A bill, an order, a commission

"I've never said, ‘I don't know,’ more often than I have recently,” said Neil Sullivan, the UD vice president who serves as director of athletics. “I’m uncomfortable. I’m paid to know.”

At the time of this writing, however, much about the future of college athletics was unknown. This fall, Congress will be looking at the SCORE Act, which has made it through a committee of the House of Representatives. The bill would preempt state NIL laws, creating nationwide uniformity. Depending on what you read, the act is “meaningful reform” or a “misguided effort.”

The Trump administration has issued an executive order directing multiple federal agencies to develop a coordinated framework for NIL. The president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, saw that as a positive step but cautioned that “some of the most important reforms can only come from Congress.”

At present, NIL enforcement is the domain of the Collegiate Sport Commission, which, Sullivan pointed out, “is owned and operated by the Power Four conferences. There was no role for the NCAA or us in forming and implementing it.”

What is real is that, with direct payment to players and NIL, for Dayton to compete in basketball, its revenue cannot support other sports the way it has in the past. Beginning in the early 1990s, the Arena Seating Program, Sullivan said, “provided funds for a broad-based program, which was needed for conference affiliation and national standing.”

Both NCAA rules and provisions in the SCORE Act require a minimum number of sports, so the future is not in cutting teams. Many schools heavily subsidize sports; some charge student fees to support even strong-revenue-producing sports. Having the UD Arena and dedicated fans removes the need for that kind of subsidy for UD basketball.

“We want to give them an experience worthy of the Dayton logo, and only philanthropic support makes it possible.”

What is needed for other sports, Sullivan said, is philanthropy “from people who care about college sports.”

“These sports are the purest expression of what college athletics was meant to be, and the student-athletes are extraordinary,” he said. “We want to give them an experience worthy of the Dayton logo, and only philanthropic support makes it possible.”

A version of this article appears in print in the Autumn 2025 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 27. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE