Will Government Continue to Interfere in College Sports?

In the current issue of Journal of College and University Law, University of Massachusetts professors Todd Crosset and Lisa Masteralexis suggest that state regulation of gender equity in college athletics is "on the brink of change." They argue that sociologically speaking, the state regulates private associations only when certain conditions are met -- conditions which existed in 1972 when Title IX was passed, but are increasingly less relevant today. Expanding alternatives to intercollegiate sports for participants, the increasing commercialization of college sport, and the decreasing educational relevance of college sports, they argue, have all made it less likely that the state will continue to intervene in private, institutional affairs by legislating gender equity, and more likely that market forces will take over.

Citation: Todd Crosset & Lisa Masteralexis, The Changing Collective Definition of Collegiate Sport and the Potential Demise of Title IX Protections, 34 J. College & Univ. L. 671 (2008).