College sports have been plagued with numerous ethical issues since inception. For instance, research shows the assertions of enlistment violations and exploitation such as amateurism and corruption (Ethics Sage, 2019). Such assertions challenge the integrity of college athletics. Achieving and observing rules and regulations has proven especially now because of the increased popularity of the sport. Consequently, the industry has morphed into multibillion-dollar trade which had begun as a modest student- organised sports, continue to wreck the academic environment for student-athletes. Subsequently, the effects have left many including the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, to wonder if college sports are attuned to higher education goals and sustainable in the future. I agree, that in the present state, university sport is not justifiable.
The competitiveness of between university athletic divisions to draft elite student athletics has, an extensive trend. In countless cases, drafting is done without regard to a student’s academic aptitude (Ethics Sage, 2019. Consequently, educational ethics are forfeited because of preferential treatment accorded to the ‘stars’ in an attempt to keep them satisfied opines author. Further, colleges economically exploit student-athletes through the use of athletics to generate revenues for school while they do not receive compensation. Moreover, college sports expenditure has surpassed the spending on academics with some schools exceeding their total generated revenue (National Collegiate Athletic Association, (NCAA) 2019). For instance, the author reports that 65 schools in 2018 across the U.S athletics expenses exceeded by $ 2. 6 million dollars.
For college sport to continue to exist, reforms that rebuild the academic environment must be implemented for sports to fit in the goals of higher education and remain sustainable. For instance, NACC has been condemned for simply instituting punishment rather than crafting standards that avert misconduct to guarantee accountability, offer educational support to students or afford alternate paths for those blasé about higher education (Vogel, Kress and Jeske, 2018). Moreover, the Knight Commission, proposes balance restoration postulates author, between educational values and revenue as a way to bring about financial reforms to colleges to curb overspending in sports.