Our editor, Graham Hillard, joined El Podcast to discuss how NIL deals, antitrust rulings, and the House v. NCAA settlements are rapidly professionalizing college sports, especially football and men’s basketball. He outlined the legal battles, Title IX complications, and economic pressures that could eventually produce a super league for revenue-generating sports, while pushing others back toward a model of amateurism.
Hillard was invited to the program to expand on his recent Washington Examiner article, Judges with Whistles. In that piece, he argues that debates over judicial supremacy are no longer confined to politics but are increasingly spilling into college athletics. Drawing on critiques from commentators as different as Jamelle Bouie and John Daniel Davidson—and even referencing a pointed exchange between Justices Barrett and Jackson—Hillard highlights how the courts may soon act as referees in athletic disputes. He points in particular to the looming legal clash between the Universities of Miami and Wisconsin over whether programs can induce players to renege on contracts, a case that could reshape recruitment nationwide. If Wisconsin’s claim prevails, Hillard warns, lawsuits may become as decisive to college athletics as playbooks—shifting the emphasis from “X’s and O’s” to “gavels and robes.”