These College Leaders Have a Plan to ‘Not Be Sued All the Time’ Over Sports

No institution with an athletic program is immune from the mountain of litigation facing college sports. But there is one group that, given the size of its members’ budgets, is in a particularly precarious spot: Division I colleges that are not football powerhouses. That group could be subject to many of the same legal challenges as members of the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest competitive level in Division I. They will help pay a $2.75-billion settlement in the recent antitrust case, House v. NCAA, if a judge approves it. They could someday be forced to negotiate with unionized teams if a National Labor Relations Board decision to allow Dartmouth College’s men’s basketball team to collectively bargain is upheld. While colleges in the most lucrative conferences may have the revenue to weather that storm, most Division I colleges just don’t.