coached Wright when he was at Ole Miss.

The football program at LSU is backed by third-party organizations, and Wright can earn a considerable amount by selling his “name, image, and likeness” while playing for the university. It is likely more than what he can make as a rookie benchwarmer in the NFL.

But the presence of a big leaguer at an amateur level doesn’t seem fair.

Wright’s move back to college sports is a glaring example of what is currently wrong in the system. The complete collapse Levine is warning about is not too far.

“Just as we predicted, if no legislative action occurred, the college sports system would crash into chaos,” Levine told Charles Gasparino, per the New York Post.

“Players who have actually signed pro contracts and played in pro games, to be allowed to return to play in college break the wall between student-athletes and pro athletes.”

Just when our own league is on the brink of a work stoppage, owing to the CBA negotiations, the debate and concerns around college sports could only fan the flames.